Vir Das takes a hilarious jibe at The Habitat Incident, says `It`s not broken..`

Whenever the tale of Standup Comedy in India is recited, one of the most eminent names that comes up is Vir Das. Vir paved his way into comedy with various trial-and-error fields. He started with a gig, but spent a few months as VJ, Vir was sure that he wanted to explore comedy. In a candid conversation with mid-day`s Sit With Hitlist, Vir details how he started with comedy and what he does when his jokes don`t land.

Vir talks about what he does when his jokes don`t land as expected, "When it is not going well, you will physically feel it. I don`t sweat if it`s going well. If you see me sweating on stage, it`s not going well. You could be under any amount of hot lights. I don`t sweat. But when I`m bombing, I can feel it happening. You have to address that it`s not going well. The stupidest thing comics do, especially when they`re young, is like joke bombs, and they`re like, yeah. And then they just keep going. And then the audience is like, `No, no, bro. You didn`t get a laugh there.` So let`s not pretend. And then you`ve lost that connection. So if a joke doesn`t work, I`ll just be like, oh, you guys didn`t like that one. And then maybe I`ll make fun of that."

How does Vir handle an opening set that bombed?

Further shares, "Sometimes I`ll go up and I try and use a new comic to open for me every time. So at the Habitat, if you come and see me on a trial show, there`s some kid who`s been doing, you know, he`s got five minutes. Sometimes they overdo it, but never mind. But then, going in front of my crowd is terrifying for a child. Like for a young comic. 50% of the time, they bomb hard. So you see this poor guy, he`s 25. I want them to build and get applause, but that doesn`t happen. So then, I have to tell the audience that they aren`t ready for my jokes yet. I do crowd work."

Recalls a funny incident with a fellow comic, "I`ve seen such, I won`t mention the comic, but I`ve seen a comic and an audience member. We have a full conversation. We have a full conversation. An audience member is heckling them. And the comic is like, `You think this is easy? You come up here. You do this.` And then the audience member got up, took the mic, and he nailed it. The audience member did two minutes of stand-up. And he did it better than the comedian. And sat down too. And the whole energy in the room is gone. The comic cannot recover from that."

Vir further went on to share the two types of people who are worst to have as their audience, "The worst two types of people are every show has: the alpha male, who is pissed off because you have made his woman laugh more than he has in the last half of his entire life. And woh gussa hai. Woh baitha hua hai, who is this comedian? And God forbid you pick that guy. That`s a terrible interaction. And then the second worst is the advertising audience. They`re all creative directors who fancy that they could have done that better than you. Because really, it`s just talking. That`s what it seems. That`s what it seems. So the worst is some ad guru and his flunkies. Those guys never laugh. Those are the two worst audience members you can have."

Vir makes a hilarious remark at The Habitat incident

Further, Vir shared how he entered the zone of comedy. Taking a hilarious jibe at the recent Habitat incident, Vir said, "I overstayed my visa a little bit. And then I wanted to do a Master`s of Fine Arts in Shakespeare. And I thought I`d be a college professor. And just teach Shakespeare. And I got into a program. And I got into it in February-March. I had till August-September to go back. And I had no money. I had these four illegal jobs in Chicago. So, I said, I`ll come back to Delhi. And then I got a show at the Habitat Centre. Vidyun Singh gave me a show. It was at the Habitat Centre. The Habitat Centre is not broken down every time."