Monday, July 10, 2006

Move over Seinfeld, here comes Prince of Stand-up comedy…

Before I took to this blog writing, I must have taken at least dozen stabs at writing humor, no prizes for guessing what happened eventually. You must have got hints from my earlier blog posts here, I can hardly spell humor, forget writing comedy. Being funny is not being comic. Stupid people (me included) can be funny at time...but it is not an indicator of any comic talent, we are just goofballs.

In my opinion, comedy is the most difficult aspect of writing and the challenge increases manifold if you want to reach to a larger global audience. Originality and Delivery of humor is an art, which some individuals possess and very few have mastered this art form.

The comedy artists I like are ones who have the ear to pick up words, incidents and experiences from daily life and than apply them to situations where they reflect reality in shades of humor without being offensive. One such artist I have discovered is Russell Peters. He was the number one cause of my humor-stabbing fever. I should emphasis here that, I have been since cured. So relax I wont be attempting or throwing PJs here

For those who have not heard about Russell Peters and/or his work, the name may sound "Anglo", but fellow desi-friends this dude is 100% Desi, he migrated along with his parents to Canada from Calcutta, when he was a toddler and today he is one of the most respected Canadian artist. We all can pump our chest…Desi Pride.

His comedy is based on his ethnic roots and his experience as a new migrant in a pre-dominantly white neighborhood and growing among black kids/friends, yet his humor is accessible to a global audience. Everyone can understand his routines and style. No wonder his raising popularity in Canada (and Internet) has drawn Hollywood producers to his doorsteps.

Here are links to few of Russell’s videos, which some good soul has posted on YouTube. It does give a glimpse of brilliance this artist possesses. I wont be surprised if he reaches new heights in Hollywood.


So move over Seinfeld, Prince of Stand up comedy is here to stay!!

PS: Genre of comedy I enjoy is, Observational Comic. I am also a fan of these artists; Jerry Seinfeld and Carlos Mencia.

2 comments:

@rChU said...

ok idhar mere aur tera tassan hain...i have another blog frnd who is crazy abt JS...i dont know abt RP yet..but i have constant fites with him when he says all other comedy is shoddy work n totally slap stick...excuse me!!( i know u didnt say that but u meant that he epitomises real humor)

Waise i watch Sienfeld 4 the heck of it to get wat it is all abt n trust me i cud never figure out unless the volume is on f*ing 35 wat that JS wants to say....he almost talks in his mouth...and then all d characters except for the baldy chappy (i forgot his name already) are boooooooooring....i so hate all of them esp the lead 1....n frankly if humor is complicated to get to a normal person i dont think u can call it great at all...it shud b 1 universal thing if u plan to air it universally not americanised!!!

Phew!!! just my thght...

Deepak D Jadhav said...

Arch,
Ok, I think you misinterpreted my blog:
1. This blog is on Stand-up variety of comedy and not Sitcoms or mono acting.
2. The difficulty of humor, I was trying to explain is in writing and delivering aspect of comedy and Not as audience.
I enjoy comedy, I wish I could write some, while my acting and stage skills are worst than writing, imagine me delivering a comic performance. You know what I mean; you have been a witness to my Toastmaster skills. I am sure you still have the wedding tape, Can you press erase button on that part of proceeding?
3. Sitcoms by JS are output of his work as Stand-up comic artist. I find him hilarious on Stand-up shows.
4. Lastly JS is an icon in same genre of comedy that RP specializes in. So my point was to highlight the fact that A Desi would be taking over the iconic position, which could be an achievement for Desis in Hollywood.

You should look at RP’s work, I am sure you would enjoy it too. If you don’t want to sign-up on YouTube, you can search him on video.google.com. I had seen plenty of RP’s video out there too.

Finally, I totally agree JS sucks in Sitcom, I would rather watch RR in Everybody loves Raymond. Of course George is the best character on Sienfeld.

I hope tassan is khatam and abhi apun madavali kar sakta hai.