Laughter should be our Life Line!

There’s a sudden spurt of stand-up comedy shows in India. In fact, they are the latest trend in entrepreneurship too. You can surely make it into an exciting profession if you have the gift of the gab and the pulse of the audience. These artists and their shows are patronised mostly by the young generation of our country and held in their favourite spots like pubs and restaurants in cities. While cinema theatres go almost empty, stand-up comedy nights go houseful.

In the last couple of years, standup comedy shows have caught the ire of political leaders and their fans, spurring law enforcing authorities to take action followed by trysts with judicial courts, if you please. This, despite the fact that, since several decades, legendary cartoonists have lampooned the powersthat-be and this tradition is present in all parts of the world.

While Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a former comedian, we have Late Bal Thackeray, who was avidly creative with his cartoons. The British television series 'Yes Minister' based on that country’s political system still gets hits on YouTube, although it is a few decades old. However, somewhere along the line, laugh lines emitting out of standup comedy shows are drawing a frown in recent times, making us feel that Laughter is not the BEST medicine but a BITTER one!

I perceive that the problem with us Indians is, we take ourselves so seriously that we just cannot laugh at ourselves. I remember as a teenager, I had pulled a fast one on my friend on April Fool’s Day and her mother was so angry that she complained to my mom and I got a stern notice – why should you poke fun at others? I wanted to say 'why not?' but didn’t dare! Such were the childhood restrictions on humour. Bah!

Recently, I interviewed Cyrus Broacha, the popular entertainer on television, live stage and podcasts. When I asked him if Indians lack humour, he said, "Indians do have a sense of humour. However, they sometimes take them too seriously, especially when the humour touches on personal or cultural sensitivities.’’

Denis Leary, an American stand-up comedian has rightly said, "Stand-up comedy and comedy in general, is the ultimate form of free speech, because you get to poke holes in all the pretentious bubbles politicians and pundits and popes and pretenders try to float over our heads.’’

Legendary cartoonists like R. K. Laxman, K. Shankar Pillai and Balasaheb Thackeray, amongst several others, attacked the political establishment directly with their talented sketches in newspapapers, which were avidly appreciated by most people of all ages. They were applauded and even got honours from the government, but now it seems, laughter has to be selective. Wake up dear powers-that-be.

As per the Mayo Clinic, "Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain." Indian citizens definitely deserve these in the background of air and a TV news pollution and lack of breathing space in urban areas. Right?