Laughing to the bank

What do you expect from someone with an MBA from Oxford? Make a million dollar bonus in a corporate job? Or make a million dollar profit from his management consultancy? Papa CJ did neither. He decided to be a stand-up comedian and make others laugh. Today, Papa CJ is the international face of Indian comedy, clocking over 1,500 shows across 20 countries in 10 years for an audience anywhere between two and 90 years of age. But this wasn’t always the plan.

In 2004, Papa CJ was working with the tech-giant IBM and happened to visit the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He saw the stand-up acts there and “it looked like a fun job”. Papa CJ landed his first show in London, on the Wibbley Wobbly Boat on the Thames, in October that year. Though life was not easy — he survived on just about one meal a day, shared taxis and skipped dinner because of frayed nerves ahead of his shows — he waited it out. Within a year, he performed at over 250 venues across UK and then there was no looking back.

For aspiring comics in India, however, it’s a lot simpler today. “It’s the easiest place on the planet to start doing stand-up comedy. When I started in London, you had to compete against 500 other new comics and wait for 6 months to get a 5-minute spot at a comedy club. And it was ages before you saw any money. That’s not the case here,” he says.

Evidently, Aditi Mittal is riding this new wave of popularity. “Four years ago, this market didn’t even exist. Now I’m travelling across the country for comedy shows. In the last three months, I have been home for nine days!” says Mittal, who has performed across India, from Chandigarh to Kochi and Shillong and Gandhinagar.

“People have no patience today; they want instant gratification. And stand-up comedy gives you just that. You get punchlines every 15 seconds. No wonder then that it is catching on,” says Papa CJ.

What makes the career of a comic exciting right now, besides the increasing awareness about it as a medium of entertainment, is the small pool of comedians. “For the second generation of comedians, it will be a lot easier because of the lack of competition. The audience is looking for great new stuff,” says Tom Course of the Canvas Laugh Factory.

While the initial years require hard work and grit, a good artist should be able to make a mark within two or three years. Once established, they get paid anywhere between ₹20,000 and ₹45,000 per show, each about 20 minutes in length.

Corporates too are making a beeline for comedians to entertain their employees at events and off-sites. They pay upwards of ₹30,000 and up to ₹1.5 lakh, depending on the duration of the performance and the experience of the comics. Mittal is also busy writing scripts, mostly for corporates. “The market is evolving rapidly,” she says, “Comedians are regularly consulted on social media campaigns as well.”

And there’s room for more. Papa CJ, for instance, says he has conducted laughter yoga at hospitals, performed at a police station in London, at baby showers, corporate events and even at gun point to a full house, when the event’s promoter didn’t want to pay him. “The only occasion I’ve not performed at is the suhag raat,” he quips.

This is also what makes it such a lucrative career option. Sorabh Pant, rated among India’s top 10 comics, says there is enough money to be earned in the profession. “About two or three years into it, I was making a little over what an MBA from an IIM makes.” He doesn’t give away exact numbers, but a good comic can easily make upwards of ₹1 lakh a month. For making that kind of money though, a comedian ought to be in the top rung. “Probably 5 per cent of the people who try it, end up making it big. Of the 32 professional comedians in India, only 12 or so live off comedy alone. Others have day jobs or have other sources of income,” points out Pant.

Papa CJ, Aditi and Pant are also doing shows abroad, which require an entirely different skill set. “I have headlined shows in eight countries, and it took a long time to even come up with 30 minutes of international material that could work from Dubai to New York to Colombo! Now, I have about 45 minutes, but it takes quite an effort,” says Pant.

While making people laugh seems like the toughest thing to do, it surely has its own rewards. If you master the art, you can laugh all the way to the bank.

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