Every evening, the third floor of Mumbai’s upmarket Palladium Mall in Lower Parel reverberates with laughter and whistles. College students and young professionals, including many expats, can be found clutching their stomachs and rolling with laughter. Among the audience are those who think they can tickle the funny bone equally well, and they get a chance every Monday to stand up and perform before the Maximum city’s comedy-loving audience.
The Canvas Laugh Factory is that rare kind of venue in the country that’s dedicated entirely to all things funny and satirical. The acts range from plays and musicals to monologues and stand-ups.
“Every stand-up comedian in India except three (Vir Das, Russell Peters and Ash Chandler) started here. And all well-known comedians have performed for Canvas,” claims Tom Course, the British CEO of Canvas Laugh Factory. Arriving in India in 2010, he decided to stay back in a country that was still warming up to the concept of stand-up comedy.
“When we started, all our comedians were foreign artistes. There were no Indian stand-up comedians in the formats we were doing,” says Course.
The company was initially set up as a partnership between UK’s The Comedy Store and Amar Aggarwal’s Horseshoe Entertainment and Hospitality in July 2010. Three years later, the partners decided to part ways, and the rechristened Canvas Laugh Factory came under the control of the Indian partners. The Comedy Store travels to different parts of the country with its shows.
“From the start, our job was to hunt down Indian stand-up comics and ready them for our audience,” Course recalls. This they did by attending comedy shows held in colleges, cafes and restaurants in the city. “People were auditioned and then trained, and this process continues even today,” he says.
Those receiving training get to perform for 10 minutes at the Monday night show, and from this year, they have to pay ₹300 to do so.
Rib-tickling revenues
Comedy collective All India Bakchod (AIB), which boasts of the country’s most widely heard comedy podcast, had its beginnings at Canvas and so did many others.
Course thinks that over the years, Mumbai has improved its comedy quotient considerably. More people are lining up to watch stand-up and other comedy shows. Canvas is on the verge of breaking even. This despite the fact that on an average the 300-seater venue is only half-full and roughly, the revenue per person is ₹750, including ₹200 for food and beverages. Ticket rates vary from ₹250 for Monday nights to ₹750 for professional shows on the weekends.
The expenses include fees for comedians — anywhere from ₹20,000 to ₹45,000 per show, leasing charges for the venue, and other operating expenses. “But people come back on a regular basis and we are booked two months in advance. We are hovering around the profit line,” says Course.
Keep it fresh
Though in its fourth year, Canvas continues to grapple with multiple challenges. “Just about 30 comedians have been operating on the circuit for over three years now. Our dedicated audience is getting bored of them,” he says.
To counter this, the company is adding newer show formats. Sketch comedy shows, for instance, are short comedy scenes performed by a group of actors. Yet another format is the improvised comedy, where the performance takes shape on the spur of the moment, based on what the audience wants. “People need to yell and we make comedy-on-the-fly based on their requests,” he says.
Another way to tackle the saturation point, he says, is to expand the market. While Course sees immense potential for comedy shows across India, after Mumbai it anticipates the biggest demand from Delhi and Bangalore. “The Delhi scene is active, but fragmented. It is the second-biggest market for comedy. And Bangalore too has an appetite for it. So we have decided to open venues in these cities,” he says. The company expects to open its Gurgaon venue this year.
Yuppie with a funny bone
While its audience spans ages three to 50-plus, it specifically targets 25- to 35-year-old professionals, who have money to spend.
It has a monthly college-based comedy show — Backbenchers — but the audience for it doesn’t come from campuses alone.
And what happens when someone does not like a show? “Either they don’t come back or they come back for something different. But invariably, you will find something to suit your taste in the comedy genre,” Course says.
The shows are mainly in English and a smattering of Hindi, and the company is determined to keep it that way as “otherwise, it might dilute our brand value”.
Overseas shows are on the radar too. “We are talking to people in Dubai and Singapore…” The intrepid home-grown joke appears all set to brave laughter in newer lands.