Latest / Rich Fulcher's TalkBox / Prashasti Singh: Hindi Comedy Explosion, “You Go Girl”, Comicstaan, Kill the Cat & Cheesy Potatoes | TalkBox Ep.31

Transcript

Prashasti Singh: Hindi Comedy Explosion, “You Go Girl”, Comicstaan, Kill the Cat & Cheesy Potatoes | TalkBox Ep.31 · Rich Fulcher's TalkBox

0:00
This is me being serious. Oh, hi, Welcome to TALK BOX.
0:05
This is Rich Fulcher. Now, my guest this week is an
0:10
Indian comic from Mumbai, and she's visiting London.
0:15
We're lucky to get her. She's at the Soho Theatre this
0:19
week for five days. And her name is Prashasti Singh.
0:24
She has a huge following on YouTube, Instagram and insert a
0:33
funny thing there. So let's it's a great interview.
0:40
She's really funny and it's just shows how big comedy is all over
0:46
the world and India is like. Foosh.
0:51
Like that. So let's take a look and then
0:55
I'll talk to you later. Fly me to the moon for Shasti.
1:19
How are you? What are you doing?
1:21
Good to see you. You're.
1:22
Very surprised to see. Me.
1:24
I am very surprised. I didn't know I was going to do
1:27
a show. Oh.
1:29
You didn't. Yeah, I was just here to sit
1:31
down. I.
1:31
Flew in from Mumbai. I had no idea I'm coming.
1:35
Now, how long a flight is that it?
1:37
Was 9 hours. Holy crap, yeah.
1:39
Now, do you have a secret to jet lag?
1:42
Oh man. It's your secret.
1:46
A lot of Red Bull yesterday I lot of energy drink and I think
1:51
it will all catch up with me in the by tomorrow.
1:54
I heard this is from Formula Racers that you don't eat on the
2:00
flight. I did not eat on the flight.
2:03
You did not, I mean. It's not that I.
2:05
That's how you do it. That's how you.
2:07
Do I knew about it, but I just happened to not eat on the
2:10
flight and that's why I was OK yesterday, I guess.
2:13
Yeah, yeah. Something about eating it
2:15
settles your schedule for life, no.
2:21
Yeah. So you've already done a show at
2:24
the Soho Theatre and you're on until when you're on the.
2:28
Saturday night so that is 20th 6 shows.
2:32
Saturday night is my last show. Shows.
2:35
Yes. How are you going to do it?
2:38
Yeah, like a lot of Red Bull. But I mean, I just, I really
2:41
enjoy this kind of, you know, I don't know, residency where I
2:46
come here, live in London for a week, do my show because the 1st
2:50
and 2nd show are actually the, like, toughest.
2:53
But by the time I'm doing my third show, I feel like it's
2:55
home. Once you get that under your
2:57
belt and are you doing any shows after that?
3:00
No, then I'm, I'm going to Amsterdam for like a four day
3:03
break. Nice.
3:06
That's great. You've got it all planned and
3:08
then you leave. On on Christmas Day, actually,
3:11
yeah. Oh, nice.
3:13
Yeah. Wow.
3:13
Yeah, nobody will be on the fly. Hopefully that's the that's the
3:17
catch, yes. Yeah, we flew on Christmas Day
3:21
last year. Yeah, and it was no one on the
3:24
flight. There were a few people, you
3:27
losers. They all have the same ideas,
3:29
man. Yeah.
3:30
I'm guessing the flight must be cheaper on that day, right?
3:32
Yeah, yeah. Now you must have a lot of fans
3:37
in England, do you? You've I've looked at your
3:41
YouTube figures, you've got like.
3:43
Yeah, we just, we Indians are a lot of people.
3:46
That's that, that's the thing. So you're.
3:48
At least 500, right? Yeah, at least.
3:52
No, but I mean, of all my guests, I think you may have the
3:56
most followers. Most is a.
3:59
Most is a stretch with. Of all of my guests of.
4:03
All of your guests, yeah. Possible.
4:05
Usually my guests live in caves. Yeah, most of your guests are
4:13
intellectuals. Yes, they don't do.
4:16
They do art, yeah. Anything.
4:19
They just, they just paint with crayons in their toes.
4:22
Yeah. So you've got all of these
4:25
followers and then it transcends here.
4:27
You've. Yeah.
4:29
So yeah, I mean that way, that's the thing, because I typically
4:32
do comedy in Hindi, which is a huge market across the world
4:37
right now because again, we have so many.
4:39
It's really. Exploding, yeah.
4:41
When did it start to really go off the charts?
4:45
I think it was around 20, 1718 when it started becoming big in
4:51
India. Yeah.
4:53
So I think in India started like becoming sort of big around that
4:56
time. What was the reason?
4:59
Just that because I think the entire comedy industry in India
5:02
is like not more than 12 years old.
5:05
So when they started off, you know, in the bigger cities, they
5:08
were all of all of them were just watching American comedy or
5:12
British comedy. Like which one?
5:15
Like Seinfeld. Seinfeld.
5:18
Or, you know, all the classics really.
5:23
So I mean, the entire culture was very America driven,
5:27
actually not Even so much British comedy driven.
5:30
So everyone naturally started doing comedy in English and it
5:34
was very metro, very cosmopolitan.
5:37
But because it started say, you know, in the 5-6 years when it
5:42
started becoming big, of course, people in smaller towns, people
5:46
who are talking regional languages started picking it up
5:49
and realising, oh, this can be done in this language as well.
5:53
So I think 20/17/18 was the time when one of the first couple of
5:58
Hindi speaking comedians like broke through.
6:00
Like they, you know, they, you know, they released some content
6:02
on the Internet, it became big. But that time also was limited
6:06
to like India. But because I think during COVID
6:10
and post pandemic, even the, you know, even our will have moved
6:15
out so much, you know, to the US or Australia to UK, that all of
6:20
that fan base is not spread out across the world.
6:23
Were there any US comics that you sort of looked at?
6:27
Looked. A lot, yeah.
6:28
Yeah, I remember. And I had actually came into
6:32
comedy later, so I started my, you know, I started gigging open
6:36
mics around 20/17/18. So that time.
6:39
When it was taking off. Yeah, you say it took off sort
6:41
of around 2014 fifteen, but 2017 it was when the languages are
6:45
were coming in. So I started doing it in Hindi
6:47
and but I was watching a lot of oh.
6:49
So you didn't start in English. No, no, no, this is actually
6:52
this is. This is my first year doing
6:54
comedy in English. It's a thing for me.
6:57
Is that a big switch? It is like my brain had to grow
7:01
a bit, you know, really because I think while I can communicate,
7:05
I'm educated in English language in India.
7:07
Actually a lot of education and the work, you know, there's so
7:10
many MNC culture that we all are trained in English.
7:14
But I, my comedic brain is very Hindi.
7:17
So I had to literally grow a new muscle.
7:19
Oh, so it's a new comedic muscle?
7:21
Yeah, yeah. And it's still very like it's
7:23
still OK. I sometimes do my gigs in
7:27
Canadian, so yeah. Yeah, difficult.
7:30
It's very difficult. I can imagine.
7:33
OK, so you started doing these gigs and where was the 1st place
7:38
you did it in Mumbai? Mumbai, yeah, there was this
7:40
very small and the modern. Mumbai kill right away.
7:44
Oh, my first gig was great. That usually happens.
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But it was it was an all women gig.
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So this is also the time when suddenly, you know, there was
7:53
this whole thing. There were no women in comedy.
7:55
We should do something about it. So a bunch of women got
7:57
together, started these female open mics.
7:59
So did people go you are so funny, you should do comedy?
8:04
Yes. Is that what happened?
8:06
Yeah. So I was a comedy groupie.
8:08
I should watch a lot of comedy. And literally one of these gigs,
8:11
my friend, were like, you should also do try 2 minutes, 3
8:14
minutes. And that's how it started.
8:16
Did you? Think that I can do this.
8:18
No, never. I actually had a major issue
8:21
with public speaking. Oh really?
8:23
Really I can do this? I never now, now I've become
8:28
this person. But I should have improved in
8:30
theatre a bit. But.
8:32
You had done a little. Theatre, yeah.
8:34
Anything that did not like need a mic.
8:36
I I had this major phobia without a mic, like mic and
8:39
talking to people making the photo, Yeah.
8:43
Fly me to the moon. It's so brave.
8:48
That's brave. Oh shit, people are watching.
8:52
Oh my God, So what? How did you get over that to do
8:57
your first gig? I don't know it just.
9:01
That's courage. I think it was just a lot of it.
9:04
It'll sound a bit, you know, too cheesy and too cliched.
9:08
But like it, as I said, it was like a small gig with a lot of
9:12
women in it and that weird energy of people just cheering
9:15
and being like, yeah, system there for you.
9:18
You know, we see that around on the Internet.
9:20
But I saw it physically that very yes, Queen culture.
9:23
And I was not really, I was not really in it.
9:25
Yeah. But I think this Google energy
9:27
really works because I think in that momentum I got on stage, I
9:32
started talking about something I would talk to friends about.
9:35
And I'm like, oh God, these girls are laughing.
9:37
They're losing their mind. So I think just that experiment,
9:40
I think broke something in my brain in a good way.
9:43
Like this works. Yeah, this works and.
9:45
What about material? Did you have difficulty writing
9:49
material? Of course, how it is right in
9:53
the beginning, there are a lot of things you want to say and
9:57
the first gig always great, but the second gig second.
9:59
One I've talked to more comics that they had a great experience
10:04
the first time, second time, I never want to do this and the.
10:10
Thing is, enough info, everyone tells you this.
10:13
So after your first week people tell you that oh, this was the
10:16
first gig. Second gig you see like a second
10:19
open mic, everyone bombs. I'm like, no, not me, no.
10:22
Did you not see me? Killing.
10:23
I killed the first one. It's not.
10:25
Going to happen. Oh man, second, second one was
10:27
like a reality check. So I think in the beginning then
10:30
I would of course bomb a Lord because I had, I had, I had not
10:34
cracked anything. I was just going telling things
10:36
I thought were funny. But I'm guessing my learning is
10:39
that in comedy, I feel the bigger muscle is the muscle that
10:43
is able to absorb humiliation. Like, more than your writing
10:46
muscle. The thickness of your scale
10:50
really, you know, makes a difference.
10:52
Or really you have to. Have a hard shell.
10:55
I think I have that because I think it was a struggle because
10:59
I entered this and I realised, oh, I've broken this barrier.
11:02
I can talk on stage, but I would also talk about really boring
11:06
stuff like, you know, but I think I just had this thing that
11:08
I really want to do this. I kept getting humiliated for
11:11
like 6-7 months till something. Something snaps.
11:15
Yeah. Did you have like a mentor
11:18
anybody that said this is gonna happen?
11:21
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah. So I think that that's the
11:24
great, that was the great part about the timing, because as I
11:27
said, the scene was still pretty fresh in India.
11:30
Like 2014. Thirteen is when these guys, you
11:32
know, the senior comedian, started doing comedy.
11:35
And I was senior. I was people who were little
11:38
older. They're all younger than me,
11:40
actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:42
But what I'm trying to say is that people who were the first
11:45
movers in comedy were also like, you don't doing it only for 3-4
11:48
years by the time I entered. So there was a lot of resource
11:51
available. They're all very accessible.
11:53
It was very small scene so you could talk to anyone.
11:57
Everyone was willing to mentor you.
11:59
So I live. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:00
Because right now it's expanded. Right now it's a big commercial
12:03
industry in India. But the time when I started the
12:07
commerce part of it was very limited.
12:09
It was really, it was like, you know, this underground New York
12:11
scene where so. Mrs Maisel?
12:14
Yeah, did. You see that?
12:17
Yeah, they were in like little coffee houses.
12:19
And everybody's going like this. Yeah.
12:21
I mean, the comedy is too wordy. But what I'm trying to say is
12:24
that everyone is around and everyone is accessible and
12:28
everyone's talking to everyone. So that was very helpful.
12:31
Because the reason I asked about the mentoring is sometimes you
12:35
find that person and then sometimes you don't.
12:38
Because sometimes comedians, it depends on where, yeah, but
12:43
sometimes they can be a little bit.
12:45
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like little groups like we're
12:49
from Minnesota, we're the New York comics or you know.
12:53
I think now maybe there are younger comics who look at me
12:57
and they're like this one is too.
12:59
She's the establishment. She's out of reach.
13:02
But though, even though I try to be warm and nice because right
13:04
now, as I said, OK, the industry is big, that actually we do not
13:09
end up mixing so much with the, you know, the fresh talent
13:12
because we end up doing our commercial gigs a lot.
13:14
Don't look at the fresh talent. That's fresh talent.
13:20
Do you go out the back door? Yeah.
13:21
No, no, we don't do that, but you know what I mean?
13:24
So I have sometimes they can effort to actually be like, oh,
13:27
you were new, how's it going for you?
13:31
And that point I'm realising, oh, this is in months.
13:33
This is the first time talking to a, you know, an open mic or a
13:36
new a fresh person. But when I was starting out, I
13:40
was literally talking to like everyone all the time because we
13:43
were all sharing the same green rooms.
13:44
So mentorship was very easily accessible.
13:47
And again, these were all, you know, young people who had
13:50
started off 3-4 years back. So they also had no, they were
13:54
not big enough at the time. So they were very, you know,
13:58
they were, they were very generous with their inputs as
14:01
well. That's nice.
14:02
Yeah. I think right now we've all
14:03
become a rich. I had that, yeah.
14:06
You know, you mentioned when you started out and then you, you
14:10
had that humiliation period where people threw stuff.
14:14
No, no, nobody threw stuff. Thankfully, I would have taken
14:18
that, you know, All right, all right.
14:19
I remember that's that's the ones I was ready for it.
14:23
I tell people in my show right now so that you know what, if
14:25
you don't like it, you can throw things.
14:28
But you said something clicked. Yeah.
14:31
What was it that clicked? Was it comfort on stage?
14:36
Was it your material? I think just going on stage
14:40
every day and trying it, trying to write every day.
14:44
It's. A muscle, yeah, I think every
14:46
day I would not make any visible progress, but I think at some
14:51
point it came together that I think I started understanding
14:55
the technique of stand up, the rhythm, the rhythm and the fact
14:59
that are people who are doing well, they're doing the setup,
15:01
punch, time, act out, blah, blah, blah.
15:03
And because I was so at it all the time, I think at some
15:07
abstract level, the way like if I'm thinking of a story, I was
15:12
able to mould the technique and the abstract part of it together
15:17
more naturally cuz. Yeah, cuz a lot of people, I
15:21
mean, just from my experience, I know some people, what gets them
15:25
up on stage is kind of almost not copying exactly, but being
15:32
someone they really like, like their style.
15:35
Yeah, but then over time you develop your own.
15:38
Style, yeah. Which is more like your own
15:41
personality, so. I think the good thing for me
15:44
was I think I've always been. I've been so arrogant I guess
15:48
that I think even though even for the 67.
15:51
You could admit that. Do you want us to cut that out?
15:53
No, no, you, you could have that.
15:56
I am arrogant. She's arrogant.
15:59
Yeah, it's I'm, I'm really coming out of.
16:02
That no, no, you have to be a little bit arrogant to do this.
16:05
But I was really arrogant in the even the beginning of my career
16:09
that even though I was so new to this entire thing, I was
16:12
actually coming from a corporate background.
16:14
And for six months I'm really bombing every day I had.
16:17
I had no instinct to copy anyone at all like I was like.
16:22
Oh, that's good, yeah. Like, they are doing what they
16:26
know. I will do what I know.
16:28
So that's why it took longer to, you know, figure out something
16:32
that was unique to me but also funny.
16:35
But I think if I'd started copying someone, I would have
16:37
been stuck in that rut for a longer time.
16:40
Did your family have a Did you have an artistic background?
16:44
No. No, from your family.
16:46
I think I'm, I'm the elder child in the household and I think I
16:50
was the one who was supposed to become a doctor or an engineer.
16:54
And I then I did, then I did my MBA from, you know, from a very
16:57
coveted institution in India. I was supposed to be the.
17:01
You were gonna be an engineer. I became an engineer, then I did
17:04
my MBA. I became, I actually became a
17:07
brand manager and that was supposed to be my track.
17:10
My brother was supposed to be the artist.
17:11
Great. Yeah.
17:13
Yeah. You know most astronauts are
17:15
first child. Did you know that I read that?
17:19
Somewhere that's, I mean, I would, yeah, I would have tried
17:23
to be an astronaut. You would have been an
17:25
astronaut. I mean, as a child I used to
17:27
tell. And now you're at yuck yucks.
17:32
That's life. What can you?
17:34
Do But now astronauts are like anybody can be an astronaut, no?
17:38
Who can be a comic? A lot of efforts.
17:41
Well, yeah, yeah. So you you reached that little
17:47
pinnacle and then you started doing.
17:49
Did you start a tour in India? Yeah, Yeah.
17:52
So I think I was around 30 when at least started open miking.
17:56
I started comedy that late in life.
17:59
And then the good thing was I for me, it became commercially
18:03
viable in the first couple of years because it so happened
18:07
that I started gigging. And then it's so funny.
18:11
I was part of a talent hunt. OK, so so yes, Amazon Prime came
18:16
to India. This are a talent.
18:17
Was it called comics? Comics, then yes.
18:20
Yeah, yeah, I saw some of that, yeah.
18:23
So, yeah, so that really took off.
18:25
Yeah. And that it doesn't happen even
18:27
in India. You know, a lot of reality shows
18:31
are made but not like not really.
18:34
All of them take off in a way that people who participate have
18:38
a career out of it. So I was also very sceptical
18:41
participating in it or even expecting anything out of it.
18:44
So I had taken a sabbatical from my job and I told them I'll come
18:46
back OK. I told them that.
18:48
So you were working during this? Whole time, yeah.
18:51
See, that's good, though You were, I think you were ahead of
18:56
the game because you were like you were working and you
18:59
approached this as another job. Yeah, yeah.
19:02
Because a lot of comics are lazy.
19:05
Or are they confident of their skills?
19:07
I'm guessing they're like, you know, I'm funny, I'll make it
19:09
happen. I would like, I don't know.
19:11
Or some of them are delusional. But that's, that's, you know,
19:16
that's part of the game. No, no, they just have this idea
19:21
that it's just going to happen, but then you have this work
19:25
ethic. I had.
19:27
You got to. You got to do gigs, you got to
19:29
write your stuff. And I had to make money, but I
19:32
think I also but after when I took a sabbatical and did this
19:36
reality show and and of course, the way.
19:38
Products you have to apply. They actually was this scout,
19:42
like they were scouting for talent and then they identified
19:44
some of us from these small gigs in the audience.
19:47
It's comic stand is in the audience.
19:50
Did did you know that they were looking?
19:53
No, no, no. OK.
19:54
Yeah, I did not know. So I was, I was living my life.
19:57
I was, you know, I was getting humiliated.
19:59
And then the time when I stopped getting humiliated on stage, I
20:02
was starting to do better. They scouted me as a talent.
20:05
And then, you know, they approached and of course, there
20:07
was the audition process and whatnot.
20:09
But what I'm trying to say is that for the two months when I
20:12
took a sabbatical from work and did this show, and then of
20:15
course the way production works is the show was.
20:17
About release for some 667 months later.
20:20
Did you have to live in a house? Yeah.
20:23
When they filmed. You.
20:24
Yeah, parts of it are not everywhere, OK.
20:30
They were, they were like they had like this area, common area
20:34
where you know. Did they tell you?
20:37
It's like you need to get into a fight with this person.
20:41
I mean I think they did it for later seasons but not really.
20:44
To spice things. Up, yeah, but it was, I mean,
20:48
the show actually like worked on its merit.
20:50
Like, you know, I think people had not seen so much comedy,
20:53
like bundled together till that point.
20:57
Yeah. So it really that format really
20:59
worked. So the ratings were really good.
21:01
Yeah, yeah. Wow, it really happened.
21:05
So that's why I'm a believer. And I'm like, oh, comedy gods
21:09
were around. They really made it happen for
21:11
me that way. Where are these comedy gods?
21:14
I'd like to meet them and so after the show you did, they put
21:20
everybody together and do a tour.
21:23
No, no, no. So after the show we all went
21:25
back to our respective jobs or places because there's going to
21:28
be some 6-7 months till they edit it and record and put it
21:32
out. So what I was saying I went back
21:34
to my job actually because in my head this was supposed to be
21:37
just a 2 month vacation and I go back to my job.
21:40
But that is when I started feeling really miserable.
21:42
I felt like, oh, I have found. I know you had this taste.
21:47
Yeah, you know, as if you go on a vacation and have an affair
21:50
and then you have to come back to your marriage.
21:54
It really felt like that. She's.
21:56
Arrogant and she's talking about affairs.
21:59
But you know what I mean. Yeah, no, I know what you mean.
22:02
You get that? It's like holiday fever.
22:05
Exactly that. And it's weird that I like.
22:08
I know that. Yeah.
22:09
Yeah. Wait.
22:10
It felt like that. I was miserable.
22:12
I was like, Oh my God, I needed divorce.
22:14
Like so. When you came back to work,
22:16
didn't people go, what are you doing here?
22:18
Well, actually. What was it like?
22:21
To be honest, I was such a different personality at work.
22:25
I was never funnier to work. So when I went for this
22:27
two-month break also, they were like, oh, she's making a
22:30
mistake. And they're like, OK, whatever.
22:32
And when I came back, they were like, thank God sense has
22:35
prevailed. She's come back.
22:36
And then after six months, when I was quitting my job because
22:39
the show had aired and I was getting, you know, commercial
22:42
queries, there were at least so many well wishers in my office
22:45
who were like, why are you doing this to yourself?
22:47
Yeah. They're like, no, they were
22:49
like, you were not funny. They're like, how will you
22:52
sustain this? Don't and don't get deluded by
22:57
some reality show. You are good at this.
23:00
OK? We've never seen you crack a
23:02
single joke in office. You're very worried.
23:05
So I literally people who wish like, you know, who were cared
23:09
for me the most were like, Are you sure?
23:11
I need to talk to you. Yeah, yeah.
23:14
And then they actually the thing was OK, if you really are
23:16
convinced, go. But you know, you can always
23:19
come back because you'll have to come back.
23:22
And they were again, they meant it in the best way possible
23:25
because I think it was I'm, I'm a very different person at work,
23:30
you know, work. I was I was a serious person
23:32
leading a team. I would never crack a single
23:35
joke. Of course you had to get the
23:36
job. Yeah, and but there was a full
23:40
personality flip when I go on stage, so and these people had
23:44
not seen the show at all because it had like it just started
23:47
airing. But then when they saw it
23:49
though. Oh, yeah, yeah.
23:50
Then they were like, we don't know this person.
23:54
So how did you broach with them that I want to go?
23:58
Oh man, it was difficult. I'm the boss.
24:01
Oh yeah, yeah. So.
24:03
How did you do it? Oh, it was, it was weird because
24:06
again, stand up was so new in India.
24:08
So I'm telling my boss that, you know, actually I want to quit.
24:11
You have to stay. But you know, I like.
24:17
I think I found my calling somewhere else.
24:20
Oh, I get this all the time and. Then I'm saying, you know
24:25
there's a thing called stand up. Do you know what stand up means?
24:30
And my boss is like, what are you saying?
24:31
What is this thing? Yeah.
24:33
Oh, you had to explain all that? Yeah, yeah.
24:36
Wow, yeah. So, but it was, I mean, but it
24:39
was, I'm saying I also saw a lot of goodness where again, I had
24:43
three different people I used to work for over the years at my
24:47
job. And all three of them were
24:49
absolutely not convinced that I'm funny or I could actually
24:52
sustain this career. But all three of them in three
24:54
different meetings told me that, you know, you go, you experiment
24:58
and you come back, but you go take this risk.
25:03
We're there as your backup. So that did make a difference to
25:06
me. So even though it was a bit.
25:07
Tight because I talked to a lot of comic like 1 I talked to was
25:11
an accountant and a lot of them they don't want to make like
25:16
they don't want to get leave their job until they've
25:19
established themselves. Yeah.
25:22
And so you were like that. You took your stuff.
25:25
I, I actually, I waited for it to become sort of commercially
25:29
viable because I also had my family to support.
25:32
I was in that stage. No, no, it's very, yeah, it's a
25:37
lot of people are like I, I was doing temp work and then I would
25:43
always quit and I would say, see you suckers.
25:47
And then I'd have to come back like 2 weeks later because I
25:51
needed the money and I'd be like, shit, yeah, I but you did
25:57
it. Well done.
26:00
Thank you. And so then after that, what?
26:03
What happened? Did you excuse me?
26:05
After that, the pandemic happened, so I quit and then I
26:10
started touring for one year and it was great.
26:13
What is touring like in? India, it's actually it can be
26:17
quite a hectic. Is it like a long period?
26:20
Oh yeah, it's so. I mean, again, depends on how
26:24
extensive you want to make it. For example, if you do comedy in
26:28
English, you would typically go to certain again, very metro or
26:34
cosmopolitan cities because that is where you find your audience.
26:37
Oh, so there's two tourists? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:41
But typically in India, I do my comedy in Hindi.
26:43
So what I do is I would go to the like, you know, the five
26:46
metro cities and then I would add a bunch of tier one city.
26:49
There's a lot more in Hindi. Yeah, yeah, there is a bigger
26:52
audience and yeah, that way touring is again, that model
26:57
also we've copied from what we've seen in the West, that is
27:00
this is how American comics do their touring.
27:03
So, you know, we actually literally copied that model in
27:06
the beginning, then realise. But the way we fly on the way we
27:09
commute is different, so we can stagger it a bit more.
27:12
Did. You fly or did you?
27:15
Hear. No, no, in India is it?
27:17
I think we end up flying a lot because the city is a huge
27:20
country. Yeah.
27:21
Yeah. So very few cities are like
27:23
located in a way that you can commute by a train or a bus or a
27:27
or a car. In a big bus, yeah.
27:29
Yeah. So we actually copied the model
27:31
in from the US where they used to do a bus, Yeah.
27:34
And then we realised, oh, but we're not doing a bus, OK, we're
27:37
taking flights everywhere, Yeah. So we can actually have more
27:40
flexibility with this model, but I think we still end up doing it
27:46
the same way it's done in US where, you know, the dates are
27:48
concentrated. We do it across a couple of
27:50
months together, and then we try to club geographies together
27:54
even though we're flying to every city.
27:56
So that model is very, very like, I don't know, is it just
27:58
adapted from there? But yeah.
28:01
And did you have an agent that booked you everywhere or do you
28:07
have a? Yeah, I did.
28:08
So I think as soon as I quit my job and started this whole
28:13
thing, because I was already getting inquiries.
28:16
So there was at that point there was one agency which was
28:19
managing most of the Commons. Just one.
28:22
Now it's very fragmented, right, right, right.
28:24
But at that point, because it was still new, this one big
28:28
agency had monopoly and like, you know, it was a big thing to
28:31
get sort of signed by them. But because they were also
28:35
associated with this show, with the the comic Stand.
28:38
So it it became very like, you know, very easy for me to get
28:42
signed by them. Yeah.
28:44
So it was touched with that way. The commercial part of it was
28:48
very smooth as I transitioned. So there is no big story there.
28:53
But yeah, I think pandemic was when all of us became really
28:57
scared. I forgot about that.
29:00
I think most of them erase it from our memories.
29:02
Collector memories. It just, it stopped everything.
29:06
Yeah, yeah. I mean, some people say for some
29:09
people it stopped their career because they either did wound up
29:14
doing something else or they felt like, oh, my momentum got
29:18
shifted. Yeah, yeah.
29:20
I never had that momentum, so I just went straight through it.
29:25
It's like pandemic. I'm doing the same thing.
29:31
Did you have? This podcast during the
29:34
pandemic. No, I just started in May.
29:38
Can you believe it? It's so professional.
29:42
Did you do a lot online during? The pandemic, yeah.
29:45
And somehow that that also was a big market in the sense during
29:50
the pandemic, everyone was getting bored.
29:53
So you're doing, I think you're doing some casual gigs, you
29:57
know, online earlier. But then there were people who
30:00
were there were offices who would organise these online gigs
30:04
for us to entertain. Their employees are all working.
30:07
Over Zoom, yeah, that's great, that.
30:10
Was those three very awkward gigs, but you know, they used to
30:13
bring in the money and it was also is this.
30:15
Laptop on Yeah. And, you know, you can't because
30:19
people are sitting in their homes, OK, They're like, now in
30:23
pyjamas. Yeah.
30:24
OK. Some, many are on mute.
30:26
Some are not on mute. And there is, like, immune
30:29
noise. And in general, these office
30:32
gigs, these corporate gigs are difficult.
30:34
And you don't get a reaction, you don't get the laughs, you.
30:39
Keep looking at them. Some are.
30:40
Some are looking at you and they're like laughing.
30:42
Some are distracted. Hello.
30:46
Yeah, Oh my God. But I mean, it, it did bring in
30:50
the money and there were a lot of a lot of employers organised
30:53
these gigs. Yeah, it was a thing during the
30:56
pandemic. So I mean, that sustained many
30:58
of us, you know, And I thought, I thought maybe this is a thing
31:01
across the world. I don't know if it's an India
31:03
thing. Well, I think there was, I
31:05
didn't do any stand up per SE, but I there was a comic Sam
31:11
Morrell. Do you know him?
31:13
He did rooftop gigs. He actually did a special out of
31:17
it in New York where he would just say you'd get like 50
31:22
people together, They'd go on the roof and he'd do the gig.
31:25
Nice. Yeah, nice.
31:27
And then now there's the phenomenon.
31:29
I think it started before the pandemic.
31:31
Like people can hire out comics for like their backyard parties
31:38
and stuff. Oh, that happens at all in
31:41
India. So it does.
31:42
A bunch of rich people would be like, come, you know, we have a
31:46
gig in our balcony and they, they want the top comics.
31:51
So I have not been able to be, you know, I've not reached a
31:55
place where I'm called for a balcony gig.
31:58
A billionaire calls you up. I want some comedy now.
32:03
Well, yeah, it's a thing. One weird query I got.
32:07
Who is when, you know, a really rich woman and four of her
32:14
colleagues or friends, they just booked one hotel room and they
32:19
wanted me to come perform for the six of them in that hotel
32:22
room. Yeah, and I'm like, this is just
32:25
weird. It's.
32:26
Slightly scary, like what's gonna happen?
32:29
Yeah, so thankfully somehow I did not like go through, but how
32:32
like this would have been very weird experience.
32:34
So you didn't do it? Yeah, I think they all, I think
32:37
they changed their mind because someone like put some sense, I
32:40
was, I was only telling them that this you can't do stand up
32:44
for six people in a hotel room. You have to understand they're
32:47
like, no, no, we'll pay you OK, But I'm like, no, but it's no
32:50
fun. There's no mind.
32:52
Yeah, yeah. Not be sitting in your lap and
32:55
performing. That's not that's not it's not
32:58
so it. Did not go through.
33:04
It might have been for a lot of money, though.
33:05
Yeah, yeah. But yeah, sometimes you have to
33:07
say no to money. So what is what's your goal
33:12
right now with stand up? Do you wanna do you wanna go out
33:15
into acting as well? Do you have aspirations?
33:21
Films. I think I I've started doing
33:23
some screenplay writing. OK.
33:26
Because because my again primary language is Hindi, so the Hindi
33:30
movie industry, they are always scouted.
33:32
Isn't it the biggest film industry?
33:35
I mean, numbers like world, I won't be surprised.
33:38
I think big is very easy for a population like hearts.
33:41
OK, right. So, so it's, it's a big industry
33:44
and and a lot of times they feel like, you know, they really need
33:48
people like me to help with dialogues because, you know,
33:51
they're making a funny movie or if they're moving up, oh,
33:55
there's a strong female character.
33:57
So I've started getting into that.
33:59
So that's. Great, like consulting and.
34:02
Yeah, doctoring, punching up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
34:05
We call them punch. Up.
34:06
Yeah, yeah. So yes, yes, yes.
34:09
So I think I started there and most recently I got a movie
34:13
where I had to literally write all dialogues for the movie.
34:16
So that was like a step up. The next step could be writing a
34:20
full screenplay, which is a bit intimidating for me right now,
34:23
but I mean parallely. Save the cat.
34:25
Have you read that? Yeah, you have to save the cat.
34:29
Yes, the cat has to be saved. I don't know if that works or
34:33
not, but I don't think they say you should do it.
34:37
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I think the problem with
34:40
the Hindi movies is the the female characters typically
34:43
saving too many cats. Like the problem is the female
34:46
characters typically too nice. So you have to be like, save a
34:51
like save fewer cats, kill a few cats maybe.
34:53
You know, would you just kill a lot of cats?
34:57
You could write your own book. Kill the cat.
34:59
Kill the. Cat.
35:01
So would you say that the films are kind of formulaic and maybe
35:07
that's changing now? Or I think it's a difficult time
35:11
for that industry right now because I think all the big
35:14
budget movie, The real the money part has become too, too
35:18
formulaic, has become too cliched.
35:21
And actually those movies are not working anymore in theatres.
35:24
I think it's very similar to how it is in the West also.
35:26
And the few indie movies which are experimenting, which are
35:30
actually trying to do new things, have very small
35:33
audience. Very.
35:35
Small yeah, so they do end up going to festivals.
35:38
They do end up getting awards in festivals, which is a big deal
35:41
given, you know, like the journey is so tough, but the
35:46
audience still very limited. But the good thing is, I mean,
35:49
what I'm thinking is that these things happen as, you know,
35:53
they're cyclical. That if if right now it's a this
35:56
is a Dark Knight for you know of like Hindi cinema.
35:59
It's a dip. And yeah, yeah.
36:00
Because right now there's very limited good stuff coming out of
36:03
it. Yeah.
36:04
But because nothing is working, the hope is that people will
36:08
take a good look, you know, question what they're doing and
36:11
then try to make something. Better.
36:13
What the hell are you doing? Yeah, because a lot of them
36:16
don't know what's. Going on, yeah, The good thing
36:20
is they've been like, you know, decades in the past when the
36:24
industry has made really good movies, really good commercial
36:27
movies, which are also thought promoting.
36:29
But the last couple of decades they've done like some really
36:33
lazy. Because they always base it on a
36:35
previous movie. That's already a step.
36:37
They try to play really safe now and I'm guessing with this new
36:40
culture of with this new stress of how to bring audience to
36:45
cinemas, yeah, they're just getting, they're just playing
36:48
more safe. Spider Man has a.
36:49
Brother. Spider Man is a twin.
36:54
Yeah. Spider man has a head coming out
36:57
of his head. Oh, man, we've done this all
37:00
before. Spiderman did it.
37:02
Yeah, in the television industry has done it all.
37:04
It's. All Spiderman, Yeah.
37:08
And what about other countries? Do you have any other?
37:11
I have a US store in Feb which is the first time I'm going to
37:14
the US. It's a big deal.
37:16
So I'm going, I'm doing about 12:13 cities, which is the West
37:20
Coast, the East Coast in Chicago, Austin, Del.
37:23
So yeah, it's a great extensive plan.
37:26
Yeah, yeah. Like, I'm very excited.
37:28
Like, you know? Wow.
37:30
And so the US, you've done Europe.
37:34
Europe I've done, yeah. So with this particular show
37:36
I've done Europe and Australia in this year and US was the one
37:40
which took a lot more planning because it's bigger towards way
37:44
more extensive. Finally, that's happening in Feb
37:47
and, and in the middle I did the Fringe Festival, which was when
37:51
I did the English show for the first time.
37:53
Yeah. How was that?
37:55
Oh yeah, it was. It was great.
37:56
Actually. I've been an audience of the
37:57
Fringe earlier a couple of times.
37:59
I've come to the Fringe to watch the festival.
38:01
It's. Very hilly.
38:02
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's, it's crazy.
38:06
I mean, you know, as an audience, actually, you just
38:08
come, you have fun, you enjoy shows.
38:10
But I think as an artist, it can also get to you a bit.
38:13
You know, I was there for the entire month, but I think I
38:17
really had a great time. And for me, again, this was the
38:21
first time I was doing my show in English because the audience
38:24
is way more mixed than I, you know, the audience I see here
38:27
did. You get a Scottish accent.
38:29
No, no, somehow I just never get any accent.
38:34
My own accent is too thick. I think I give people accent,
38:38
Maybe talk to me for some time and start talking like me.
38:42
It happens. Really.
38:44
I'm not like that. I'm not like, I don't have that
38:47
Madonna thing. I didn't have it over here when
38:50
I lived over here. Yeah, I do say some words, like
38:55
cheers. I say a lot, but I'm not very
38:59
good. Night.
39:00
I don't pick things up easily. OK, now there is a segment in
39:06
the show. I don't know if you've seen the
39:08
show, that's OK. I should I should have where's?
39:15
The trapdoor. Can.
39:17
I that it's called fill in the blank.
39:21
So I'll say a sentence with the blank.
39:24
You don't have to be funny. Just say the first word that
39:27
comes into your mind. OK, OK, The biggest splurge, you
39:32
know, where I spent something on myself I recently did for myself
39:37
is blank. Hair colour.
39:41
Hair colouring, Yeah, that's a splurge.
39:44
Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, so not like a Lamborghini
39:48
or anything. But.
39:50
Like hair colour haircut? That's that's where I am in life
39:53
right now. OK, that's cool.
39:55
I like blank so much I'm starting to get worried.
40:00
Oh wow. Oh man, potatoes.
40:05
You like potatoes so much? You're.
40:07
Starting to get worried? I keep eating potato all the
40:12
time, it's so weird. You mean like French fries?
40:14
Or these cheese and potato things, or every type of potato
40:19
I've been eating. It's crazy.
40:20
You eat over here. Yeah, they're everywhere, aren't
40:23
they? And.
40:23
I'm eating all of it. Stop it.
40:25
That's. Potato.
40:27
It's not even like some exotic meat, no.
40:31
It's yeah, it's just a potato. It's worrying me.
40:33
You're not getting enough potatoes in.
40:35
India a lot. There's something about hot
40:39
potatoes in this weather, I guess.
40:41
It is comforting. Yeah, yeah, it feels very good.
40:43
Blank is getting out of hand. My my non existential love life.
40:53
Oh my God, what is that? Oh, I see.
40:55
OK, it's probably in your ACT. It's so not getting out of hand.
41:01
Oh, so you're doing an anti? Yes.
41:03
OK, because you're so busy. I'm so busy you.
41:06
Don't have time to meet? Me.
41:07
That's a good way to put it. Yeah, it's hard to make.
41:11
People on tour. Yeah.
41:13
Yeah, so if anybody wants to meet, no, if I didn't put comic
41:21
down for my profession. Comic down, yeah.
41:24
You know, in your passport. In your card.
41:28
Yeah, coming to a new country, I'd put down blank.
41:32
If I didn't put down comic, I'd put down blank.
41:35
Oh man, oh scammer. Scam artist.
41:41
Scam artist but they would not let me in there, would they?
41:45
I feel like what we do is very similar to what scam artist.
41:48
You could put engineer down. Yeah, I could.
41:51
Basically the question is sort of like maybe if you weren't a.
41:55
Comic. What would I be?
41:57
Yeah, I would love to be a dancer, actually.
42:01
OK, I'm not, but I would love to if I could, you know, if I had
42:05
training for it. That's something.
42:06
You always put it in your show. Yeah, I try to like when I'm
42:11
doing. I think one thing that really
42:12
stands out in my comedy. But like, why is she dancing?
42:15
There's no need to move so much, but I do.
42:18
I did a show once on stage. I hired some dancers for the
42:22
just for the end. Did you dance?
42:25
Yeah. Yeah.
42:26
Do you like dancing? Why are you shocked?
42:28
Because I don't know. No, I fancy myself a dancer as
42:33
well. Last one, I'm a blank.
42:36
A proud blank. I'm proud.
42:45
Oh my God, what am I proud of? It's such a tough question.
42:49
You have to, you said. I don't have to be funny, right?
42:51
No, you can be proud of anything.
42:53
I'm a proud potato eater. Yeah, yeah, I eat it with pride.
42:59
A lot of potato. I've been eating so much of it.
43:02
I need to be proud. Well, that's good.
43:06
I mean, that's the only way to eat a potato, right?
43:08
Yeah, yeah. So now I'm gonna ask you if you
43:12
have anything to plug. It could be also in India.
43:16
If you. Want or?
43:18
I'm I'm here in London till Saturday which is the 20th
43:22
December every day at the Soho Theatre.
43:24
If you're watching it in the US, I'm coming on in Feb, definitely
43:29
most probably coming to your city as well.
43:31
And other than that, yeah, just follow me on Instagram at
43:34
Prashasti Singh and check out my YouTube channel.
43:36
A lot of plugging I've done. Now and what what room at the
43:40
Soho Theatre? The downstairs.
43:43
Nice, that's a good room. That's a very nice room.
43:46
I love that room. Good audience.
43:48
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Come on down.
43:52
Yeah. All right.
43:54
Well, thank you for coming. Thank you.
43:55
Thank you so much. All the best.
43:58
Hey, check her out if you're in town and if you want to
44:03
subscribe, all you got to do is press the button below.
44:08
That's all you got to do and press like if you like it, write
44:14
some comments. If you want to do the comments,
44:16
sit back, eat some potatoes. I know I am.
44:20
I'm really after hearing that I want to eat a whole.
44:40
Rich vultures talk box.