You went from
engineering to comedy–how did that happen?
I took a comedy class when I was at Intel to get over fear of doing
presentations on stage. It was just going to be a hobby. For the
very first class I didn’t know if my material was going to
even work. I learned the material backwards and forwards. But I
brought the house down—it was better than expected.
And I guess you never looked back. Are
you glad you made that choice?
If I wanted, I could go back into computers, but I haven’t
done that yet. I loved what I was doing, but comedy is ten times
better. I like being able to take a joke I wrote in the shower and
perform it in front of 2000 people. It’s a great feeling to
take something you create and give people joy. Very few things that
can touch that.
What’s the difference between a regular funny person
and what you do?
A lot of people don’t really know how difficult [performing]
comedy is until they actually try it.
So I know your dad is Indian and your
mom’s Japanese. How do you identify yourself?
I basically identify as being American, more than anything. I’m
not into Bollywood at all—in fact, I make fun of it. I don’t
hate it; visually it’s wonderful. My dad loves his culture,
but he didn’t foist his culture on me. [Growing up,] we went
to lots of Malyali events, Malyali weddings–not too many Japanese
events.
Have you been to India?
It’s been a long time. I may be going again later this year.
Some people want to take me on an Indian tour in the summer or winter.
Who’s your typical audience?
If you look at my tour schedule, 90 percent of what I get is Indian-oriented
stuff. One thing about the Indian audience is they’re really
good at laughing at themselves. They don’t get insulted. A
third of my act is kind of making fun of Indians, but I have never
gotten any objection to my act. Indians have really good senses
of humor. I really enjoy performing for Indians because I’ll
know [I’ll] get a great reaction when I do.
Where do you get your material?
The jokes I’m doing are based on true things. When I told
my dad I hate making my bed, I said, “What’s the point
of making my bed if it’s just going to get dirty again?”
My dad said, “Why should you wipe your bottom then?”
Jokes come from true stories. Anything a comedian says is pretty
much something that happened to them. What you are or who you are—that’s
where your material’s going to come from, from the heart.
Find the stuff that’s unique about you and make it funny.
And no dirty jokes?
I think the reason I’ve been able to make a fair amount of
money at this is because I’m clean. But a lot of comedians
can’t seem to do a show without writing a dirty joke about,
say, midgets.
I was reading Jerry Seinfeld’s book, and
he was talking [about] doing dirty material. He feels it’s
kind of a cheap laugh. I just feel better about doing clean material.
It’s always been that way from the beginning—it was
more subconscious than conscious. I don’t ever really want
to do any jokes that I can’t do in front of my parents. I
come from a very strict Asian background. Dirty jokes—that’s
just not my forte.
Is there competition among South Asian
comedians since it's a small community?
I’m sure that it’s nothing like the regular comedy community
where competition is very, very cutthroat. The Indian comedians
tend to stick together and help each other a little more. There
aren’t that many out there, and there’s a tremendous
amount of work. Any kind of healthy competition [is] good—if
it was vituperative or mean-spirited, that would be counter-productive.
I think the one thing that sometimes happens is I’ll quote
a price, and then another comedian will come in and quote a tenth
of what I’ve [quoted]. I’ve called [other South Asian
comics] and said we should all charge more.
The competitive advantage I have is being clean.
That puts me in a rarefied group. Totally clean comedians in the
Indian community are hard to find, [and] that’s why I get
hired a lot.
It’s one thing to tell a bunch of fat jokes and make college
students laugh, but they aren’t the ones hiring you for the
five and ten thousand dollars shows. Doing clean material matters
because I tend to get the higher level work.
How do you like opening for Russell Peters?
Opening for Russell has been phenomenal exposure I could not have
gotten on my own. He’s magnificent. By working with him I’ve
been able to make a name for myself. Russell is making a killing.
He’s one of the most successful comedians in the world from
a monetary standpoint. But he’s real humble—just a normal
guy. I kind of like to emulate that. Anyone wants to come up to
me, I’ll talk to. I felt weird being asked for an autograph
the first time. After a while, you realize it’s part of the
job.
What do you think about Vijai Nathan?
I’ve worked with her a few times. She left a job in [journalism]
and was able to make a living in comedy. Anyone who has taken that
chance and followed their dream—I would applaud anyone who’s
done that.
Do you ever perform for American audiences?
My stuff works in mainstream clubs. You do want to do things in
the mainstream if you can, but the mainstream [avenues] don’t
pay as well sometimes. People ask, “Why aren’t you doing
more clubs?” It’s because clubs don’t pay anything.
So, what are your goals for the future?
I feel very fortunate. I enjoy traveling around, meeting people,
just doing what I’m doing now. If I could do that for rest
of my life … [of course] like anything in show business, you
always want to go to [the] next level.
What about Saturday Night Live? Or improv groups like The
Groundlings or Second City?
I’ve been on [Saturday Night Live] with Paris Hilton as a
photographer. [Being on SNL,] that’s something you need a
bigger skill set for. I wouldn’t want to approach SNL people
with the skill set I have now.
I have done some improv classes. In general, the thing about improv
is you’re part of a group. In New York, improv doesn’t
seem to have as much appeal as stand-up. What I like about stand
up is you’re only depending on yourself to make or break you.
You don’t have to depend on three other people. Improv’s
just not for me.
Well, sounds like you’re doing pretty well.
I’m in the medium leagues right now. In 2002, I was in New
York City doing a show where you have to bring people in, in order
to perform, or you have to bark. I got a dollar for each person
[I brought]. I made five bucks. A year after I started, I made five
bucks.
Now the money is good. If you quote a low price
then certainly you’ll get more gigs but then you’re
leaving money on the table. When you’re an entertainer sometimes
people call you up, and you say you charge $5,000. Then they say
they were thinking more like 500. Rupees.
Do you ever perform for free?
If it’s something I believe in I’ll perform for nothing.
I like to [perform at] domestic violence [charity] events—it’s
a big problem in the South Asian community. I did an Islamic Relief event, and I donated all my CD sales. At one event this kid comes up
to me—cute kid, he’s got a pad and pen–and he’s
like, “Are you famous?” I told him, “Not really,”
and he said, “Okay, thank you.” And then he walked away.
Any advice for those of us who want to try our luck in
comedy?
I’ll tell you something I feel strongly about. Why aren’t
there more South Asians in show business? It’s because a lot
[of] South Asians get pressure from parents to become a doctor or
financial person or a lawyer. And I think that’s really unfortunate,
because there is a tremendous talent pool in the South Asian community
among young people. My cousin wanted to become a concert pianist.
He’s absolutely magnificent. And his dad wouldn’t let
him and forced him to become a doctor. I think it’s really
sad, and it happens a lot.
I would say, on other hand, it’s important
to make a living. You can have a full-time job in the day time and
be pursuing your true passion at night. To have a dream and do nothing
about it, to plod along with something you hate—that’s
bad.
Shweta Govindarajan is a full-time journalist and editor at ABCDlady. She writes about beauty, fashion, politics and entertainment. Shweta lives in Washington, DC.
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