There and Back Again

You’re walking in a jungle, and you meet a lion. What time is it? It’s time to run.” That’s Vir Das’s earliest memory of a joke. He was 8, watching a senior’s speech at a school debate, and wasn’t impressed. His assessment: “The joke is wrong. If you run into a lion, it’s time to die.”

Twenty-nine years later, the boy who didn’t laugh is the first stand-up comedian from India to get a Netflix special, joining an esteemed legion that includes Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart. Das is conscious of the prestige platform. “They say that in comedy it takes 15 years to find your voice. I am a rank newcomer on the world circuit,” says Das, who has been at it for nine-and-a-half years. “There’s no wisdom or perspective to be expected from a guy like me. I am just figuring s*** out.”

Titled Abroad Understanding, the

set is performed at two venues—a stadium in Delhi and a comedy club in New York. Over an hour, Das shuttles between the funny and the serious, always being sincere and occasionally even poignant. “If you look at the issues plaguing India and America, they are the same,” says Das. “You can’t skirt around them and say frivolous s***. Somebody is going to get uncomfortable. But if you preface your show with the right context, then you can say whatever the hell you can.”

Asked if comics can say whatever they want in India’s current hyper nationalist climate, Das replies, “During the Congress [era], there was a lot of fodder. We mercilessly went after Manmohan Singh and the party. I think Modi has a great sense of humour. His electoral speeches were witty. He is not the problem. It’s the people who worship that are the problem. I have never stayed away from it. It has been largely OK.”

But one wonders if Indian comics can be as brazen as The Daily Show’s Hasan Minhaj was at the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner in taking on the political establishment. “I love him,” says Das. “Yes, there would be consequences in India. Which is still not a good enough reason not to do it.” It is all about dealing with the audience. “When you’re in clubs and smaller rooms, and people pay a manageable amount of money to see you, there is a certain creative freedom. You can mess around.” But Das is one of the few English stand-ups to sell out stadiums. “When you’re selling 12,000 tickets, not all of the audience will support the party you support. I can’t demean these people. You have to find more creative ways to look at it.” He cites a wisecrack from his special, which called Donald Trump the US’s “arranged marriage”—a candidate chosen by the elders for the young—as an example. “It’s a unique and Indian take on something that US late night show hosts talked about for two years.”

Having performed in both India and the US, Das feels nothing is untouchable when it comes to humour. But there is a difference in how audiences react. “Indians, we can’t handle [not agreeing with a funny joke]. It can’t be ‘I didn’t laugh, but you did, so I hate you and your family’.”

HAVING PERFORMED IN BOTH THE US AND INDIA, DAS FEELS NOTHING IS UNTOUCHABLE WHEN IT COMES TO HUMOUR