Q&A WITH SHASHI THAROOR
With an appearance on Amazon Prime’s One Mic Stand, MP Shashi Tharoor has added the hat of stand-up comic to his already brimming rack of selves
Q. You’re used to public speaking, but was standup comedy a different beast altogether?
Unlike regular public speaking, with stand-up the relationship that you build and share with your audience is far more intimate and intrinsic to the success of your set. Just the sheer novelty of the entire exercise, coupled with the limited advance preparations, made it a different challenge altogether. And what fun it ended up being.
Q. Was there one joke you really enjoyed cracking?
I think all of them were quite enjoyable, but I do miss some of the political ones that were left out of the final broadcast.
Q. Years ago, a ‘cattle class’ joke you had cracked was widely considered a gaffe. Do you think the world of politics is largely humourless?
Well, in all fairness, I was responding to the query “Mr Minister, will you travel cattle-class?” I assumed that the expression was as familiar to the general public as it was to the questioner and myself, and I, therefore, used it in my reply (“Yes, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!”)—at which point the proverbial cowdung hit the fan! Apart from the malice behind that absurd controversy, which still haunts me, the reality is there isn’t much humour within Indian politics, barring the occasional laboured quips that only seem witty in relation to the humourlessness all around.
Q. Are there any politicians you have known who have had a wicked sense of humour?
I’m not sure about ‘wicked’ but if there was one giant of his time who enjoyed humour, it was Mahatma Gandhi. Surely you recall his classic reply to the British journalist who asked him what he thought of western civilisation: “I think it would be a very good idea”. Or when upbraided for visiting the King in Buckingham Palace in his loincloth: “I think His Majesty has enough clothes on for the two of us.”