Vir Das had big plans after winning his first ever International Emmy award for his Netflix special, Vir Das: Landing. Unlike other people who win big awards and just sit in their hotel rooms to take it in, our man was going to head straight to Panchkula. “It felt good to stay grounded like that, you know,” chuckles Das. On a warm Tuesday afternoon, I find myself in a sparsely furnished room in one of the many bungalows in the bylanes of Bandra, waiting to interview Das. When I say sparsely furnished, I mean that there are two chairs and a table in the room where I am greeted by him, while he is still processing his win. Even off the stage, the guy is funny and is always serving witty oneliners. A win as mammoth as this one and the first of its kind for an Indian comic hasn’t gone to his head, though. He says, “At the end of the day, my audience is happy for me, but they are going to expect me to make them laugh because they bought tickets to my show four months in advance, and it’s good to know that you are answerable to them.”
Das’s comedy special tied in with the British teen sitcom Derry Girls, and for him, that alone is a huge achievement. “My name was announced first, so I didn’t even get to see them go up on stage to get their award, but we got to congratulate each other and hug it out backstage, and now I am an honorary Derry girl,” he beams. The road to getting that Emmy, though, has not been an easy one for Das, who received a lot of flak (alongside death threats) after his show at the Kennedy Center in 2021, where he delivered a monologue about coming from two different Indias, a satirical take on the duality of the country. Experts at taking offence, the country was up in arms and baying for his blood even as the video racked up more and more views on social media, with people chiming in to support him on his stance. The irony of the duality is not lost on us, but ask him if the win feels like vindication as the same naysayers who were outraged and putting a price on his head congratulate him and he simply smiles in the negative: “For me, it’s validation for people to buy tickets. It’s validation for promoters who want to start a comedy club. It’s validation for people who are like, no man, I’ve followed you since that one YouTube video. I feel like, at the end of the day, it’s going to end up being a joke. I mean just think about it, the best day and the worst day of my life are both going to end up being jokes,” he quips.
It is true, however, that as a country, we haven’t been kind to our comedians. Whether that is because we are afraid to hear the truth or because our version of the truth is skewed is still up for debate, but we do love cancelling comedians. This constant fear of ending up in jail or saying something offensive has turned the comedy scene into a different kind of beast, even as someone making a reel with some unfunny jokes basks in the soft glow of virality. Ask him how the Indian comedy space has evolved over time, and Das reminisces about the days when comedians had to walk the talk. “We had to do a movie just so that people would discover what our name was before we could even think about doing standup. I think every comic has to find a system for themselves in terms of how much they’re willing to put themselves out there and with what authenticity they feel like they want to talk about the world in a world in which everybody’s truth is different.”
While we are a country that loves devouring comedy content on the reg, be it in the form of standup comedy, comedy specials and more, there is an increasing demand for cringe comedy on social media, too – case in point, the Ganji Chudail series on Instagram that has many hooked, it’s evident that there’s a massive market for such content. While Das wasn’t familiar with the work of Ganji Chudail (a tragedy, really), he was quick to say, “I think if you want to be really humbled by time, today’s edgy comedy is tomorrow’s cringe comedy. And then yesterday’s cringe comedy is today’s cult comedy if you think about it.”
As we wrap up our chat, I ask him if he views his win as being successful; Das sagely says, “Ticket sales are a measure of success. Return customers are a measure of success. That’s the biggest measure of success, right?” Said in an office with zero furniture, so figure it out.
Das’s comedy special tied in with the British teen sitcom Derry Girls, and for him, that alone is a huge achievement. “My name was announced first, so I didn’t even get to see them go up on stage to get their award, but we got to congratulate each other and hug it out backstage, and now I am an honorary Derry girl,” he beams. The road to getting that Emmy, though, has not been an easy one for Das, who received a lot of flak (alongside death threats) after his show at the Kennedy Center in 2021, where he delivered a monologue about coming from two different Indias, a satirical take on the duality of the country. Experts at taking offence, the country was up in arms and baying for his blood even as the video racked up more and more views on social media, with people chiming in to support him on his stance. The irony of the duality is not lost on us, but ask him if the win feels like vindication as the same naysayers who were outraged and putting a price on his head congratulate him and he simply smiles in the negative: “For me, it’s validation for people to buy tickets. It’s validation for promoters who want to start a comedy club. It’s validation for people who are like, no man, I’ve followed you since that one YouTube video. I feel like, at the end of the day, it’s going to end up being a joke. I mean just think about it, the best day and the worst day of my life are both going to end up being jokes,” he quips.
It is true, however, that as a country, we haven’t been kind to our comedians. Whether that is because we are afraid to hear the truth or because our version of the truth is skewed is still up for debate, but we do love cancelling comedians. This constant fear of ending up in jail or saying something offensive has turned the comedy scene into a different kind of beast, even as someone making a reel with some unfunny jokes basks in the soft glow of virality. Ask him how the Indian comedy space has evolved over time, and Das reminisces about the days when comedians had to walk the talk. “We had to do a movie just so that people would discover what our name was before we could even think about doing standup. I think every comic has to find a system for themselves in terms of how much they’re willing to put themselves out there and with what authenticity they feel like they want to talk about the world in a world in which everybody’s truth is different.”
View this post on Instagram
While we are a country that loves devouring comedy content on the reg, be it in the form of standup comedy, comedy specials and more, there is an increasing demand for cringe comedy on social media, too – case in point, the Ganji Chudail series on Instagram that has many hooked, it’s evident that there’s a massive market for such content. While Das wasn’t familiar with the work of Ganji Chudail (a tragedy, really), he was quick to say, “I think if you want to be really humbled by time, today’s edgy comedy is tomorrow’s cringe comedy. And then yesterday’s cringe comedy is today’s cult comedy if you think about it.”
As we wrap up our chat, I ask him if he views his win as being successful; Das sagely says, “Ticket sales are a measure of success. Return customers are a measure of success. That’s the biggest measure of success, right?” Said in an office with zero furniture, so figure it out.
Next Story
