Desi Rant #3 Assembly Line Desi Stand-Up Comics

Russell Peters is like Julius Caesar. He came, he saw and he conquered the uncharted territory of ethnic desi comedy. His jokes were new and hilarious, and they struck a cord not just with desis, but also others who know desis.

But here's the problem with ethnic-derived comedy material. It is rather limited. So while Peters remains the undisputed king of desi comedy abroad, the others who followed him into the business in droves are just unoriginal and unfunny hacks. Seriously, how many different jokes can one make based on the uncool accent, seven-elevens, desi cheapness, long and weird desi names, overbearing parents, arranged marriage and of course outsourcing? You could take one comic's maerial and hand it to another and they could deliver it without any rehearsals. Because they all crack the same basic jokes! In fact, I have seen at least two different desi comedians (Papa CJ and Rajiv Satyal) open their acts with an identical joke - about the audience wondering if we have started outsourcing comedy too. Hahaahaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

And as if the clichedness and predictability of their acts was not self-evident, a bunch of these hacks went on a tour called the "Slumdog Comedy Tour" recently. They can't even come up with an original name for their tour, how can we expect them to come up with original material?

Note to folks like CJ, Satyal and other assembly line stand-ups like Hari Kondabolu, Paul Varghese, Gautham Prasad, Vijai Nathan, Dan Nainan and so on - increase your range, work on your material, and please please please be original! Stop hanging on the coat-tails of Russell Peters or you will forever be relegated to performing opening acts for his shows. Or maybe a few Indian Students Association annual events. Ever hear of first mover advantage? Well, it happens to be really big in ethnic comedy and Russell Peters already ate it up. So either find some newer niche, improve your material drastically, grow a personality and take this stand-up thing seriously.

Or then go back to the white-collar jobs that you boast about having quit when you are giving interviews to desi/ABCD media outlets. A small aside - this whole "I had such a plush job, but I quit it to become a comic. Am I the cat's whiskers or the bee's knees?" thing is so laughably and typically desi. So you, a college-educated privileged kid from a well-to-do family, quit your precious 95K job and entered showbiz. Oooh, you're so special. All non-desis in the business just happen to be homeless bums who had no other options anyway.

A small observation about these assembly line desi comics. Almost all of them, well at least the lame ones, are ABCDs. Which makes me wonder, is there something about the ABCD experience that constricts your world-view and your imagination so much, that your act ends up being a rewording of age-old cliches? Or are they just talentless wannabe's who can afford to take the plunge only because they come from moneybag parents? Although all ABCD comedians are not lame (Mindy Kaling has more talent in her little pinky toe than all these posers put together), all lame desi comedians do tend to be ABCD.

The only desi stand-up comic we find funny apart from Russell Peters and Mindy Kaling, incidentally, happens to be an immigrant - Vidur Kapur. His material actually has depth as well as range. Also, he probably has the benefit of the first mover advantage too - being the first openly gay desi stand-up who actually talks about gay issues. He seems to have the intelligence, talent and the comedic eye to actually go on and become a bigger phenomenon.

The rest of you Russell clones - go get a job!