On a funny note
A handful of music bands is breaking into Mumbai's comic entertainment space with rib-tickling compositions about topics ranging from the elections to paan-spitting rickshaw drivers
Amrit Rao is not used to senior citizens telling him they enjoyed his band's show. Three-year-old Live Banned, which typically enters the stage in mismatched clothes, wigs and sunglasses, belts out medleys and original compositions with humour that its members describe as 'sometimes intelligent and at other times atrocious.' In one song, for example, vocalist Rao soulfully delivers a lament about rickshawwallahs in Indian English: "Everywhere I see an auto, paan-spitting, always-swearing, khaki-wearing local fellows." So a pat on the back from elderly members of the audience at a recent gig came as a pleasant surprise to the Bangalore-based boys.
At urban music and comedy clubs, it seems India has been rapidly developing an appetite for humour. This has prompted a handful of comic bands to attempt breaking into the entertainment space. "Venues have been increasing their comedy programming," says heavy metal musician Sahil Makhija, who started Workshop, a humourous hard rock group. Like Rao, he recalls a college performance, where teachers responded to their guttural jokes with as much enthusiasm as the students.
Some years ago, however, the scene was not as welcoming. Workshop began in 2007 and "since then we've been tickling funny bones and pissing off a lot of people," boasts Makhija, who is also the founder of death metal band Demonic Resurrection. "There was a backlash from metal-heads who take music very seriously and thought I was making a fool of myself. But more people get the humour now," he adds.
Daniel Fernandes, who along with fellow stand-up artists Abish Mathew and Kenny Sebastian, recently started the comedy collective The Yellow Experiment, says the audience is not merely receptive of comedic experimentation but demands it. "The demand-supply ratio in this space is quite skewed right now with only about 20-22 good stand-ups and thousands of people queuing up for their shows each week. They always want something new." Such music groups are being formed either by musicians who experiment with comedy or established comedians like Fernandes who decide to use their former experience in music.
Popular stand-up artist turned actor Vir Das too started a band Alien Chutney, which states that Bollywood composer "Pritam once tried to copy our song but failed because such awesomeness cannot be duplicated. Unless you're Rajinikanth." The group features rock group Zero's Sidd Cuotto and Warren Mendonca, a winning formula according to Vijay Nair, CEO of Only Much Louder. "It's not just the lyrical content but also the music that draws audiences. You can't have just one of the two talents and hope to impress fans," says Nair, the brain behind the NH7 Weekender festival where Alien Chutney has been playing for the last two years. It has been among the most popular bands at the event and Nair plans to include more musical comedy groups in the festival line-up.
There are benefits and challenges in musical comedy, which is gradually serving as a way to round off stand-up shows, provide a breather in a long act or comic relief in music festivals. The guitar helps improvise and can bail out a comic when he forgets a line, says Fernandes. The downside is when it does not work. "In stand-up comedy, your punch lines last for 10-20 seconds. If people don't laugh, you move on to the next bit," says The Yellow Experiment's Mathew. "But with a bad song, you can end up with two-three minutes of painful silence from the audience, some chatter and a lot of embarrassment."
Besides festivals, the bands perform at colleges and venues like blueFROG and Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai and Delhi, Counter Culture in Bangalore and High Spirits in Pune. There are no rules, say the artists. They work with a range of topics and styles. Alien Chutney has songs about politics, Delhi girls and forbidden love for a sabziwalli (vegetable vendor). In a song about the upcoming election, the band croons, "We are not impressed with your leader of the youth, Pappu's got a pretty face, but he doesn't have a clue." Workshop sings about issues such as Mumbai's real estate prices and infidelity; it also plays with sounds, switching to a garba groove in the midst of a heavy metal piece. Live Banned mashes up south Indian pop songs with Linkin Park and even Backstreet boys.
Internationally, several artists use music as an aid of comedy. Steve Martin did it with a banjo back in the 1970s and UK's Bill Bailey is known for expertly including the piano in his act.
Local musical comedy groups are still testing the waters and finding their feet but most agree they will have a big role to play in the urban entertainment in the future. "Love it or hate it, you cannot ignore it," says Makhija.
The Yellow Collective will perform at the Canvas Laugh Factory, Mumbai, on April 11, 10.30 pm
At urban music and comedy clubs, it seems India has been rapidly developing an appetite for humour. This has prompted a handful of comic bands to attempt breaking into the entertainment space. "Venues have been increasing their comedy programming," says heavy metal musician Sahil Makhija, who started Workshop, a humourous hard rock group. Like Rao, he recalls a college performance, where teachers responded to their guttural jokes with as much enthusiasm as the students.
Some years ago, however, the scene was not as welcoming. Workshop began in 2007 and "since then we've been tickling funny bones and pissing off a lot of people," boasts Makhija, who is also the founder of death metal band Demonic Resurrection. "There was a backlash from metal-heads who take music very seriously and thought I was making a fool of myself. But more people get the humour now," he adds.
Daniel Fernandes, who along with fellow stand-up artists Abish Mathew and Kenny Sebastian, recently started the comedy collective The Yellow Experiment, says the audience is not merely receptive of comedic experimentation but demands it. "The demand-supply ratio in this space is quite skewed right now with only about 20-22 good stand-ups and thousands of people queuing up for their shows each week. They always want something new." Such music groups are being formed either by musicians who experiment with comedy or established comedians like Fernandes who decide to use their former experience in music.
Popular stand-up artist turned actor Vir Das too started a band Alien Chutney, which states that Bollywood composer "Pritam once tried to copy our song but failed because such awesomeness cannot be duplicated. Unless you're Rajinikanth." The group features rock group Zero's Sidd Cuotto and Warren Mendonca, a winning formula according to Vijay Nair, CEO of Only Much Louder. "It's not just the lyrical content but also the music that draws audiences. You can't have just one of the two talents and hope to impress fans," says Nair, the brain behind the NH7 Weekender festival where Alien Chutney has been playing for the last two years. It has been among the most popular bands at the event and Nair plans to include more musical comedy groups in the festival line-up.
There are benefits and challenges in musical comedy, which is gradually serving as a way to round off stand-up shows, provide a breather in a long act or comic relief in music festivals. The guitar helps improvise and can bail out a comic when he forgets a line, says Fernandes. The downside is when it does not work. "In stand-up comedy, your punch lines last for 10-20 seconds. If people don't laugh, you move on to the next bit," says The Yellow Experiment's Mathew. "But with a bad song, you can end up with two-three minutes of painful silence from the audience, some chatter and a lot of embarrassment."
Besides festivals, the bands perform at colleges and venues like blueFROG and Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai and Delhi, Counter Culture in Bangalore and High Spirits in Pune. There are no rules, say the artists. They work with a range of topics and styles. Alien Chutney has songs about politics, Delhi girls and forbidden love for a sabziwalli (vegetable vendor). In a song about the upcoming election, the band croons, "We are not impressed with your leader of the youth, Pappu's got a pretty face, but he doesn't have a clue." Workshop sings about issues such as Mumbai's real estate prices and infidelity; it also plays with sounds, switching to a garba groove in the midst of a heavy metal piece. Live Banned mashes up south Indian pop songs with Linkin Park and even Backstreet boys.
Internationally, several artists use music as an aid of comedy. Steve Martin did it with a banjo back in the 1970s and UK's Bill Bailey is known for expertly including the piano in his act.
Local musical comedy groups are still testing the waters and finding their feet but most agree they will have a big role to play in the urban entertainment in the future. "Love it or hate it, you cannot ignore it," says Makhija.
The Yellow Collective will perform at the Canvas Laugh Factory, Mumbai, on April 11, 10.30 pm