Holding up an unforgiving mirror to contemporary times and giving voice to all kinds of angst, stand-up comics are the new superstars of the day with a ready audience running into millions -- in theatres, pubs and varied online sites.
It's an ever growing tribe with the likes of Kunal Kamra, Rajeev Nigam, Varun Grover, Azeem Banatwalla and a host of others who use humour, gentle and sharp, to tickle India's funny bone while sharply satirising society and politics.
The just concluded elections gave them fresh fodder to sharpen the humour mills.
Many of them were following various careers and have now moved into 'full-time comedy', much like their counterparts in the US where several stand-up comics have near cult status.
Nigam, whose videos have received over a million likes, is aware his primary job is to make people laugh, but he makes it a point to consciously talk about other issues.
"I just try to show the audience these issues from my perspective through satire," the 47-year-old told PTI.
The Mumbai-based Nigam is part of the fraternity of stand-up comics that has not just emerged as an alternative voice challenging the establishment but also found stardom.
Finding ample material in events political and otherwise unfolding around them, they perform at comedy clubs, high-end pubs and take the stage in packed auditoriums with thousands paying good money to hear them.
The new stars of today's age are also streaming all over the internet with millions of viewers.
Everyday is a new day.
On Monday, four days after the BJP government came back to power with a thumping majority of 303 Lok Sabha seats, well-known stand-up comic Kunal Kamra retweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tweet paying tribute to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his death anniversary with the caption, "When Modiji's Twitter gets hacked."
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