Standup Comedian Appurv Gupta Aka Gupta is known for his inundated humour. The 31-year-old artist has delivered more than 2500 successful shows, and his social media videos on myriad topics such as Maggi, biryani, tea, and Tinder have garnered over 300 million views on the internet. An engineer by profession, Appurv started exploring alternate career options during the course itself, and soon after its completion, Appurv decided to give himself 2 years as a standup comedian, which eventually became his passion.
In a freewheeling chat with News18 Showsha, the New Delhi-based standup comic talked about his journey from being an engineer to a public speaker and standup comedian.
Excerpts from the interview:
When did you decide to become a standup comedian?
I started doing stand-up when I was in third-year degree college when I was pursuing engineering. That time I started exploring options of say jazz dance, playing Casio, guitar etc. At that time I understood public speaking and from public speaking, I got interested in stand-up comedy. In 2012 when I did my completed my engineering, I thought of giving myself two years to for taking up stand up comedian profession, as a full time and if I was able to monetise, and if I manage to make money out of it then I will pursue it full time otherwise I will do MBA and take up a job in bank. So yes, that’s how I started stand up comedian. First time when I performed at an open mic in the third year of college, the feedback and response from the audience was infectious, it was amazing so I thought okay I need to pursue it, not sure whether do it a full-time or part-time but definitely I wanted to do this and luckily every thing fell into place and I fortunately, I started making money and was able to pursue stand up comedy full time.
You are an engineer turned standup comedian. How did you decide to switch the career?
I pursued engineering post 12th std. The moment I got into engineering, I realised what I wanted to do and what I didn’t want to do. I started exploring various other things. Stand up comedy was definitely an accidental option that I stumbled upon. Having said that engineering mindset has helped me a lot – be it problem solving skill, being an entrepreneur mind or making a brand. I think it was a wise decision of mine to finish engineering, now that I introspect.
Do you think it was earlier easier for comedians to establish their identity?
So, I started doing standup full time in 2012, the moment I passed out from my college it’s been 10 years. More than 10 years I have done more than 2500 shows, I have travelled almost to all the good countries where stand up comedy is in momentum. The overall views must be more than 500 million and in India I have travelled almost all the states so yeah the journey is amazing. I think it was difficult early on as it is now. (Smiles) Just that the difficulty level has changed.
Several comedians have turned into celebs and actors too, do you think it is safe passage for comedians to turn into actors?
I believe every comedian is an actor by default, because when we do a monologue on stage I really believe there is a hidden actor in every comedian. I don’t see a harm in this. Definitely, if Bollywood or an OTT platform would want to collaborate with a comedian than why not. It’s also an additional avenue for stand up comedian.
Speaking of celebs, if given a chance to step into the shoes of the star actors, who would you name?
Undoubtedly Shah Rukh Khan. Not because of the glamour but because of the charm he has on stage and off stage. I’m a huge admirer of Shah Rukh Khan, of course talent being one of the main reason, but also his charismatic personality and the way he addresses people, speaks at press conferences. I love how his aura is so welcoming. This is something I want to inculcate in me. Another thing is that he is a smart entrepreneur, SRK knows his business and art very well. And so these are the reasons why I would love to be like him.
Did you ever get a chance to meet him?
I haven’t gotten a chance to meet him unfortunately, but I hope it happens someday, soon.
A lot many times, stand up comedians take sly jibes at the audience during live shows, do you think it is apt to do so?
So this is what we call crowd work, most of the comedians understand what crowd work is. And now a days even audience know what crowd work is. Also, you know alot of people sit in the front row, they also want the comedians to interact with them. I think as long as everyone is happy, audiences are enjoying themselves and that they are happy after the show, I think everything is fine. Problems arise when audience start getting offended, or if they feel sad after the show, if the feel that this guy has crossed a boundary then there’s a problem. Or else I think all is in a good light
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