BISWA MAST AADMI: THE BEST INDIAN STAND-UP SPECIAL

Amazon Prime Video launched in India with a sea of stand-up specials. It was almost like the comedy scene in India burst onto the platform. While there have been many that were funny, Biswa’s stand-up special took the cake. Was it the content, the bits, the sets that differentiated him from the crowd? Not really. While most of the comics have great jokes, strong sets, Biswa’s bits work because it's Biswa. His special has three bits working for him – his personality, his structure and his narrative.
Let’s start with personality. And when I say personality, I don’t mean whether we like the guy or not. That’s irrelevant. It’s the personality to his humour. The comic in him is what we like. He’s irreverent, uncouth, callous even. Sometimes he just breezes past a joke because he found it funny. Other times he gets biased and justifies that with humour. What shines through is not that he has great material, but the fact that he is inherently funny.
The second is structure. While all comics have structure to their sets, we never realise them, as they swiftly move from to the other. So what we get is an interesting opening, some solid bits, and a hurrah to end it all. Biswa’s is not dramatically different, but rather than segueing from one set to the other, he tells us it's a three-act play. Each act catering to a set. Two structured ones, and one fractured, intentionally so. You laugh as hard on the situational comedy as you do on the random jokes. His brutal honesty and the irreverence of it too will have you in splits. He actually spells out that the second section of random jokes came to him one night. Another thing to note is the content. The first and last act feature stories from his life, and the second one feature his observations as a bystander – which means us. It’s the everyday bits we have seen, and the spin he puts on them. He’s echoing our sentiments, and giving them a befitting response, something we might have thought about ourselves, but never articulated it, and definitely not in the funny way he did.
And lastly, the thing that makes him stand out is his narrative. Very few comics in the country write a set about one story. One story deconstructed, packed in with humour, stitched back together and presented with panache. And he does that twice, narrowing on two phases of his life, and doling out funny experiences at every step. It’s not a set-up and punchline game here, it’s smart relatable writing and excellent execution. Biswa Mast Aadmi is not one of the best Indian stand-up specials, it is hands down, the best. Don’t miss this one.

CHRIS ROCK’S TAMBOURINE: IT DOES MATTER IF YOU’RE BLACK OR WHITE

Chris Rock has been the champion of Black Comedy for years. Many even tout him as the finest black comic out there. Kevin Heart maybe taking the limelight now and Dave Chappelle does smoke out some great content every now and then, but Rock has been the undisputed hero. If you look at the number of HBO specials he has, you’d have some idea about his popularity. But in 2018, HBO specials have given way to Netflix Specials. Along with the greats like Seinfeld and CK, Chris Rock too joined the bandwagon with his special – Tambourine. But with the changing tide, we get a changed Chris Rock. A more humbled, divorced father takes the center stage. Gone are the seething remarks, the bustling energy, and yet Chris manages to hold his own over the course of the special. This one is more inclusive and perhaps his most personal set yet. The social commentary is still on. Black still centers his material. But now that material runs through a filter – of age, experience and fatherhood. There are shades of Louis CK here, especially the fatherhood bits, but his set is distinctively black. I still believe Louis CK is far ahead in that narrative, but Rock has his own voice. This introspective set is full of confessions, regret and definitely has a dark side. But trust Rock to take that material and wrap it up tightly with humour. His set starts slow, but as he warms up to the stage, so do we. His bit on bullying is a masterstroke, and he uses it wonderfully to put a mirror on the social world we live in. It’s classic comedy wherein he uses humour to make social commentary. As he shrinks into talking about his failed marriage, he opens up a conversation on relationships, and in traditional Chris Rock form, he keeps it simple and punches on the line repeatedly, till its driven home. Although by the end of it, you are underwhelmed, not necessarily by the set, but more by the man who’s delivering those jokes. He used to rock the stage, but now you have to settle for the tambourine.

HASAN MINHAJ’S HOMECOMING KING: MASTERCLASS IN STAND-UP

Hasan Minhaj’s Homecoming King is all heart and soul. How often have you heard of a stand-up act being described as heart and soul? Not often, I believe. That’s because Minhaj’s act is truly poignant. It’s a masterstroke in storytelling. And a masterclass in stand-up. His entire act is a story of his life, but it’ll be the most engaging story you’ve ever heard. His pauses are not for punchlines, but for emotion. He makes you feel his pain, his victories, his success, hell he makes you feel for him, and you cannot help falling in love with this guy. Think of Homecoming King as a one-act solo play with laughter thrown in for good measure. Calling Homecoming King a stand-up act would he belittling it. It’s way above that. Hasan introduces us to his strict and conniving father, his adorable sister, a relationship gone wrong, and his journey to the top. It’s the little details that he sprinkles here that make us feel involved. While he takes us on this journey, he speaks of equal rights, race, religion, and not once do we get the feeling that he’s going off-track. He ties it up in one giant narrative of Hasan Minhaj. You should see the way he uses the stage for great effect. Or how he modulates his voice, whispers sometimes to get the emoton across. Oh, it’s a treat. And while all the theatrics are on, so is the comedy. Think of his act as music, where there’s melody, a graph, a chorus and a crescendo that lifts up the entire arena, almost like broadway. Hasan Minhaj comes across as an artist at the top of game, and belts out a spectacular performance. In all the Netflix stand-up acts out there, no one deserves the tag of SPECIAL more than Hasan Minhaj’s Homecoming King. All hail the king.