Comedy Insurgency: Flew too high, crashed too hard

Stand-up comedy by nature is an escape from the chaos and frustration, as it provides humour through storytelling. With that in mind, NCC (Naveed's Comedy Club) threw a comedy special on Friday, 20 September, titled 'Comedy Insurgency',  where an array of comics took to the stage to dish out a good dosage of fun. That was, at least, the plan—whether the audience actually survived the punchlines is another story.

Comedy has no boundaries—especially when the night's theme is "political satire," as boldly advertised on their Facebook event poster. With endless subjects to roast, the possibilities were infinite. 

But one has to keep in mind that comedy is only as good as the comedian delivering it. When five comics manage to squeeze out only 2-3 topics between them, that's not just boring—it's downright tragic. 

The topics? The former Prime Minister's wardrobe choices, her bromance with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and, of course, a dash of illegal smoking substances. Oh, and not everyone could actually deliver the jokes, let alone the punchlines.

That is not to say that the effort wasn't there—there was plenty of that. The show took off rather well but fell flat on its face a bit too hard, a bit too quickly. Not saying that there wasn't any comic whatsoever with good jokes. But when most spit out bad jokes, the good ones are often left undermined.

For example, despite host Sharar Shayor, kicking things off with some explicit jokes, another comic Antu followed up with  his bit about, as a Hindu, reciting the Kalima and taking Allah's name on his way to temple for puja—a jab at the recent communal tensions in the news. It was sharp, fresh, and perfectly timed. But when the next three comedians decided to keep beating that dead horse, it got old fast. We've already laughed—how about something new?

Riaz, Shadid, and Bipro kept insisting they weren't going to make political jokes, but clearly, they didn't get their own memo. And wow, talk about beating on a dead horse—they kept repeating the same line before diving into wildly inappropriate jokes, complete with cringe-worthy and unhinged gestures toward audience members that caused a few of them to shift in their seats. 

To Bipro's credit, he managed to steer clear of the awkwardness, but unfortunately, he also steered clear of humour. Watching someone attempt crowd work by asking a couple if they "talk at night"? Yeah, that's about as funny as watching paint dry.

Now, I'm not saying political jokes can't be done this way, but in comedy, they can't be the 'only' way. Sure, poking fun at politicians is fair game, but basing entire routines around their bathroom habits? Yeah, that's less "comedy gold" and more "toilet humour gone wrong." 

Out of the two-hour promise of fun-filled escapism, we got about 30 minutes of actual laughs. And even that was swiftly eclipsed by the cringe-worthy acts  that followed.