Cheers, applause and peals of laughter summed up the evening at AltAir on March 23 as Capella presented Comedy Night with Vaibhav Sethia in association with t2. From body-shaming issues and “weird stuff” his family members expect him to do to relationship hiccups — the Mumbai man’s funny lines touched upon anything and everything that a young guy from a middle-class family could relate to. All the jokes are a bunch of habits and actions that people do which “annoys” Sethia. The stand-up is a way of telling these people to not do what they’re doing. Hence the name Don’t! His jokes were less about picking on others and more about highlighting the humour in daily life, and this Vaibhav pulled off, with fun gestures, on-point mimics and a lot of jumps and jives.

Calcutta’s own funny man Raj Bagaria opened the show for Sethia, with his jibes about the younger sister, hair fall, and being used as a luggage carrier by his family.

t2 took the frow to join in the laughter. And post-show we caught up with Sethia...

Butterflies in your tummy or easy peasy… what’s the feeling you get before going up on stage?

It’s still flesh and bone, right? When you’re about to go on stage you do feel nervous. But there are times that I think that I’m not even performing even when I am (laughs). It’s like an auto-mode for my brain.

Do you prepare for your gig? How do you gauge your audience?

I prepare in the way that I make sure that I am well rested. I make sure that there is no reason for me to get tired. I don’t usually gauge my audience. It’s up to them to gauge whether this guy is funny or not. 

You had once told t2 that Rowan Atkinson is an inspiration to you. What’s your favourite movie by him?

Mr Bean’s Holiday! I love the movie, it’s beautiful.

A hilarious moment you will never forget from one of your gigs...

I was recording my performance in a really premier venue and there was a rat, which was peeking right below my stage in the front row. There was a group of six girls sitting over there and most of them just hugged their knees and sat. I didn’t know what to do. It’s not like I was going to remove it. And I just cracked jokes by telling them that they’ll have leaner abs if they sit in that manner till the end of the show. 

A comedian you would bring back to the limelight?

Raghav Mandawa from Delhi. He started off earlier but he isn’t after marketing himself.

A boundary you don’t cross when it comes to performing?

I don’t do vulgar topics or sex jokes. I don’t do politics and Bollywood simply because I don’t know much about them.

Is there anyone you know from your personal or professional life that you just can’t crack up?

My dad has never laughed at a joke of mine. He just has a ‘let this moment pass’ look on his face. 

Is there anyone who makes you burst out with laughter?

My wife is very funny and my elder brother is hilarious.

How do you come up with the jokes?

Most of the comedians mostly come up with jokes from experiences only, unless you’re going abstract. It’s mostly rooted in experiences because how much can you create? 

Who is your favourite female comedian? Do you think there is something that holds female comedians back when it comes to stand-up?

Dana Moon is the latest person I started following on Instagram. But in the Indian circuit I think Neetu Bhardwaj is really funny. Being a part of a community which is largely populated by or is dominated by the other gender is odd for a woman, but the complete confidence comes with time.

What’s your favourite serious movie? Do you think you’ll be able to make a funny remake of it?

I really like The Pursuit of Happyness and it’s too beautiful for me to do a remake.

Stand-up comedy in India — what’s the difference between now and five years back?

Comedy now is a serious profession. There were times I’ve tried to get an open mic in Calcutta and I was asked about how much money I would give them so that I could do comedy. So from that to having an open mic every day of the month, it became big. 

Your stand-up act Don’t! will be available on Amazon Prime...

It will be out in mid-May but I’m really excited. On the other hand, I know a bunch of people who have their acts on Amazon Prime and I was told that it’s like putting yourself out for an hour. The absorption is of the personality and not just the jokes. So that gets me a little nervous. And after these jokes go out, I can’t perform them again. So it’s back to square one.

Text: Urvashi Bhattacharya

Pictures: Shuvo Roychaudhury