‘Comedians must write their jokes sensibly’

A middle-aged man with ‘more salt and less pepper’ look settled down for a chat with us on a pleasant January evening. “I’m perhaps the oldest stand-up comic at the age of 48 — so old that some young people at my shows backstage get confused if they should call me dude or dad,” said Atul Khatri before bursting out into uninhibited laughter. 

The comedian had just brought the house down the previous evening at his show 48 Shades of Grey, an act about the observations and experiences of a 48-year-old man including everything from daily happenings to human relationships peppered with a healthy dose of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ comedy. 

“The Chennai audience is very sensible and forward thinking. People get and like adult comedy here,” he added.  Speaking of age and being sensible, Khatri, unlike his counterparts in stand-up comedy started out quite late — he took the plunge at the age of 43 and quit his job as a CEO of his company Kaytek Computer Services Pvt. Ltd only last year. Why stand-up comedy? “I was bored of driving to work and wanted to do something ‘out-ofthe-box’. And comedy seemed like an organic choice because I’ve also been that one person in the group who brings life and l a u g h t e r and I say that with a lot of what they call humility,” explained Khatri. 

Over the years, Khatri has become a brand of his own and one of India’s most successful standup comedians and YouTube personalities. “However, I’m still finding a footing, because you’re only as good as your last joke or show. The sensibilities are constantly changing and the biggest challenge is to come up with jokes that people relate to and are contemporary,” he added. 

Khatri has also been one of the few comedians to openly criticise politicians and political goof-ups with his brand of comedy. But, he feels people are a little too sensitive at times, putting a certain limitation on the creative process. 

“It’s the responsibility of the comedian to write his or her jokes sensibly. It is important to know the pulse of the audience. If it’s in a metro like Chennai, you can go all out there but a place where you’re doing it for the first time, you need to gauge it. At the same time, technology has made it so easy with so many memes flying around in no time whenever someone goofs up or says something on a public platform. So there’s a better reach and humour has become an integral part of life. Honestly, even if I go to meet the PM, I’m sure he might also crack some jokes. It’s the people around who make all the noise and turn it into controversy,” he said.