Hyderabadi stand-up comedian Hriday Ranjan, in an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, discusses his art of creating laughs
Rashmi Bhumireddy
Everyone in today’s times are preoccupied with their jobs and have lost sight of the joy in life. However, we do have people around us who lift our spirits. Well, one amongst them is Hriday Ranjan, who simply just uses his comedy to transform the sufferings into little joys.
Hriday initially began his career as a journalist, post his graduation from the University of Hyderabad. He has also worked with media organisations including The New Indian Express and Film Companion before pursuing his love as a stand-up comedian.
Speaking to The Pioneer, also a writer, Hriday began, “My inspiration drives from the freedom of the profession. In stand-up comedy, it’s just you, a mic and your thoughts. There is no blame game here and no team to work with. To put it short, no other field offers rich individuality to you than this.”
Like many others, his parents wanted him to succeed in the UPSC or get an MBA. But he’s never let advice from others influence his judgments; this is especially true in his career. He discovered and accepted his genuine love when he began sharing his standup videos on YouTube and other social media sites.
Hauling himself through the videos of his motivational stand-up heroes, Eddie Murphy, Bill Burr and Louis CK, Hriday has polished his stand-up comedy. He honed his abilities by observation as well. “I read somewhere that things that anger you make for great comedy,” affirms the talented comedian. “I have always tried to notice things that trigger me and tried converting it to standup sets. Interestingly, my favourite shows are those with very few people in the audience. There are shows where the audience comes in disappointed. I take great pleasure in converting them into smiling, laughing faces by the end of the show. Among my shows, my favourite show is where I performed for senior citizens, who were laughing loudly and wiping away tears by the end.”
But in his opinion, comedy has certain limitations, particularly in terms of content when it comes to a country like India. Here, we have a concept called ‘Clean comedy’ – which is comedy without religion, politics, and sex. Ironically, “Those are the topics that I love touching in my standup. For instance, making comedy on politics is like you are testing out the waters. I like asking my audience if they are okay with political humour and performing my jokes anyway. The trick is to make them understand the difference between a joke and a political opinion in a newspaper. We deal in the former.”
Standup comedy, according to him is mostly a game of endurance. “You need to hit an open mic every day, irrespective of where your career is headed. There are days when you question your life choices, but you need to return to the mics the next day, to keep trying out jokes which is the toughest challenge one needs to endure to stay alive in this profession.”
Moreover, as a standup comedian one needs to handle negative remarks from the audience. In fact, there was a time when he was backlashed by Pawan Kalyan’s fans too. But the negativity didn’t let him go down. Initially, “I would get angry. But now I try to understand what is ticking them off. Sometimes, they are trying to seek attention. Most times, they are simply trying to participate in the show. I used to be a teacher, and that taught me how to deal with the troublemakers in class. I use the same skills on stage.”
The gagster doesn’t consider himself a popular artist at the moment. “It depends! Comedians in the US often perform for decades before making it big. In India, it depends on one video going viral, and you can begin selling tickets.”
To all the budding comedians out there, here’s some advice from the Hyderabadi Farceur. “One has to look for open mics in the city and register for them. Make a plan to hit 10 open mics. Keep repeating your material across the 10 mics. By the end, you will have about three minutes of tight content with you. Continue the process throughout your life. There is no other way to pursue this career.”
