Stand-up Comedy Store hits Mumbai

Comedian Paul Tonkinson does his routine for the Mumbai audience

By Sanjiv Buttoo
BBC Asian Network

As the monsoon thunderstorms started in Mumbai (Bombay) last weekend, they brought with them the arrival of Western-style stand-up humour courtesy of London's Comedy Store.

The famous comedy venue opened the doors to its first overseas branch in India's commercial capital and more than 1,000 people turned up, with a sizeable proportion of British expats living in India mixed in amongst the locals.

Business leaders, shop owners, bankers and students came from as far away as Cochin and Chennai to make up the audience for the long-awaited inauguration, which had been delayed since last year.

The Mumbai Comedy Store took over two years to build at a cost of more than £3m and joint owner Don Ward called the venture his most exciting and risky of his career in showbusiness.

Our hope is to be able to push back the boundaries and bring a new style of entertainment to Indians Joint club owner Amar Aggarwal

Ward is the boss of the London Comedy Store but, because you have to be Indian to own a company in the South Asian country, he has gone into his Mumbai venture with Amar Aggarwal.

"In England, there are 400 comedy venues," Ward told BBC Asian Network.

"India had none and now it has one in a city which is home to more than 22 million people.

"To celebrate 30 years of London's Comedy Store we decided to look East for our next major project and I am glad we did. People will see here exactly what you will see in the the UK."

Every week, three comedians will arrive in Mumbai to take to the stage with a raw brand of humour not seen in a country where - until recently - kissing was banned in films.

Aggarwal added: "We think we have got the concept just right and our hope is to be able to push back the boundaries and bring a new style of entertainment to Indians."

Talent search

Indian comedians now feature prominently on the nation's television but there are only three who speak English, with the rest all using Hindi.

Ward is planning and hoping to find homegrown talent who can take to the stage.

"Every week anyone will be able to come down and take the mic and, if they're any good, we'll put them in our shows," he added.

"India is home to over a billion people and if we don't find amazing talent here we will have failed in what we do best."

Vikram lives in Mumbai and was part of the audience.

"It's outstanding and edgy stuff," he said. "It's what this city needs. It's very high quality and will be something different."

This will work because there's a massive vacuum of anything similar out there Audience member Srikesh

The opening weekend saw comedians Micky Flannagan, Craig Campbell and Paul Tonkinson, who was also the compere, take to the stage.

"The great thing about stand-up comedy is that it's a very raw and open medium," said Tonkinson.

"They laugh if what you say is true and funny and they don't if not. It's very liberating and I hope, once people get a taste for it, we will have a flood of Indians coming through."

Delhi hope

Many British expats say they have been waiting for the opening for many months as, other than the cinema and eating out, they find there is little for them to do on the entertainment front.

Jason, who is from Bristol and has lived in Mumbai for more than four years, said: "It's new and everybody loved it.

"You wouldn't hear these kind of jokes on the TV but at the end of the day it's just normal humour and it's what people talk about in private."

Ward has ambitions to open another branch in Delhi if the Mumbai club proves a success and it may well be the case judging by the success of the opening weekend.

Srikesh is from London and has lived in Mumbai for more than a year.

"This city really needed something like this, a good authentic stand-up comedy club," he said. "This will work because there's a massive vacuum of anything similar out there."

You can hear more on this story on the BBC's Asian Network Reports radio show or via the BBC iPlayer.