The Anatomy of Awkward Tour, 2017 - Kautuk Srivastava

Social life has divided people into three categories – extroverts, introverts and awkwards.

Extroverts are outgoing and socially confident people (basically the people who initiate and execute the plan). They are present at every party, ever!

Introverts, on the other hand, are shy and reticent, more into themselves and least bothered about the world outside their room.

Awkwards are people who fit nowhere. They cannot initiate a conversation neither can end one, they do not want to attend a party but can't say no, they don't like giving a shit about other people and yet want to please them. Well, they are simply awkward. This stand-up special is dedicated to them "awkwards".

Who is Kautuk Srivastava?

He's the boy-next-door who loves doing it all (all to score some cool points, so he can be a part of the ‘in’ crowd). The Mumbai-based writer and comedian has written for and performed several shows (look ma, I’m on TV!), including MyCam, Drive with MTV, Reality Stars, MTV Rock the Vote and most recently, The List with Varun Thakur. As a comedian, he has worked with Vir Das at Weirdass Comedy and has performed at major venues across Mumbai. He is currently a member of SnG Comedy, a comedy collective popular for their cutting-edge content and sarcasm. Their content consists of sketches, stand-up, and a candid interview/chat series The Big Question that has featured several popular guests.

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Insider spoke to the man ahead of his tour!

Congratulations on your second one-hour special in almost a year. It must be great feeling to churn out so much material in such a short span!

Yeah, it is, a little bit. I didn’t intend to write it - in the sense, like I didn’t wake up and go “chal aaj special likhte hai”. But I fortunately had enough to say about it that it became its own thing. Even I was surprised, ke kaafi jaldi ho gaya.

Tell us a little about Anatomy of Awkward and how it's different from Room Temperature Guy (Kautuk’s previous special).

Writing for both these specials was very different. Room Temperature Guy came from my observation that there are Cool guys, Hot Guys and there is me. For that I used a some existing material that I worked on since I started out and realised there was a common theme in that so I patched all of it together and wrote Room Temperature Guy. Anatomy of Awkward is theme-driven, like the theme of Awkwardness runs through it and it’s much more personal than Room Temperature Guy.

Anatomy of Awkward is theme-driven, like the theme of Awkwardness runs through it and it’s much more personal than Room Temperature Guy.

How did standup comedy and SnG (the comedy collective Kautuk is a part of) happen for you?

Standup happened to me in 2010. Two things happened to me at the right time. In 2010 I watched Robin Williams’ special “Live On Broadway” and I was amazed with what stand-up comedy can achieve, that was a master class in delivering comedy. Secondly the stand-up scene in Mumbai took off. It was very nascent, only one open mic happening at one venue in the city but that was enough. I started in 2010 while I was interning with Vir Das.

SnG happened in 2013. I knew since my early open mic days and then met him again 2013. That was again very fortunate, I had taken a break from comedy for a while and just finished writing for MTV. I really wanted to get back to comedy after the 2-year break, Varun (Thakur) mentioned SnG was looking for people. Cut to 2017, here we are doing this interview.

I really wanted to get back to comedy & Varun Thakur mentioned SnG was looking for people. Cut to 2017, here we are doing this interview.

What are the cities you are touring?

This is the first leg, currently I am taking it to Jaipur, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Goa. There has been a warm reaction to this, people are saying “really looking forward to see you in Delhi” “Excited to see you in Bangalore” but there is a flipside too, people were like “why aren’t you coming to Kolkata” “Please come to Chandigarh”.

And do you plan to add more cities to your tour?

Yes. If the first leg goes well then I would really like to go to Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Chennai.

Your new videos were pretty amazing! Do we get to see more of them out in the next few weeks?

No, I am done with all the videos from Room Temperature Guy. Everything I wanted to put out is out. There is now a good 45 minutes of content from that special on YouTube on the SnG channel. Indian Porn was in fact the last video from that special. It’s pretty weird now that people are searching for “Kautuk Srivastava Indian Porn” on the internet.

It’s pretty weird now that people are searching for “Kautuk Srivastava Indian Porn” on the internet.

Lastly, you have been to a lot of open mics recently. How has the scene evolved over the years according to you?

The scene has evolved a lot. Like back in 2010, there used to be one open mic a month. Producers used to call comics to come and perform because there were very few comics back then compared to now, where there are so many open mics and yet people are fighting for spots. The number of open mic-ers too has quadrupled in this period. A lot of this has to be credited to YouTube, thanks to which a lot of people were motivated to start their own stand-up comedy journey. Mass media has helped evolve the scene too, in the 70s in America, everybody wanted to be on TV, now in India everybody wants to be on YouTube. It has expanded the market and scope of comedy.

But if you want to do comedy just to go “viral” or for that “selfie” you are doing it wrong. You should do it to make people laugh. A point of view is what it takes to become a stand-up comedian. It’s that simple.

You should do comedy to make people laugh. A point of view is what it takes to become a stand-up comedian. It’s that simple.

The audience itself has evolved a lot, you can’t just get a laugh by saying Rahul Gandhi on stage or just using an expletive as your punchline, they too have become quite aware. The scene has definitely progressed, the kinds of things people are saying now on stage is different too. I think we have moved past the first wave of stand-up comedy in India, the audience however is still discovering stand-up comedy and this generation will be the first decade of stand-up comedy in Indian. And it is a process, we are all aboard. In the next few years, we’ll have a larger pool of really good comics which will eventually augment the turn out for open mics as well.

We at SnG are also trying this experimental Open Mic at the end of August. More details for that will be out soon.

We at SnG are also trying this experimental Open Mic at the end of August. More details for that will be out soon.