Vir Das’s going places

It’s double jammy for Vir Das, as he debuts on and garners rave reviews for his Netflix outing Abroad Understanding and Conan to become the first Indian comedian on both platforms. Jetlagged and tired but still on his toes, Vir answers a volley of questions about his career and being a comedian in India.

Right now, Vir is not just the talk of the town, but practically the whole world — although he seems to be underplaying it. “There’s so much content on Netflix that I thought it would take Abroad Understanding at least a couple of months to pick up.” But almost overnight, for the first time in his 10-year-long career so far, Vir went viral. “I couldn’t believe it got millions of views on Facebook and YouTube. It’s crazy!” he smiles.

Being on Conan O’Brien’s show made Vir so nervous that he said ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ 19-odd times! “It’s Conan O’Brien, after all. He’s my idol and the biggest host of late night shows.

He came to my green room and hung out for a bit.” However, Vir was more worried that his jokes were far from flattering the Americans. “I was taking such a big risk. I eased into the show about a minute later when I saw the audience was so receptive.”

While Vir has always had a similar effect on his audiences back home, he admits that performing in India can turn out to be a pain after the performance sometimes. “We are becoming too entitled. If I crack a six-word joke, 200 people will write 3,000 words each about it. Everyone’s opinion becomes too valuable and they consider themselves pundits. That really baffles me,” he says. Such comments or being trolled doesn’t bother him though. “The audience in a comedy club will either laugh or not laugh at your jokes. That’s the only review I really need,” he says.

Vir has been a comedian for almost a decade now and in spite of being a pioneer of sorts in the stand-up comedy scene, he feels like a newbie compared to the Netflix stalwarts like Louis CK. But, he is extremely proud of the Indian legacy in comedy. “With haasya kavi sammelan, I think we have a very old comedy culture.” Vir, however, confesses that he only represents English Indian comedy and not ‘Indian’ Indian comedy. “The true Indian comedy is represented by Johnny Lever, Raju Shrivastav, and Surendra Sharma who is one of the greatest comic artistes that ever lived.”  

The comedian doesn’t believe in self-censorship and boldly makes jibes at anything under the sun and says that he is too self-critical, too. “I don’t like watching my shows. I never revisit them.” The same goes for Abraod Understanding. “It’s done and I’m not going to think about it now but work on my next show,” says Vir, who is currently working on a new album for his band Alien Chutney and all set to take off on a 25-country tour includes Australia, countries in Europe, Africa, and East Asia, and ends with India in January next year.

Before he takes off for the tour in the next fortnight, Vir will be busy with acting workshops for a Bollywood film that he will play an “evil funny man” in, he informs, reluctant to reveal more about the project. This will be his second outing as a negative character, after the short film Raakh.

The stand-up comedian is aware that he’s had hits and misses in Bollywood. “I get it right sometimes and sometimes I don’t. Some films do well while the others don’t. But I mostly care about my relation with the audience. They understand that I can be good and bad both.” With more and more work flowing in every day, it becomes tougher for Vir to juggle between Weird Ass Comedy, his band Alien Chutney and films. “I like comedy, music, and films equally and want to do all three to give me a balance and grounding,” he signs off.