Meet Stand Up Funny-Man, Sorabh Pant

Sorabh Pant

If you like yourself some comedy with brains, Sorabh Pant’s brand new show, “Rant of the Pant on Sunday at Classic Rock Coffee Company will give you a good dose of laughter. He is all set to entertain Puneites with a humourous ranting spree on Trump & India, Indian TV, racism, sexism, trolls and more. Benefitting from the occasion we speak to the funny man about a lot of things. Read on to know more…

What separates our Pune audience from the Rest?

I’ve always found Pune people to be much more relaxed than the rest of the country. Readier for a drink and just generally hanging. There’s almost a Goa meets Mumbai kind of vibe. I think because the city is between Goa & Mumbai – it’s literally *between* Goa and Mumbai. And, always big laughers. Pune is probably one of my top 3 cities to do stand-up in India.

When and how did you decide to pursue comedy?

Lack of other options and the fact that I was unqualified for anything else. But, I was a writer for TV for a long time. It was a very frustrating job and my frustration with it led me to suck at it even more. Stand-up just fell into my lap. And, if I’m writing nonsense – may as well write it for myself!

Share one anecdote of an overwhelming and underwhelming response from your audience?

I’ve been doing a lot of public shows and college shows. Did about 6 college shows for an audience of 3,000+ in the last month alone. Plus, the rant shows are selling out really well – so, that’s overwhelming. Underwhelming shows I have deleted from my brain or stored at the back of my head. You’ll need to get me drunk to know about them – which in Pune may be easy!

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I’m a writer first and a comedian second.
As a writer – I write on anything and everything. My son, my family, news topics, issues, mythology, whatever. The new show, “Rant of the Pant”, is all about issues and news based stuff. Which is completely different from my last show, “My Baby Thinks I’m Funny”, which was about my son. So, inspiration is all around!

Were you always funny or you have really worked hard on your skills?

I was always awkward and weird and unskilled at most things. So, I figured if I was a buffoon – may as well let people have some laughs at my expense. But, obviously as a professional comedian, you had to work toward it. As a professional, anything – actually.

Who is your favourite comedian and why?

Tough question to answer, I don’t have one! I admire everyone in the comedy scene in India for different reasons. A lot of the young guys are doing some great stuff and it keeps the scene evolving.

Do you think people have lost their sense of humour in general

You have about 30 comedians in this country doing sold out shows all over the place. One of the biggest shows on Indian TV is a comedy show. In the top 50 online channels – comedy is at least 20. Amazon Prime Video in its Indian programming list first signed on 13 Indian comedians including me. If we don’t have a sense of humour – then obviously, all of that is some weird coincidence :).

Do you think that stand-up comedy is accepted more in the cities where youth’s population is in good numbers?

Young people tend to be uncynical – for the most part. Which makes them great laughers. So, yeah – they also consume YouTube, FB Videos, Amazon etc. more than others. So, yes – they are our TG.

But, especially with my new show and my last baby show – the intention is to get EVERYONE on board. Age no bar. In Hyderabad – my front row had 7 ladies who were all 60+. And, they had a blast. They were more sporting and chilled than most young people.

So, if you’re happy and excited with life: you’re a great comedy audience. Age is just nonsense.

Sakshi Arora