Just a joke, bro.

What goes behind writing a joke

Divya Koppikar | A011

divya.koppikar014@nmims.edu.in
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Acknowledgment:

I would like to express my gratitude to my Ethnography module faculty Sefi George for her
guidance, steadfast support, and feed-forward in assisting us with this research.

I also wish to extend my heartfelt thankfulness to NMIMS School Of Design, for providing me
with the opportunity to present this report. The deep study and research whilst the preparation of
this project have unfolded new learnings for me.

I outspread my gratefulness for the availability of credible secondary resources, which

constructively helped me finalize this report, keeping to the deadline.
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Abstract :

Stand-up comedians in India plan for a range of situations, including awkward silences and an
unresponsive crowd. Perhaps the overly protective attitudes of the fundamentalists who are
unable to understand comedy rather than the humor itself are the problem. If making others laugh
is a hate crime, then those who promote brainwashed ideas should also be held accountable for
their despicable behavior.
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Table of contents:

1. Introduction

2. Aims

3. Methodology

4. Literature review

5. Discussion

6. Conclusion

7. Bibliography

8. Appendix
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Introduction

Growing up in the early 2000s, ‘comedy’ as an art form was mostly limited From what it is
today—an dynamic, quickly expanding, and hotly debated market—Indian comedy used to seem
very different. From being fillers during main events to hosting comic shows of their own,
comedians have come a long way. From screen writer’s punch bags to the professional spotlight.
That Comedy Club in Bangalore, The Cuckoo Club in Mumbai, and spaces like the Habitat
Centre in Delhi were soon hosting regular comedy nights. As the culture seems to be shifting
toward more politically correct norms, the ethics of jokes have been called into question
repeatedly.
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Aims:

I) To study what goes behind writing a joke.

a) Why have we seen shifts in what is acceptable to joke about or not?

b) The generational gap in joke tolerance.

c) Decreasing tolerance of jokes or increasing woke-ness?

d) Role of freedom of speech

e) Comedian’s biases toward the joke

f) Importance of context in comedy.

g) At what point do jokes cross the line?

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Methodology:

At the initial stage of my topic exploration, I had planned on the audience's perspective for my
research. Politics being the most talked about a hot topic, I chose political satire as my genre.
What do the general audiences think about a serious political topic being covered by comedians?
I planned on taking google form surveys (and if possible empathy interviews) about general
audiences' views on comedians covering serious topics with satire as a part of my primary
research.

But then upon further in-depth research, I realized that there was a much more gap in the
comedian’s perspective as it wasn’t comparatively touched upon. After watching multiple
interviews about the journey of a joke and how the media portrays artists to the audiences, I
developed a particular interest in this discussion.

Upon finalizing the topic, I looked for multiple resources available and suggested to me by
various comedy enthusiasts. For my current finalized topic being comedians centric, I had to
improvise my plan of action for primary research. Due to the time limit and my finite reach, the
media available to me was limited to secondary data sets including various Youtube videos and
articles being a part of my secondary research. My content analysis of different uploads on
politics by the stand-up artists themselves is a part of my primary research. Which helped me
gather insights to finalize my aims which are concluded later in the paper.
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Literature review:

Indian comedians like Munawar Faruqui, Vir Das, Kunal Kamra, and Varun Grover who are
famous in India and over the world are constantly making news not only for their stupendous
humor but also for their political jokes. If you look past the jokes and side gags, these comedians
are doing a really great job in covering hot topics, sometimes even better than news cables.
Comedians, on the other hand, have a low tolerance for bullshit, coating a piece of serious news
along with their individual style of satire making the audience aware and laughing
simultaneously, keeping them engaged. In simple terms, they are the voices, funny voices. So it's
important for the audience that you say something that connects with them.
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Humor is a complex group-based social phenomenon used as a social glue. Laughter in response
to a group-based joke could signal that you agree with that stereotype. Jokes are often
audience-oriented. Some people get it some don't, if you don’t maybe it wasn’t meant for you.
The reason there is the availability of so many genres in comedy is that there is the availability of
an audience demanding it. When a comedian takes the stage to make the audience laugh,
whatever the audience laughs at the artist will do. Deconstructing a headline, mixing serious
setups with funny punchline phrases to make it on the line of funny but not offensive. A
rememberable joke isn't about striking the iron multiple times til the rod breaks, but it's the
multiple lines of setups that build up the audience's expectations and stage for that original yet
relatable punch line. They carefully filter their speech through persistent satire. Bigger the
build-up, the bigger the applause.

As the generations of comedy are shifting from ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ to
Kenneth Sebastian's Netflix original: ‘The Most Interesting Person In The Room’, to stay
relevant there can be seen a shift in ideologies of jokes made by senior artists to newcomers. The
newcomers are stereotyped as wanting to be recognized as controversial artists, to always be in
the spotlight of media. This image of them can be formed due to misunderstanding their dark
humor.

Indian stand-up comedians prepare for a variety of scenarios, such as awkward silences or an
audience that doesn't get the joke. But an FIR has also developed into one of them over the past
ten years amid rising instances of flimsy egos and easily offended feelings. When comedian
Kunal Kamra in his stand-up comedy video: “Patriotism & the Government“. gave an interesting
perspective on government. Government is a service provider, it’s providing you service for the
money you pay in return. If you don’t voice out your biases for the CEO of Vodafone every time
someone praises Airtel, why the government? Where did morality, nationalism, and patriotism
come into the picture? discrepancies in the way things are done in society. If the audience
accepts it, the comic may even be able to introduce his or her personal viewpoints into the
audience's understanding of reality. The satire has an innocence about it that contrasts with the
gravity of the reality it mocks.

Then comes the riots for freedom of speech. The real essence of free speech is when a creative
artist is given the liberty to project the picture of society in a style the artist perceives in, creating
a satirical picture of the same. Well let's just assume that we live in a hypothetical democratic
society that actually believes in free speech, then what? Welcome to the neverending debate of
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what is right and wrong. Is self-censorship, the biggest threat to comedy? Humour being highly
subjective, some jokes when not marketed to the right audience can be analyzed as insensitive
even when it wasn’t intended to lead to perceptions of the artist as incompetent or insensitive.
While some established comedians have biases towards a particular genre of comedy, a style
which they are known for; debates like these might create confusion for the next generation of
comedians, they will be walking on thin ice, multitasking to not hurt any groups or sections. If
an audience is hurt by a particular joke made by the comedian, they are free to never watch his
show again, but they prefer to spread hate against the artist while continuing to stream his videos
to check if he doesn't commit the so-called crime again. If to make people laugh is considered a
hate crime so should the undignified actions of those who spread indoctrinated notions should
be.

Let's get political!

(Primary research) say something racist to see the viewer's reaction, then give them the context,
and highlight why context plays an important role in the comedy. The right to offend is
foundational liberty in a free society, it requires no investment, and it doesn't even require brains,
just a herd mentality works perfectly fine. Audiences want drama. After a point, the audiences
get bored and expect provocative content. The real political drama starts when those jokes are
used outside the standup comedy context in association with the standup artists, with threats
being hauled against the comedian. A certain joke might fly off the rails with one set of listeners
but fall flat with another, or even with the same group in a different situation. People frequently
overlook the fact that a comedian's duty is to challenge the status quo, push the boundaries, and
make jokes. It is important to consider the intention behind these jokes.
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When does a joke become too dark?

Understanding your crowd. No comedian or human writer likes to explain a joke but when your
lines are taken out of context to present a scenario of hatred and when you are perceived as an
anti-national for your ‘jokes’ were taken into offense or hurting sentiments, you need to speak
out.

“The best bit of comedy would happen against people of power. And if you are going to follow
that model might as well punch harder” says Kunal Kamra. Satirically criticizing the left right
and center. Resulting in ‘woke bhakts’ attacking the comedian on jokes he made using political,
religious, social, demographic, and other possible factors to prove that the artist is an
anti-believer or as far as an anti-nationalist. Where being a straight Hindu male comedian is
considered a privilege over minorities and especially ‘Muslims’. The problem might not be the
humor but the overly protective sentiments of the extremists who can not comprehend a good
sense of humor. Is the faith of India so fragile that a stand-up comic could break it?

“Nafrat jeet hai, artist haar gaya. I’m done! Goodbye! INJUSTICE,”
- Munawar Faruqui

Said that it was unfair that he was imprisoned for a joke that he did not make and that his show
was canceled despite the fact that it had no objectionable material.
“Never said sorry because didn't intend to hurt anyone, but clarified”- Munawar Faruqui

Conclusion:
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Humor can bring people together and so strengthen individuals who are impacted by an uncertain
political system by celebrating common understanding with laughter. Indian stand-up comedians
prepare for a variety of scenarios, such as awkward silences or an audience that doesn't get the
joke. FIRs have also developed into one of them over the past ten years amid rising instances of
flimsy egos and easily offended feelings.

If to make people laugh is considered a hate crime so should the undignified actions of those
who spread indoctrinated notions should be. Do you have more faith in the influence of an artist
you disapprove of than your ‘strong’ morals? Why so serious?
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Bibliography:
Article links:

Farber N., Can People Be Too Woke to Joke?. Retrieved from-

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-blame-game/202205/can-people-be-too-woke
-joke
Jha A. A Brief History of Indian Standup: The Early Years Supercut. Retrieved from-
https://deadant.co/a-brief-history-of-indian-standup-the-early-years-supercut/

Retrieved from-
Krishan R., No laughing matter — all the comedians who got into trouble for trying to be
funny

https://theprint.in/india/no-laughing-matter-all-the-comedians-who-got-into-trouble-for-try
ing-to-be-funny/580663/

Youtube links:

Retrieved from- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFtEHZUqoOY

Retrieved from-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NWFTiX--8c

Retrieved from- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swozBbWMzNQ

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Appendix:

A thorough content analysis was done on this topic, where I researched on every subtopic I came
across. The research being from the comedian’s perspective, empathy interviews and surveys of
the general audience weren’t a requirement. Study was done on the shift in satire, decreasing
tolerance of jokes, the role of freedom of speech, comedian’s biases while forming jokes, the
importance of context and what point do jokes cross the line. Comedians studied for primary
research were Munawar Faruqui, Kunal Kamra, Varun Grover, Kenny Sebastian, Vir das,
Tanmay , Hasan Minaj, and Neeti Palta.