Stand up comedian Sapan Verma has a new show on Amazon Prime where India’s biggest actors, politicians, musicians and influencers are trained by top comedians to perform stand up comedy for their very first time. Among the contestants were YouTuber Bhuvan Bam, who took the stage under the guidance of mentor Zakir Khan.
How it Works
Bhuvan Bam is known for his hilarious sketches and eccentric characters such as, Banchoddas Chhatriwala, Sameer Fuddi and Titu Mama that you’ll find on his channel BB Ki Vines – he’s the first Indian YouTuber to hit 10 million subscribers. So definitely the chances of him killing it at the stand-up game were pretty high.
Following the show’s format, the episode starts with a performance by Zakir, followed by behind-the-scenes glimpses of how the two worked together to create Bhuvan’s set. While Zakir mentors Bhuvan, giving him advice on things like how to choose jokes, the tables are also turned with Bhuvan getting a chance to show Sapan and Zakir how to play one of his YouTube characters, Titu Mama.
BB vs Sakth Launda
To be honest, the student surpasses the teacher in this episode. This might have been because Zakir’s entire set seemed very minimalistic given he had only four minutes. His ‘sakth launda’ personality induces laughter but it’s nothing new.
When Bhuvan Bam takes the stage, you can sense a tinge of nervousness. In the earlier part of the episode, he talks about how behind a moustache and a wig (which he often wears in his videos), he is the most confident person, but beneath all those personalities, he is very shy and has a fear of being judged. He fully utilises this nervousness to his advantage and uses it to elicit laughs on stage.
Bhuvan endears himself to the audience by mining material from his own life for his set. His best bit has to be stories about getting recognised in public. The common mispronunciation of his name and the fact that people thought he was from Pakistan due to his initial subscribers, will certainly make you laugh. He grows progressively more at ease as he proceeds to talk about his life as a social media star, his various YouTube personalities and his new sketch, Titu Talks. Overall, offers insight into the man behind the popular channel with plenty of laughs. For a first stand-up performance, it’s a great effort.
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