In July of this year, I ticked off a box on my bucket list when I finally got to watch one of my absolute favourites, Vir Das, perform live. Dodging the rain, Delhi traffic and literally jumping over the flooded roads (will tell my kids these stories of hardship, skipping some details of course) I reached the venue. The show started, and I realised that the grandness of Siri Fort Auditorium made Vir appear to be in a galaxy far far away from my view from the cheap seats. However, when he told his first joke, the collective laughter made me feel closer; in content and context.
One of his lines said, “You throw mud at me, and I will turn it into a literal gold through my alchemy.” referring to the statue of his Emmy win. This line reminded me how some of his last stand-up specials have been outcomes of the challenging couple of years before the event. To preserve his art and say what he truly believes in, Vir had to go through harrowing territories of FIRs, death threats, cancellation of shows, protests, being called an antinational, his passport seized, and everything the keyboard warriors are capable of. But that’s what pioneers do, they swim across unchartered waters and survive raging storms.
He is a pioneer, as yesterday, it was announced he would be the first Indian to host the International Emmy Awards. A year before, he created history when he won the same award for his stand-up special Landing. With Abroad Understanding, he became the first Indian comedian to have his own Netflix special. With For India, he truly made the elements and nuances of daily Indian life (shoutout to the Parle-G bit) into a laughter riot for the global audience. With his jokes, he brought home the point that even for audiences all over the globe, all the points that are needed to bring about the biggest laughs, are in our homes. You just have to make them a little palatable to everyone’s taste.
Even inside the country, Vir has been a pioneer in establishing the comedy scene. Sure, stand-up comedy was not new in India back then, but Vir brought the format we now know it to be with his open mic Hamateur Nights in 2009. It was where comedians like Rohan Joshi first discovered their passion and the platform for comedy.
In a bid to give back to his art, he has always been a cheerleader and enabler for grassroots talents. For his Emmy appearance, he chose to wear and promote the design of a 4th year NIFT student. In each of his shows, he puts on clothes made by a local designer, invites an upcoming musician to perform at the start, and asks a young filmmaker to record the entire event- all of them are paid by Vir. The only criterion they have to meet is that they must be struggling, and Vir makes the world take notice.
What’s that one thing that is common amongst all pioneers? They are all ‘brave’ and the first word that always comes to my mind about Vir is ‘brave’. Comedy is a fairly subjective art, so one can argue that Vir is the funniest comic in the country, but one can’t deny that he is certainly the bravest. When he could have made easy money through his observational material, Vir went on the stage every day and addressed the ugly truths of our society and politics. And he continues to do it. It lands him in trouble every day, legally, mentally, and financially, but that’s what pioneers do, they gamble everything they have in the pursuit of truth.
It’s not just the politics Vir tackles with his witty words, they are also designed to empathise with the agony of human misery. During peak COVID, when some of my dearest ones were fighting the virus, Vir’s video “Jokes for the Dead” told me that we were not alone in this fight.
What sets Vir apart from others is his sense of accountability towards his audience and his craft. Vir talks in an interview about the time he encountered two college kids who had bought premium tickets to his show by skipping and saving lunch money. Vir says he always tried to give more than his best after that incident. No matter what topic Vir wants or needs to talk about, he always ensures that the jokes are funny first.
When Vir delivered his last joke (it was an ‘ehhh’ sound effect) and the auditorium went all dark, I realised I had tears in my eyes, not because of some sad story Vir had told, it was because of the miracle I had witnessed, the immaculate craftsmanship of a magician of words, standing still at the face of every adversity, every slur thrown and taking those same tragedies to convert them into comedy gold.