New Delhi, a comedy show where an audience member says $The $370 he spends on biryani entitles him to sexual intimacy and describes in graphic detail his advances toward an unwilling woman. Another place where the stand-up comedian focuses his jokes on “post-rape cuddling,” necrophilia, and rapist-murderers. All this leads to loud laughter.
The audience is mostly male. Implicit misogyny. Issues of consent, the normalization of rape culture and the trivialization of sexual assault and murder.
Video clips from the two shows, the first and most recent from Praneet More and the second from an earlier show by Madhur Fairley, have become the focus of an angry debate about where and how the lines should be drawn.
Two-time Academy Award-winning British actor Peter Ustinov described the comedy as a “funny take on seriousness.” Stand-up comics have never been far from the headlines due to the nature of their jobs – to elicit uncomfortable laughs.
Often the toast of many circles for their satirical takes on contemporary issues, some of the Indian comedians thriving in today’s stand-up ecosystem seem to have dropped the funny, leaving behind nothing but controversy. and the need to reflect on what constitutes humour.
“No matter how little progress activists are making, these crude videos and jokes take us back to square one. When something as serious as sexual coercion is normalized for laughter and watched by millions, it sends the wrong message,” anti-rape activist Yogita Bhayana told PTI.
She said: “I am not calling for arrests, but there must be accountability for what is said and held accountable. We should also not forget the public laughter that these jokes receive. They speak much more about society than we would like to admit.”
Before Moore’s latest team-up segment — which was filmed earlier than Fairlie but has found new life with the current controversy — was filmed, there was a profane remark by podcaster Ranveer Allahabadia about fathers and sex on comedian Samay Raina’s show.
Ensemble action is a style of improvisational comedy in which performers abandon rehearsed material in favor of unscripted, improvised dialogue with audience members.
Digital creator and actress Kusha Kapila, who was brutally bullied over her divorce by Samay Raina, called on More to post the clip. In a sarcastic video she posted on Instagram, she deconstructed “ $370 “Biryani” logic and morals taught men.
Her lessons: “If the appointment costs $370 And the man misbehaves $270, Balance 100 Call the number immediately”, “How many biryanis to buy for a character? Trick question: insufficient data”, “if $370 is expected to buy affection, loyalty, and attention, and the probability of self-growth is zero percent.”
In Moore’s clip that has gone viral, what starts out as routine teamwork veers into annoying territory when 23-year-old Himanshu Jangra starts gushing.
“Min kaha $370 lag hain, main fasol toh karunga,” he said. More responded by calling it “peak Gurugram content” and gave it $A cash prize of $5,000 was rewarded for the best story told while the audience cheered and laughed.
Jangra then goes on to have increasingly graphic flashbacks of his date with a girl who repeatedly says “no” and ignores her.
The exchange was later edited, translated and uploaded by More for his two million subscribers. Moore, in accordance with standard practice, obtained Jangra’s consent before publishing the clip but chose to bypass the larger issue of the woman’s consent altogether.
Jangra has since been fired from his job at Gurugram-based Starvik Design over his “inappropriate comments”. He and Moore are facing an FIR from the Maharashtra Cyber Police. The NCW also took suo motu cognizance and issued summons.
The controversy soon took another turn.
Clips from Moore’s “all-female” show have resurfaced, showing a medical student at KEM College in Mumbai, Sejal Pawar, making jokes about the genitals of male corpses. They punished her too, some went on to say on social media.
The college has since launched an internal investigation and placed Pawar on a mandatory 15-day leave.
“I have no problem with Seagal being held accountable if she says something wrong. But the ‘she said it too’ argument is a classic tactic and a way to drag sex on her. That doesn’t excuse anyone.”
“The data also shows who has historically made such jokes and at whose expense. Often, the anger is more about hurting male egos than anything else,” Bhayana explained.
Since the outburst, both Moore and Jangra have apologized multiple times.
Moore said he “deserved this hate” and admitted he should have intervened but didn’t, claiming everyone was laughing and he was “shunted away”, calling it a “lapse in judgement”.
For his part, Jangra said that he regretted attending the show and that parts of his dating story were “improvised” for entertainment.
Fairley also apologized after clips from his show two years ago went viral.
“The clip that is doing the rounds is from a show I did about two years ago… I believe comedy can question ideas and deal with difficult topics. But some topics require sensitivity, context and informed appreciation. When an attempt fails, the only honest thing to do is acknowledge it, apologize and do better. This is one of those moments for me,” the Delhi-based comedian wrote.
The clips have once again sparked a broader discussion about live comedy and the expanding boundaries of the format, where audience laughter rings true to the content, sarcasm gives way to crudeness, and fleeting moments of theater become permanent viral material.
Many comedians have distanced themselves from the controversy. Many also questioned the idea of teamwork as a form.
Comedian Kunal Kamra, who is no stranger to courting controversy with his political jokes, said on Channel
Stand-up comedian Devesh Dixit has criticized the way teamwork is used in stand-up comedy today, arguing that the monthly rush of uploads has turned performers into content creators who prioritize virality over craft.
In a video, he also questioned the practice of placing a microphone directly into an audience member’s hands, calling it a risky choice that could easily get out of hand.
Aditi Mittal, who is also a comedian, was not impressed by the series of apologies.
“This is how these environments work, and this is how people talk,” she said in an Instagram video. “Whether the cameras are on or off, I can guarantee there are hundreds of similar videos circulating online. The only difference is that this particular clip caught the public’s attention, and people are now angry about it.”
The pattern is familiar, she said.
“The men involved disappear from the internet for a few days, weeks or months. Eventually, they come back, often appearing on major reality shows that everyone watches. They quickly collaborate with streaming platforms and major brands. These men are forgiven and forgotten much more quickly than women who point out that it was a mistake,” Mittal said.
With 63 million views, Samay Raina’s comeback show ‘Still Alive’ is among the most watched comedy specials in the world. Raina and Allahbadia also appeared in the latest season of ‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’.
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