It doesn't take much for stand up comic Sahil Shah to make people laugh. While maintaining a poker straight face, he'll crack a joke that will have you in splits.
One of the more popular faces on the Indian stand-up scene, Sahil joined good friend and fellow comedian Rohan Joshi for a pop-culture podcast Binge-O-Clock at Mumbai Comic Con -- they host a podcast by the same name on YouTube -- and have some advice for aspiring stand-up comedians.
"Comedy is very simple," says Sahil, urging youngsters to get up on stage and try stand-up comedy at least once in their lifetime.
"Doston ke saath jao. Unko bolo ke pockets mein baitho aur haaso (go with your friends, make them sit in pockets and ask them to laugh).
"Agar dus log hasthe hain doosre jo do log hain, because audience mein sirf barah log hi rahenge will go ha ha ha (if 10 of your friends laugh, the other two will also go ha ha ha. Anyway, there will be just 12 people in the audience)."
"Bhai ek baar kar do (brother, do it just once),' adds Rohan Joshi. 'Kyuki darr ke aage jeet hain (because you'll find success once you conquer your fear).
"Worst case, you'll end up being on stage for five minutes and nobody will laugh at your jokes. So what?
"You'll just lose five minutes of your time and that won't change anything in your life. You can then go home and sleep. But at least try toh karo."
Watch Sahil and Rohan get candid about comedy.
Video: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com and Afsar Dayatar/Rediff.com
