SPOTLIGHT
SITTING DOWN WITH A STAND-UP
Zakir Khan will perform live in Toronto at the Sociabank Arena on August 24. Two shows: 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm.
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By SHAGORIKA EASWAR
Following the release of three hugely popular specials – Haq Se Single (2017), Kaksha Gyarvi (2018), and Tathastu (2022) – which collectively sold over 100,000 tickets globally, Indian comedian, poet, and storyteller Zakir Khan is once again taking his comedy to audiences worldwide.
He was in Aurangabad, India, in the middle of a tour at the time of this interview. A tour that takes him to Europe, UK, the US and Canada.
He will be in New York for his birthday, but not at a sushi restaurant. I reference the wasabi/pudhine ki chutney episode from his routine that my brother first shared with me to introduce me to Khan’s signature comedy, and he laughs.
“But I hate sushi!”
He will take the day off.
“It’s a ritual I started a few years ago. I tour so much and am always underslept, so this is a day devoted to myself. I take zero phone calls. It’s everyone’s duty to wish me, not mine to respond.”
I’m going to adopt his policy, I say, from my next birthday on.
“Yes, blame me!” he chuckles.
Since his comedy is situational, one might expect NRI uncle- and aunty-specific material for this tour.
“No. No NRI material,” Khan says, elaborating on a powerful idea. “Every audience member is a reflection of the art you create. If I am five, everyone in the room is five. If I am 13, everyone in the room is 13. The same bunch of people who go listen to Jagjit Singh go to a Coldplay concert. I am helping people navigate memories. My shows are not confrontational, they are comforting.”
And they are selling out fast.
Due to overwhelming demand a second show was added in Toronto on Sunday, August 24 at 2 pm on what will be his fourth visit to the city.
“One has to come that many times for it to register! But we’ve done three shows at Meridian Hall earlier, and imagine, the 11am show was also packed. 10,000 people saw the show in one day. I often say, itna khwab toh maine dekha bhi nahi tha (hadn’t seen this even in my wildest dreams)”.
He loves Toronto and Vancouver, how vibrant they are and the energy, he says.
“I’m the first one in my family to travel like this and I learn so much. The brake-fail mechanisms you have in place in Calgary and Edmonton, it’s fascinating to stumble upon such things. Or the revolving restaurant at CN Tower. Kamal ki lagti hain!”
In spite of media reports about issues and delays in getting a Canadian visa, his experience was smooth. He attributes it to his artist’s profile and a passport “heavy” with all the travel he’s done in recent years.
In an art form where “safe” equals boring, where the audience expects to be shocked to a degree, how does he balance his act, avoid offending someone?
“Art ki sabse sundar baat hai (the beauty of art) is that any definition of art that starts with ‘art is...’ cannot stand. If it’s just one thing, then it’s science or math. In art, 2 plus 2 is not always 4. It can be 19, it can be 3.5. Therefore the true definition is ‘art is also...’. It is also shock value, it is silly, it is confrontational. It is all of those. This particular show is about our journey through untapped emotions, memories that cause discomfort. It’s like art therapy, that you and I are doing together, we’re healing together.”
Asked to comment on why so many stand-up comics, Khan included, use language in their shows that one guesses they wouldn’t use at home in front of their parents, Khan has a quick comeback – “I’m sure you do things socially that you wouldn’t in front of your parents!” – before addressing the question.
“It’s for shock value. But it’s not just about language you wouldn’t use in front of parents but certain topic that are not discussed in front of them but are okay among friends or colleagues. There’s a decorum you observe. But at all my shows, at least 30 per cent of the audience are parents. And this show is specifically designed for parents. Can you bring your parents to the show? Of course!”
He doesn’t work from written notes during the show. Has he ever blanked on a line, then?
“Na, na. That’s the curse I live with, I remember everything. If I forget a couple of small details, I am kind to myself. Bade bade sheheron mein aisi chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hain!”
Khan comes from a musical lineage and is the grandson of sarangi maestro Ustad Moinuddin Khan. Though he is also a sitarist, he says he wasn’t sure if that was the career path he wanted to follow.
He was good in debates and impromptu competitions and at school he was the kid they tapped to greet visiting dignitaries. “I was one of those kids who could talk!”
Radio was what he was inclined towards – he didn’t believe he had the face for television – when a friend attended a comedy show in Delhi and said this is what he should pursue.
“He said, ‘The rest are struggling to be funny, tu phod dega bhai (you will be amazing),” recalls Khan.
When he gathered the courage to share his career plans with his family, four whole years after he started doing comedy shows, they asked him just one question: Would he be able to pay his own bills, stand on his feet?
There was no opposition.
“I come from a musical family, they were shocked when I had a ‘regular’ job! Performing was something they get.”
And now that he’s super successful, with sold out shows, nearly 8.5 million followers on YouTube and 6.7 on Insta, with comedy series on Prime, their response hasn’t changed that much.
“They used to describe me as a gifted child – I was clearly not in on the brief!” Khan shares with a laugh. “But I’ve always said I’ve been blessed with a loving family and brothers. They used to celebrate me when I was doing a job. They made a big deal out of it. For them, this current success is just another feather in the cap.”
Though English might gain him access to a larger audience, Khan performs mainly in Hindi because, as he says, comedy is all about context.
“The only truth about comedy is that it’s only about context. My context is in the languages I grew up with. I was born in Jhunjnu in Rajasthan, so that dialect. I grew up in Indore where they speak Malwi. I spent time in Delhi and learnt Punjabi and Delhi Hindi. We used to spend summers in Ahmedabad at my grandfather’s, and I learnt Gujarati. And now I’m in Mumbai, so I’m learning Marathi. My experiences and feelings, I want to carry them in my work and express them in these languages.
“My wiring is not in English! But I am working on some material in English, too, and may pivot one day.”
Does he view the world through a different lens? Find the humour in a situation others may find annoying or frustrating?
“We all observe the exact same thing. Where I have an edge over you is as an artist, I can give a voice to it. I verbalise things you don’t want to talk about.”
As a stand-up comic is he expected to always be “on”, confronted by people who say, “Tell us a joke, Zakir”? There was a lot of this when he stared getting popular, he says. There would always be the one person who pretended to be more drunk than he was, who would loudly proclaim, “Hey, dudes, we have Zakir Khan in the house!”
He stopped attending parties, he says. It still happens sometimes, but now he deals with it. “I say I only talk about people I know. So someone is sure to say, ‘Talk about me! You know me!’ And then I say I only talk about interesting people.”
Ouch.
After this tour, Khan is planning to take some time off. To spend time with himself.
“In 2013, I got a last-minute ticket for a show at the Chicago Theatre. I said I have to be there once. Now I am going to perform there. And in Madison Square Garden. 55,000 tickets in North America alone and this is just the beginning of the tour. Imagine the high. It’s heavy to process. Life changing. I am receiving so much love. Legendary comedians have agreed to work with me on the show. I need to collate all that. And then maybe I’ll do some writing...”
Those who are lucky enough to score tickets for his shows can look forward to an event featuring a multifaceted artist with a self-deprecating sense of humour who doesn’t hesitate to skewer a certain wannabe-ness. If he throws in a sher or two and shares a little of his life philosophy, well, that’s a bonus!