Comicstaan: No Laughing Matter!

MUMBAI: Watching comedy can be therapeutic and entertaining. So when 7 of India’s best stand-up comedians come together for a reality show to search for India’s next big comic talent on a platform like Amazon Prime Video, expectations are sky high.

Amazon Prime Video, for those who have been living under a rock, is an Internet video-on-demand service.

Comicstaan (Only Much Louder Entertainment), a comedy reality show that begun streaming on Amazon Prime Video India from 13 July, hones the comic talent of new stand-up comedians in various genres of comedy including observational, anecdotal, and improvisational.

But 10 minutes into episode 2 of the first season, you realize that what excited you on paper is going to bitterly disappoint you on screen.

For starters, the concept of the show doesn’t promise anything we haven’t seen before: it was novel almost a decade ago in Star One’s The Great Indian Laughter Challenge (Endemol India).

The production values and overall look and feel of the show appear non-professional. Little thought seems to have gone into the sets, camera work, lighting, and even the attire of the contestants.

Even if we look past that, what is surprising is the jury’s complete lack of interest—a jury that comprises Tanmay Bhat, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Kenny Sebastian, Kanan Gill, Naveen Richard, Kaneez Surka, and Sapan Verma. They don’t look happy to be a part of a reality show that takes them out of their comfort zones; most of the judges look out of place judging and rating the contestants.

Comicstaan is hosted by the lovely Sumukhi Suresh and Abish Matthew, and while there is no debating their comic abilities, the same can’t be said about them as hosts.

They fail to establish a rapport with the contestants and judges alike and seem lost in the conundrum of performing stand-up and hosting, thus doing neither correctly. Abish does manage to build on his Son of Abish (an English comedy talk show that he hosted) experience to converse with the contestants, but unfortunately, Sumukhi looks completely lost.

As an audience, you simply don’t connect with the contestants. Their performances too are a yawn fest.

Finally, the paid promotions on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media that show up before you watch the show only prove that a high marketing budget cannot guarantee good content.

Comicstaan fails to live up to its name; it barely garners a smile out of you, if that.

It gets a rating of 2 from us. 

★★★★★ Masterpiece

★★★★½ Remarkable

★★★★ Great

★★★½ Very Good

★★★ Good

★★½ Average

★★ Soulless

★½ Bummer

★ Snooze fest

½ Failure