Hari Kondabolu, who is kind of a friend of the Mutiny’s, is going to be on Comedy Central Friday night at 10pm eastern (“Live at Gotham”). Here is a snippet that I think is from the show:
Pretty clever, no? (It helps if you are a child of the 80s…)
Compare to Papa CJ, who was eliminated tonight from the NBC show Last Comic Standing, after a truly disastrous performance. I wouldn’t ruin your day with a link to that footage even if it were available, but here is Papa CJ doing somewhat similar material in London, albeit much more effectively:
In London he seems much more confident, though I have to admit I’m still not thrilled with his shtick. Is it just me, or is Papa CJ just not that funny?
That said, one does have to give him credit. It’s one thing to be a brown comic with a funny name, but a familiar American accent and a shared set of cultural reference points with one’s audience (i.e., Hari Kondabolu and Back to the Future above). Papa CJ, born and raised in Kolkata, has to work across a yawning cultural divide when he performs in the U.S. It makes comedy quite difficult (the “bollocks”/ “bullocks” joke, only marginally funny in England, would be suicidal in Los Angeles).
Ironically, due to the colonial legacy, England is probably a bit easier going for an Indian comedian.
I don’t think his act will be that popular outside of a very niche audience in Manhattan/Brooklyn & SF. He should consider medicine.
Louiecypher, just for clarification, which comedian are you referring to?
i liked papa cj better, hari kondabolu was ok but i found my self laughing more with cj. “we can take your jobs, SITTING AT HOME” haha. but hey i’m a f**king AWSOME brit 😉
i would like to see more of hari’s work – very funny stuff. papa cj has great material but it’s his delivery that does not translate well. his hand gestures remind me of comedians/singers on bangladeshi tv programming (the scooping hand, the wide-sweep hand, etc). his name is also incredibly irksome – Papa CJ? what?
i loved the cross-pollenation joke though 🙂
Amardeep: I was referring to Kondablu. I didn’t think much of CJ either.
I kinda cringed when Papa CJ said to his British audience that “you ruled us for 200 years”…true but he didn’t need to go there! The rest of his routine was OK, funny in parts. I don’t think he should joke so mercilessly at India’s expense though, for example that half our transportation is bullocks or whatever…it feeds or reinforces notions of us as backwards idiots (even though there may be some factual truth in what he’s saying). He should preserve our dignity a little better. The same jokes in front of an Indian audience (ABD or DBD) would be ok. Just my opinion.
Its just you. He is definitely funnier than your pick Hari Kondabolu based on these clips.
I thought Papa Cj has been pretty good. His mistake was not repeating the same material because the audience wouldnt know it was the same old shtick we get to see every week. But his delivery seemed a little stilted in this week’s episode. The audience was not as receptive and I think it made him a little too stubborn at times with his “i dont give a crap”. Also, he spent way too much time with one guy in the audience. He should have spread it around a little bit because the audience seemed to notice the tension. I thought Eliza’s shtick was too middlebrow.
BUt hey, it’s LAst Comic Standing. The same show NBC once did not bother to even show the finale one season and forced viewers to catch the finale on Bravo.
Hari’s joke was kind of stale to me cos Time made a similar joke ten days or so ago: “Was Jesus’ Resurrection a Sequel?”, referring to resurrections that are part of Judaic lore. Not accusing Hari of anything: it just immediately occurred to me when I watched his skit. He probably never read the article.
CJ is okay, but he needs to work on his delivery. All that hand-waving.
I think this Papa CJ guy also participated in the Great Indian Laughter challenge (season 3). Though I am not 100% sure but his delivery sounds very very familiar.
It’s you. He’s funny and so is Hari. They have different styles, of course.
I don’t live in England and I thought it was quite funny.
He’s a comedian and overstatement is a staple of comedy. And being able to laugh at ourselves is a good thing.
LOL – I thought both were funny! But I agree CJ needs to work on his delivery – that’s the part that didn’t really work for me, but yeah, his content was still funny.
Hari is alright. The other guy is corny.
If he thinks “Hackney” or wtv is bad compared to Calcutta , than it must BADD, lol Calcutta is not the nicest city in india in my opinion.
No, He’s right Hackney truly is a shithole!
The top guy is clever, and I like his style of comedy, laid back, looking at a “in the public eye” situation with a new angle.
for an Indian or an Indophile CJ’s punches are predictable, but could have a good effect on an audience willing to laugh at itself or smart enough to pick up a joke. That’s more likely to happen across the pond. In the US outside the charmed circle of classic comedians, the general sense of humour is poorly developed. Superbowl ad humour is as far as some people can get. Jay Leno at times has to stress even his obvious lines or add on gastrointestinal references to evoke laughs. I was surprised in my early days here how few people liked Groucho Marx or Johnny Carson.
But one thing is true about the abrahamic faith followers, they’ll team together when deriding non-Abrahamic faiths like Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, etc…
Amardeep, it’s definitely just you. Papa CJ is smart and funny; he’s making clever use of the fake India accent used in the Merchant Ivory films.
wait… his accent is fake?
artist versus clown. nothing wrong with enjoying some clowning from time to time. i happen to enjoy the former more. good work hari.
CJ’s material seemed funny enough, but I didn’t like his delivery. It seemed overly scripted and not conversational.
Couldn’t see Hari’s clip entirely – it kept freezing. I do like his style much better though.
Amardeep, it’s definitely just you. Papa CJ is smart and funny; he’s making clever use of the fake India accent used in the Merchant Ivory films.
Actually, that’s his real accent. He does exaggerate it at times for comic effect (as at the end of the routine, with the bit about the Kama Sutra), but only occasionally.
Still, if you think he’s funny, I’m not going to deconstruct your yuks. To each, his own.
I thought CJ was hilarious throughout the show esp behind the scenes. When they move in the house or hotel, he sees that they have running water, 24/7. He is amazed and another comedian goes “welcome to America”. His delivery def needs work and like Pravin said above “he spent way too much time with one guy in the audience.”
Papa CJ is funny, but he is more rude than funny. I think he overdid the pick-on-the-audience-member bit. It made me uncomfortable. Yeah there are insult comics and all they do is insult the audience. But, you know you are going to see an insult comic. I think he should have toned it down for a general audience
Anyways, I was glad to see a desi go that far. I thought he would be out way before this point. Predictably, the Americans do seem to be ganging up on the foreigners and the men seem to be ganging up on the female
he’s making clever use of the fake India accent used in the Merchant Ivory films.
That’s too esoteric of a joke, even if intended. The 1st golden rule in comedy is to have relatable material.
I think Cj got flustered a bit. He had very receptive audiences all the way to the finals. This audience seemed to want it safe and it doesnt hurt Eliza is a decent looking lady with a nice rack. She has a lot more safe humor material because she belongs to this culture and can joke about many shows.
OMG, Papa CJ was so annoying and insulting last night! He cornered up on one guy, and everyone could feel the tension….also during the prop round, people were so obvioulsy shocked and bored. He needs to work on his delivery like crazy……Also his”I come from the land” jokes are horrible. Papa CJ is not funny at all. I mean what he said is the kinda stuff you will hear at EVERY desi party. You guys must check out DAN NAINAN if you have’nt already…..that is one funny guy!
BTW, here’s a dan nainan (half indian half japanese= full asian:)clip:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=say9MsdpGXs
Well Sunshine, thank you so much for your kind comments!
As to everyone else, I think Hari is hilarious; I was actually at that taping and he brought the house down! I actually met him afterwards and spoke to him a little bit, what an unbelievably nice fellow. He actually referred a client to me who wanted to book me for a show, which is unheard of in this cutthroat business.
As far as Papa CJ, I haven’t met the man, although I’ve exchanged e-mails with him… it’s great to see him make the show (although of course I wish it had been me instead). I think he’s got some really funny material. In general I wouldn’t rip on a comedian unless you have tried this yourself… this is a very difficult job and the other thing you have to understand is that any given point when you see a comedian, he or she is still developing and growing as a comedian. We can’t all be like Russell but remember, Russell’s been doing it for more than 19 years now. As Jerry Seinfeld says, the number of years you’ve been doing comedy is what determines how good you are, and I think that’s true.
Anyway, if I might toot my own horn a little bit here, here’s a recent article about me from the New York Times, along with my best video clip to date, along with one of my radio bits in which I imitate Bill Clinton. Enjoy, and if you want to know more, check out my website, or e-mail me at calrocker@hotmail.com.
New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/business/26flier.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=nainan&st=nyt&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Performance for 4500, mixed audience http://youtube.com/watch?v=BWC83bC6Dmo
Performance for 1800 Indians http://youtube.com/watch?v=say9MsdpGXs
Bill Clinton impression on KSAN radio http://www.danielnainan.com/clinton.mp3
Thanks, Dan!
Not only you have class but also an amazing talent!
I’m looking forward to your clips, though I have seen you in person.
You also brought the house down!
Dan, I think you are a “lambi race ka ghoda” just like russell. Love your “clean” stuff:)
I am silent lurker here but couldn’t resist putting my opinion that Papa CJ guy was horrific and to be honest embarrassing y’day. So idiot.
I gotta disagree with you there buddy…comedians are supposed to make us laugh…and be funny…if someone’s not good at it then the audience is right to call him/her out on that…though of course I hear you that it’s not easy and that people improve with time. I know for sure I wouldn’t be good at it.
In that vid, Papa CJ is acting a lot like the actors in Hindi sitcoms, like Ensure says above about Bangla TV. Especially his posture and also the hand motions.
“The 1st golden rule in comedy is to have relatable material.”
HMF you’re right….that’s where Iliza had the definite advantage given the audience.
They’re both funny, but for different audiences. A lot of people in (Great) Britain and India wouldn’t get Hari’s references any more than most people here could respond to the up close and personal from Papa CJ.
Papa CJ’s “joke” about ….”Your english is good” was horrible and a stereotypical response. Why is the whole question of English immediately becomes “izzat ka sawal” for Desis?? I dont get it.
Let us not forget Papa CJ’s material helped him get this far. Now all of a sudden so many people are tearing him down. Ok, so he had a bad night. Every comic has one, no matter how polished he his.
Well, language is a vehicle of culture. The same language does not convey same things in different cultures (in many instances). For example the bullocks thing would not work in the US although the language is supposedly same (English). If everyone spoke C++ than it would have had absolute meaning across cultures. The point of above is that stand up comics need to convey a message that works ‘culturally’ for the audience. Just being able to speak in the same language means very little.
The thing is Papa CJ was using the same jokes through out the show. He did the same bit in Las Vegas. It worked then, but not so much in LA. And,let us remember, he did beat Paul Foot.
17 · jyotsana said
The earlier audiences had no problem laughing at CJ’s schtick and they were AMerican. It was just this specific audience in LCS elimination round. Plus CJ was partly to blame as he got stuck in a tonal rut with that one guy and he refused to back off. I do like his cocky demeanor which is uncommon in standup comedy. The hands gestures did not bother me.
Why do people pay money (good money) to go sit in the front in a standup comic’s show and get humiliated by the comic?? Some kind of wierd human psychology at work, may be.
the sacrifice of the few for the sake of the many
Very true. And as long as Papa CJ keeps performing, he’ll have the last laugh.
I think what Dan means is that it’s easy to be a critic, far more difficult to actually get on stage and perform. Only those who’ve tried it (and I have) would truly appreciate what it takes. And also be reluctant to rip a comedian who has a bad night.
My vote goes for the sexy, witty, animated Papa CJ. He’s more in tune with the audience, spontaneous and overall funny. the half breed accent helps his case. Hari seemed so dry, even in the 1:45 min clip. He looks unrehearsed, almost like he’s reciting his script.
Saw Dan at the Laugh Factory awhile back, and loves me some Nainan the most. He has an uncanny way of dramatically pausing, and entertains in a non-aggressive way, that is endearing to all ages & races of all kinds.
Some may justifiably rip on Papa CJ, for he did “die†last night. But what many people DO NOT is that Papa CJ is a Hindu. He will be reborn. He might be born as their son. He might do something ( I forget what) with their wives’ boobies.
Thank you. Thank you. I’ll be here all week.
Only those who’ve tried it (and I have) would truly appreciate what it takes. And also be reluctant to rip a comedian who has a bad night.
Exactly, stand up comedy is extremely hard. thats why comedians do the same act over and over again, to nail that delivery down and be completely congruent with the material they say. As for comedians picking on audience people, its usually a sign of weakness on the comedians part. They’re reaching for the easiest laugh..
It’s “what am I gonna do?” uhh make fun of the chinese guy’s accent, make fun of the indian guy as a terrorist…”
43 · RC said
I wonder why I pay the hard earned money to the masseurs for getting squeezed.
Dan Nainan San Wow!! Hari is cool, PapaCJ did not get it up.
As a man obsessed with comedians I can say that Hari is not that great of a stand up although not bad, but would be more sutiable on a fake news show and the other dude isnt going anywhere.
Have you guys seen the Danny Bhoy, the Scottish Indian version of Dane Cook? Basically a guy who has some funny jokes, but gets annoying because women usually laugh a little too loud because they think he is cute.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=y8VE9LqrpPA