Oh, what fun!

Anirban Dasgupta

When Bandra-based That Comedy Club founder Sumendra Singh decided to extend the Bangalore Comedy Festival to Mumbai and Delhi last year, the idea was simple - create a season of making people laugh. "Having organised the Bangalore Comedy Festival for five years and also worked with the Melbourne Comedy Festival, we decided to make November to January a comedy season with a festival each at Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, respectively," he tells us. After the success of the 21-day affair in Mumbai in 2019, he had grand plans for 2020.

Vaibhav Sethia

But of course, the year changed the rules of the game altogether, compelling the world, and Singh, to do what matters most - sustain. And it is on this note of sustainability, that the club is organising the second edition of the Mumbai Comedy Festival, albeit in a smaller format.

Sonali Thakker Desai. Pic/Facebook

The founder shares that he wanted to ensure continuity by carrying on with the festival. "This year, we called off the other two festivals, and decided to focus on Mumbai as logistically it made more sense since most comics are based out of the city, or move here. Also, we have a strongly-rooted theatre scene so there's adequate infrastructure to grow a festival here.

Urooj Ashfa

Moreover, December is a time when a lot of people visit Mumbai, so it made sense," he shares. He adds that their intent this year is to make people comfortable, which is why they are operating at less than 50 per cent capacity, implementing strict sanitisation and seat assignment measures, and ending shows a good one and a half hours before the 11 pm curfew.

Azeem Banatwalla

Unlike last year, when the festival was spread across the city, this time, the shows will be held only at the club. While Singh insists it's a "teeny tiny comedy festival", the line-up includes some of the best in the industry including Anirban Dasgupta, Vaibhav Sethia, Azeem Banatwalla, Sapan Verma, Sonali Thakker Desai, Urooj Ashfaq, among others. While Dasgupta, Sethia and Banatwalla will perform solo, there will be double bill acts by some like Verma and Thakker Desai, and Shreeja Chaturvedi and Siddharth Dudeja. "Most comics haven't been up on the stage in nine months, so holding an audience's attention for long is a big challenge. For the festival, the line-up includes only those who have been working the crowds [since restrictions eased] and will up their game," he promises.

Sapan Verma

Singh adds that the jokes will be a mixed bag of our unique experiences of 2020, as well as new content. He asserts that the line-up will also be updated with "surprises", hinting at pop-up acts by the likes of Prashasti Singh or Biswa Kalyan Rath. As Singh puts it, 2020 has been a daunting year, and god knows, we could all use some of these surprises, and definitely a good laugh.

On: Today till January 3
At: 3rd Floor, Madhu Milan Building, 33rd Road, Pali Hill, Bandra.
Log on to: in.bookmyshow.com
Cost: Rs 299 onwards