Karina Pandya

Stand-up comedy, as its name obviously suggests is a comic style act where a comedian performs in front of a live audience – usually directly talking in front of them. Known by various names such as stand-up, comedian, comic, stand-up comedian or even stand up, the feedback of the audience is instant and crucial.     Stand up comedy in the United States had its roots on popular entertainment of the 19th century and Americans sought this entertainment to escape and confront city living. Nightclubs became the breeding ground for stand-up acts. Popular television shows such as The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live helped to publicise the careers of comedians Jay Leno, Bill Cosby, Janeane Garofalo and others. India and modern stand up comedy – is quite a young platform: Many are not even aware of the fact that Chakyar koothu  - a performance art from  Kerala , South India is also a traditional equivalent of the modern  stand-up...

Entertainment has certainly transformed from the common TV and newspaper format to one that is digital. One of the interesting elements adding on to the elements of entertainment is the rise of the spoken word – i.e. performance poetry in India. Known to be a Western concept, it has slowly warmed itself to ‘Indianness’! However, Hemant Divate -an internationally acclaimed poet, editor and publisher says. “ Performance poetry is a new name given to an old tradition,” Have we forgotten our past? When for hundreds of years, there were passionate poets and audiences who used to gather at village fairs and royal courts, at kavi sammelans a nd mushairas to be apart of a tradition that was entertaining.   Poetry and Spoken Word Poetry: two different concepts? The latter, being poetry composed/written to BE performed.   This type of poetry refuses to just SIT DOWN on a page and be passive. It needs an audience to exist and it has to be a perfor...