Politics of Recognition and Representation in Indian Stand-Up Comedy

This book, first of its kind in the Indian context, brings together both a theoretical understanding of various aspects of the humour, aesthetics and politics of stand-up comedy, and case studies of various forms of stand-up comedy in India. This volume is interdisciplinary wherein the contributors raise pertinent issues about the role of stand-up comedy in India in contemporary times. With an increased presence of OTT platforms and internet penetration that allows for easy access to this art form, stand-up comedy in India cannot be ignored anymore. The book includes chapters on Indian stand-up comedy related to the themes of: interrogating the term ‘Indian stand-up comedy’; historical lineage of stand-up in India; the politics of language and laughter; ‘charged humour’ vs ‘safe’/profitable comedy; stand-up comics as parrhesiastes, performance of the self and comic personas; comedy and other forms of artistic expression; laughter clubs, urbanism and stand-up comedy; surveillance, censorship and trolling; the economy of production and consumption of stand-up comedy and the ‘silences’ and limitations in the contemporary form of stand-up in India.

Introduction by Richa Chilana and Rashi Bhargava.- Laughing about and from the Periphery.- Das, Shayeri- Disparagement Humour as a Means for Social Exclusion: Examining the Day-to-Day Casteism in Indian Stand-Up Comedy .- Chakravarti, Mahashweta-The ‘Serious Business of Comedy’: Indian Female Stand-Up Comedians and their Political Roles.- Rele Sathe, Namrata-Creeping on You: The Politics of the Messy Woman in the comedy of Sumukhi Suresh.- Pande, Neha-What’s funny to Daniel Fernandes might not be funny to Aditi Mittal.- Politics of Language and Wordplay.- Banerjett, Maumita-Jokes for all: Language, and Challenges of Contemporary Indian Stand-up Comedy.- Jyothsna, K S -L for Librocubicularist: Soul searching with key words that nobody is searching for.- Where do we draw the line-Patel, Arun- New Clowns in Town: Stand-up comics as parrhesiastes and flatters.- Singh, Pankaj-Struggles of Indian Stand-up Comedians to Find the Line.- Comedy and Contact Zones.- Ishtiaq, Shanzeh-Comedy Across the Borders/Cracking(up) Queer Comedy in Pakistan and India.- Kay, Kavyta-Representing Brown Britain – Asian voices in British Comedy.- Nair, Ashwathy-Creating Contact Zones via Stand-up Comedy: Defamiliarizing the Construct of ‘India’.- Miller, Zubin - The ritual of comedy: expressions from the young Indian middle-class.

Richa Chilana is Senior Assistant Professor at School of Liberal Studies, UPES, Dehradun, India.

Rashi Bhargava is Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, India.