Ashish says a nation is identfied by what it laughs at. We are a nation that laughs at itself. Sardarji's and Malayali's may be the communities being made fun of the most. The latter from a member of their own community called Lola Kutty. It's pathetic seeing her trying so hard to imitate her own accent, and she slips up, the poor sod, every time, all the time. Channel V would be doing her a favour by taking the show off the air, honest.
so back to where i was, it reflects too badly on us when, as Ashish says, we make such bad jokes about ourselves. Right?
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I mobile blog on http://johnpmathew.blogspot.com/
Thanks for linking us to your blog, and yes, I'll be doing the same.
ReplyDeleteComing back to your essay and I'm glad you mentioned Sardarjis and Malayalee jokes... what I find about this brand of humour is that they are not essentially 'funny' because they are basically caricatures and one can twist caricatures anyway we want... one needn't be creative.
I've watched those laughter challenge shows you talked about, and I rarely find anyone making a commentary on life or even pushing the envelope in saying something totally radical... its either caricatures, imitation of some actors or cross-dressing... can anyone tell me, what is so funny about men dolled up as women??? They arent even good eye-candy!!!!
Oh by the way, how could I forget P. L. Deshpande? Amazing sense of humour laced with a unique commentary on life... but on a national level, how come there arent any with THAT type of humour?
ReplyDeleteI know PL Deshpande is a favorite of mine too. Also Acharya Atre. That type of humour is dead I think, along with that of Behram Contractor, a true practitioner of the art.
ReplyDeleteThere was a doctor, who said things about life and made people laugh, but he was eliminated in the first few rounds. Anyone remember his name?
Thanks for commenting!
J