Pushpavalli: A stalker who moves cities to follow her crush’s every move. Behti Naak: A 10-year-old girl with a runny nose and a deadpan humour that alarms you a little bit. These are just some of the off-beat female characters portrayed by Mumbai-based comedienne Sumukhi Suresh who is known to present rather unusual characters. Known as India’s Tina Fey, Sumukhi is an all-round entertainer. In comedy alone, Sumukhi has covered a number of genres including improv, sketch and stand-up. “Improv is my favourite. It is the base of everything I do. My web series Pushpavalli helped me club my knowledge of all the three together,” says the 30-year-old artiste.
This weekend, Sumukhi brings her sketch show, Go Straight, Take Left, for the first time to the city, along with comedian Naveen Richard. “We will perform six to eight sketches, vignettes or short funny plays,” she says. Naveen has been Sumukhi’s longtime friend, right from her initial days in the comedy circuit. Her first stand-up show was also with him. “I met Naveen at Kaneez’s (Surka) improv workshop in Bangalore four years ago, and there has been no turning back. He gave me the opportunity to play Sumukhi Chawla in a mockumentary web series Better Life Foundation, before which I was only getting older mother roles owing to my body type,” she shares.
One of the few successful comediennes in the country, Sumukhi has always been an advocate for more women — on stage and in the audience. With the same agenda, she also organised women-only shows, Disgust Me, in cities including Bengaluru and Mumbai. “What bothers me is when women become uncomfortable, especially if they are around men, because laughing at a joke on sexual innuendos imply something. I have an only-women show just so the ladies hopefully learn to laugh together,” says Sumukhi, adding that there are more women on stage than ever before.
Sumukhi recently hosted the comedy reality show, Comicstaan, on Amazon Prime Video with comedian Abish Mathew. An artiste, who has explored various shades of comedy, she says that a platform like this introduces aspiring comics to other genres, apart from stand-up. “Comedy is not only stand-up. Comicstaan is highlighting that. The show’s format along with the mentoring makes it a good environment to compete,” she adds.
Favourite stand-up comedians:
Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, Ellen Degeneres and Bill Bur.
Backstage ritual:
“I play Minesweeper. LOVE IT!”
Tickets: Rs.799. July 28, 8 pm.
At Heart Cup Coffee.