It’s not every day you hear a stand-up comic describe their new show as “nervous.” But Barath Balaji isn’t here to follow the rules. Together with fellow Chennai-based comic Sarvesh, he’s taking a detour from the usual mic-and-spotlight setup with Complete BS, an alt-comedy show that leans into the weird, the visual, and the wonderfully offbeat. “It’s a good kind of nervous. If that’s a thing,” he laughs. “The core idea is to take a concept and explore it with visual gags and elements. Stuff you wouldn’t typically see at a regular stand-up show,” says Barath. Think less “guy with a mic talking about traffic,” and more Rueben Solo meets Bo Burnham, with a Tamil twist.
The name Complete BS might feel like a wink at the randomness of the show, but it’s also surprisingly fitting. “It’s an oddball set of subjects,” Barath admits. “There’s no neat structure. That’s the point.” Both performers have been active in the Chennai comedy circuit for a while, slowly crafting a style that resists convention. “We’ve always wanted to take a more offbeat route to joke-telling, this show is pretty much an amalgamation of that.”
For Barath, joke-telling has always felt like a puzzle. “Figure out the right way to put things, and you get a laugh,” he says. But it’s not just about laughs, he believes comedy is a powerful vehicle for ideas and opinion. “Like the way we say vaazhaipazhathil oosi ethra maari, a sharp thought dressed up in something silly.”
Ask him about the early gigs, and you’ll get a chuckle. “They’re a distant memory now. Just vibes. And the vibes are not good,” he grins. “It’s customary to find your past self a bit cringe.” But what has remained consistent over the years is the way Barath views the world, as a playground for hyperbole. “Everything around us is already absurd. So taking that a notch higher actually puts things in perspective.”
Inspired by comics like Demetri Martin, Sumit Anand, and Donald Glover, Barath’s style leans toward the surreal. “There’s this world-building they do, a strange, skewed version of reality. That’s what I love.”
While the process of writing and rewriting is a grind, he believes the best comedy often lies in the mundane. “Inspiration is finicky, but there’s a lot of comedy in the ordinary. And there’s a lot of ordinary around us.”
Talking about the scene today, Barath compares it to a teenager, “confused, but slowly figuring itself out.” He misses the structure that existed before the pandemic, the sense of community, the hierarchy of spots, shows, and recordings. “Now it’s more about being a somebody on social media and building presence there before you try it IRL. I’m not a big fan of that, but hey, it works.”
On stage, the two biggest challenges? “Finding your voice, and then sticking to the discipline it takes to get there.” Early on, he says, comics often chase the already-funny topics. But the real win is when you can make anything funny because it’s coming through your unique lens. “Once you find that, you’re set. But it takes grit.”
Even hecklers, he says, are part of the journey. “They’re still audience members, just ones who don’t know how to enjoy a show. A bit of genuine conversation usually throws them off.”
Barath’s brand of humour often plays with wordplay and absurdity, but he’s also trying to push the envelope visually. “I don’t want to do just joke after joke. I want to build a narrative, something you can see and feel, not just hear.”
His personal comedy philosophy? “Ideally, everything should be fair game. But we don’t live in that world. A good rule of thumb is: are you punching up or punching down?”
At the heart of it all, Barath is chasing something simple, to get the you off-stage, onto the stage. “Your friends laugh at you in conversation because of your personality. That’s what we’re all trying to translate onstage. That’s the voice.”
And while viral clips and dream venues used to be the goal, that’s shifted. “Right now? Give me a medium-sized packed room and I’m happy. But yeah, I’d love to do the Edinburgh Fringe someday.”
Until then, there’s Complete BS. And it’s exactly what it promises, delightfully chaotic, oddly moving, and just the right amount of absurd.
Rs 299 onwards. On June 28. From 6 pm at Punch-Unpaid Therapist, Alwarpet.
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