What happens when a stand-up comedian decides that the audience should get as much say as the performer? For Vignesh Vijayan, the answer is Weekend With Vicky, a live comedy talk show where stand-up meets mimicry, improv, celebrity conversations, and audience participation. The next edition of the show takes place this weekend in Chennai.
The format reflects Vignesh’s own career, which has rarely followed a straight line. “I took to comedy naturally. If there was a defining moment, it all started for me with stage performances,” he says. Mimicry came first, followed by stand-up and anchoring, while acting became another major part of his professional life.
He has now spent more than a decade in the Tamil film industry, beginning as a junior artiste before moving into television and films like Theeran Adhigaram Ondru and D Block.
But rather than separating these identities, Vignesh has chosen to fold them into his comedy. “I thought of combining all these things into my comedy.” That is the thinking behind Weekend With Vicky, which he describes as “a live interaction, a stand-up comedy talk show”.
The 90-minute format is divided into segments. There is stand-up and general audience interaction, followed by celebrity guests, improv, and a platform for independent performers. Vignesh wants singers, beatboxers, magicians, voice-over artists and other freelancers to have a place within the show. It is a format that mirrors his own career as a freelancer.
The biggest challenge, however, is keeping it fresh. Vignesh knows that comedy audiences are increasingly exposed to performers through reels and short clips. “They tend to believe what they see in the reels are the standard of comedy. That is not the standard of comedy,” he says.
His own response to this is to make the live room unpredictable. He does not want the audience to arrive expecting a fixed script, nor does he want every edition to resemble the previous one. “Even for the same audience coming to my show, they need to enjoy something new.”
His preference for clean comedy also plays a role. “If there is a child or even an old person over there, I don’t want them to feel uncomfortable with any kind of offending jokes or anything.” The approach, he says, has already brought families to his shows.
Vignesh is also conscious of how much the comedian has to adapt in a live room. He recalls performing for an unexpectedly older crowd at Integral Coach Factory, where his initial attempts to generate energy met with silence. He quickly switched to a trainer-style announcement and found a way in.
“I like making them (audience) happy.” And in Weekend With Vicky, he is leaving enough room for the audience to make him work for that laugh too.
INR 199 onwards.On August 29. 6.30 pm onwards. At Black Box at DBICA, Kilpauk, Chennai.
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