A safety pin, bad breath, awkward social behaviour — for comedian Himanshu Uikey, the smallest and most forgettable details of everyday life can easily become the foundation of an entire comedy bit. But unlike comedians who rely purely on relatable everyday humour, Himanshu’s observational comedy comes from noticing details people recognise instantly but rarely stop to think about. “There are two types of observations,” he says. “One is where the audience goes, ‘Yeah, this is exactly how it happens.’ And then the other thing about observational comedy is when the audience goes, ‘Yeah, this is exactly how it happens. How come I've never thought about it?’ And I try to do the later one.” And that’s the kind of comedy he’s set to bring to Hyderabad with his live stand-up show.
Rather than building jokes around broad topics, he enjoys obsessing over one tiny thing and stretching it into an elaborate analogy or story. “One of my newest bits is about a safety pin. And I just talk about a safety pin for the next 10-15 minutes,” he says. For Himanshu, stand-up comedy is less about instant brilliance and more about repetition, editing and failure. New material excites him because of its unpredictability. “There are 50 chances whether it will work, whether it will fail,”
he says. Most jokes only begin taking shape after repeated performances at open mics and live shows. “You try it again and again, remove those that are not working and make it tighter and tighter.”
According to him, the polished version audiences eventually see is usually the result of months of edits and experimentation. “A joke within the final bit is something which you have done over a hundred times,” he says.
Naturally, not every joke works perfectly the first time. “It happens quite often,” he says about jokes bombing on stage. Sometimes the setup feels incomplete, sometimes the punchline needs more precision, and often comedians themselves cannot immediately understand what exactly is missing. “You have to delete a lot of things. You have to make it tighter. You have to add a lot of things,” he explains. Ironically, some of his own favourite jokes receive average reactions, while jokes he personally does not care much about end up performing extremely well with audiences.
While comedy today constantly revolves around family, dating, adulthood and politics, Himanshu believes there are barely any untouched topics left. However, he feels vulnerability is something comedians explore less, especially early in their careers. “Audience have a great time. They don’t want to listen to you,” he says, explaining that emotional honesty becomes easier once comics have already built large audiences and credibility. Off stage though, his humour is far less analytical. While he admires observational comedians like Brian Regan, Demetri Martin and Jerry Seinfeld, he admits that among friends, almost anything can make him laugh. “Mostly it’s so bad, it’s good,” he says.
Looking ahead, Himanshu says he wants to experiment with character comedy, something he has never attempted before. Speaking about performing in Hyderabad, where he has been doing shows for nearly six years, he says comedians should never blame audiences for a weak set. “You have to make them laugh,” he says. “Whether they laugh or they don’t laugh, it depends on the comedian.”
Tickets at ₹249. May 23, 7 pm onwards. At The Street Comedy Club, Madhapur.
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