Vineeth Srinivasan: Comedy has made me more confident

Here’s a challenge — just try to keep a straight face while watching his comedy. Ah, you will certainly fail here; his expressive, sarcastic, angry young man comedy is in a league of its own. Whether it is his live shows or funny reels on Instagram, Mumbai-based comedian Vineeth Srinivasan knows how to tickle your funny bone. After his show Ungrateful at Aaromale Cafe and Creative Community in Film Nagar, Vineeth candidly speaks to CE about his comedy, life, and more.

Excerpts

How did your love for comedy start?

I always saw standup as an art form, bingeing on standup comedy videos in college. Although I’d never done any public speaking before, I realised that comedy is something I wanted to try…at least once. My parents were typical Indian parents who were not very okay with it. But I already had not done engineering, so at that point, they had already let their hopes go. (laughs)

If you want to be a comedian in Mumbai, you start with open mics. My first open mic was an intense experience because I didn’t know what to expect. Still, I kept an open mind, and surprisingly, it went well. If you are able to cross that barrier, you derive confidence. From five minutes of stage time, it extended to eight to 10 minutes and then 15 to 20 minutes in the shows that followed. The organisers started noticing and bigger comics wanted me to open for them, such as Angad Singh Ranyal and Rahul Subramanian. After that, I got to be part of feature lineups, where several big comedy names were present too.

Suddenly, the pandemic happened and I started using social media as a comedy outlet and made short, funny reels; I was able to continuously shoot and post content, which was a huge advantage. In fact, many people in my live shows initially saw me on social media.

How would you define your style?

It is observational, with not a lot of storytelling. I try to bring out as much as I can from what I have observed.

What is the aim of your comedy?

My aim is mainly to make people laugh. Everything else is a byproduct; if someone tells me after a show, ‘Hey, your comedy didn’t just make me laugh but it made me think so and so or feel so and so’, that’s great.

Who are your inspirations?

George Carlin. I watched all of his specials in one day and it was that very day I decided to take the plunge into comedy. More recent inspirations are Nate Bargatze and Karunesh Talwar.

If not a comic, what would you be?

I would not be an engineer in any circumstance — I was terrible at all the things that you need to be good at engineering, like physics, chemistry, and math. I studied filmmaking in college. But the inclination was always towards comedy, so I would’ve perhaps made some comedy web series.

What has comedy taught you about life?

Comedy has made me more confident and has helped me open up as a person.

(Story by Nitika Krishna)