If Sidney Sheldon is to be believed, even the best laid plans can go awry. So it has been for homegrown stand-up comedian Manoj Prabakar. Barely a year into taking up comedy as a full time job, the pandemic hit. After many a hiccup, when he teamed up with Chennai Art Theatre for his second live show in January (nearly two years after his first), he was unfortunately blessed with the Sunday lockdowns. But looks like third time’s the charm as ‘Thinking Out Loud’ is all set to host Manoj at Medai this Saturday and he, for one, can’t wait.
All the more because he is debuting a new solo at the show. And there’s plenty of his usual brand of humour on offer, it seems. “Those who have seen my show would know what I do. There’s observational humour, personal stories thrown in the mix and the events of the past two years,” he says.
It will also include snippets of life as a comic, especially one who took a leap of faith to comedy after a career in IT machinery. With Indians having practically created a genre for IT professional-turned-comedians, this brand of comedy is not without its own audience.
Beyond all this, Manoj is thrilled to be able to perform in front of a live audience after a long interval of digital applause and disconnectedness. “Usually, we have open mic (nights) where we test our new material and build our shows. But sadly, open mics had to be cancelled because of the pandemic. Even when it started happening again, it was very intermittent or people were not there. It was tough but we can’t complain; especially when other people have had it worse. But I did do some online shows just because I didn’t want to feel out of touch with comedy,” he recounts. The positive response of the few tester shows he did with his new material last year has him confident that people will enjoy this new set.
For all this, he is grateful for the collaboration with B Charles’ Chennai Art Theatre, without which his tester shows and this second outing would have remained in the working. “They are doing a great job. They also have a nice venue — Medai. They have renovated the space and it looks even better. I’ve been to there for other shows but this will be the first I’ll be performing there. I’m looking forward to that as well,” he shares.
Catch his live act at Medai this Saturday (February 12) at 7 pm. Tickets are available at BookMyShow. For more details, visit Instagram: @chennaiarttheatre