There's so much more to stand-up comedy than meets the eye that people often fail to see the efforts that go into setting up a show for an audience. It has taken Chockalingam aka Chocku, seven years to climb the ranks and flourish in the field, and we had a candid interaction with the man hailing from Madurai, known for his witty jokes and relatable anecdotes.
"I started in 2016 when Tamil stand-up began flourishing. I was doing small shows at cafes and then slowly, I got to do the opening act before big names performed. However, from the past year, I began performing my one-hour specials," begins the 32-year-old.
Having performed shows in Bengaluru and Pune, apart from Chennai of course, Chockalingam takes inspirations for his shows from his personal experiences. His latest show, 'Chocku Live' by Aragora Comedy will see him speak about the population of India, family trips to Goa and Las Vegas among other things.
"About 30 minutes of the show will be a rant about me having crossed 30," he smiles and adds, "I speak about relatable stories, so that people can erm... relate to it. But, I will not dive too deep into a subject and prefer putting a twist to the tale."
We had to ask him about his views on the ginormous population of India, for it is a theme of his gig and his reply was simple and direct. "Our grandparents lived a different life. They had multiple kids and many during their era had eight, 10 or even 16 kids for that matter. So, I will talk about what happened then and why we are struggling because of that," says he.
Chockalingam's performances are in Tanglish and he also uses his Madurai roots to deliver stories in a more hilarious manner. "I do not bring it to every stage though," he quips.
The lad from Madurai who sees comic Praveen Kumar as his idol, is optimistic about his career as a stand-up comedian. "Earlier, there wasn't much awareness about shows. But, today people are purchasing tickets to see our performances and venues are also promoting stand-up gigs. So, things have changed for the better," he states.
However, what happens in Chennai cannot be expected to take place in Madurai too. "Open mics haven't caught steam there yet. If you do a big show in Chennai and earn a name for yourself, then you can do a show in Madurai," Chockalingam says.
"It is getting better thanks to social media and the mindset of people has changed after the pandemic. Also, a lot of people who resided in Chennai moved back home and they carried their expectations with them, which has created the demand for stand-up shows in places other than Chennai, which is actually good," the he states.
Before we part ways, we ask Chocku what he aims to achieve in the short-term and like his previous responses, his answer is direct. "I wanna do lots of club shows and fill 150 seaters. Also, I wanna do a special every year," he says.
INR 299. On June 24. 7 pm. At Backyard.