‘The fun starts after the wedding’: Urjita Wani on turning married life into stand-up gold in Hyderabad
While most love stories end at the wedding, comedian Urjita Wani believes that’s exactly where the funniest stories begin. In her latest solo, she mines everything from live-in relationships to married life for laughs, proving that the smallest domestic moments often make for the biggest punchlines. Ahead of her Hyderabad show, Urjita talks about finding humour in everyday life, writing for different personalities, and why she only jokes about the parts of her life she’s healed from.
Urjita Wani turns breakfasts, work calls and family dynamics into intimate, relatable comedy ahead of her Hyderabad performance
Excerpts:
This show takes audiences through the journey from a live-in relationship to getting married. Did living through these experiences only become comedy once you had some distance from them?
The journey wasn’t difficult, to be honest. Our parents were completely on board with our decision to live together, although that didn’t stop them from constantly asking us to get married! When it comes to using my parents, my husband or my in-laws as material, there’s a lot of mutual respect. They trust me not to cross the line, so they’re all incredibly chill about finding themselves in my jokes.
Marriage is often treated as the ‘happy ending’ in stories, but your set seems to begin there instead. What moments of married life have surprised you by becoming your best material?
Marriage is often portrayed as this boring dal-chawal life where you have to live and sleep with the same person forever, but I think that’s the best part. Having fun together every day, making plans, helping each other grow — I find joy, and content, in the smallest moments, whether it’s how he likes his breakfast, him playing the guitar, or us trying to distract each other while we’re on our respective work calls.
How does your writing process change when you’re writing jokes for yourself versus someone else?
I watch a lot of their work before I start writing. The tone changes completely depending on the person. If I’m writing for Neha Dhupia, the language has to be elegant English. But if I’m writing for Aparshakti Khurana, it naturally shifts to conversational Hindi or Hinglish.
Your comedy often feels intimate and conversational rather than exaggerated. How do you decide which personal stories are worth sharing on stage?
I honestly go with the jokes that work. If a premise is funny but isn’t landing on stage, I don’t force myself to make it work
Has your definition of what’s funny changed since you first started performing?
Shock value is great for immediate validation, but in the long run, nobody remembers you for that. I perform the kind of comedy I enjoy watching. I don’t want people leaving my show thinking, “Ye sab comedians ek jaise hi hai.”
Has becoming more personal in your material made you a better comedian, or a more cautious one?
I never talk about anything that’s too personal for me to handle because the moment you put something online, it attracts all kinds of attention. I don’t joke about an incident or insecurity until I’ve completely healed from it. I avoided talking about my body for years, but now that I’m happy with the way I look, I’m comfortable bringing it on stage.
Is there a memorable audience interaction from Hyderabad that still makes you laugh?
I was told Hyderabad is a tough crowd, but thankfully that tough crowd didn’t show up for my shows! During my last solo, I asked the audience what the mating call for dudes in Hyderabad was, and the entire room shouted, “Euuuu!” That was very enlightening, I must say.