India’s Laughter Champion is as boring as watching paint dry

Rajkumari Sharma Tankha

What is being sold in the name of stand-up comedy? India’s Laughter Champion 2022, the show that airs on Sony TV on Saturday and Sunday, is pathetic, to say the least.

Except for a few, which you can count on fingers – Rajat Sood talking about his experience with love, Nitesh Shetty’s experience about buying a house in Mumbai and Appurv Gupta’s visit to five-star hotel – most contestants are plain, simple boring – they don’t have anything to offer except the mimicry of Bollywood stars. Shockingly, many contestants are offering stale jokes that have been doing rounds on WhatsApp, making judges break into rapturous laughter (why???). Also, can someone tell me what’s so funny about a ventriloquist’s act.

To see seasoned judges – Shekhar Suman and Archana Puran Singh – not just laughing away to glory but also appreciating these contestants sky high is bewildering. The less said about the host Rochelle Rao, the better.

Has our standard of comedy gone that low??? To me, these are certainly NOT comedy acts.

Sunil Grover coming in as Dr Mashhoor Gulati (in the July 31 episode) and drooling over Singh is sickening. And it’s not just me, I have spoken to several others in my society, among my friends, and no one has anything good to say about it. “You have the patience to go through it. We stopped midway in the very first episode,” said a 30-something neighbour.

I watched the first episode with the hope that it would offer some laughter, and then subsequent ones hoping against hope that something good will come out. But, alas July 31 airing quarter final episode is as lame as others.

Back to Grover, someone tell him you just cannot cash in on a character for years on end, that too without re-inventing it. You have got to innovate!

Not that I miss The Kapil Sharma Show (TKSS) for that too had become stale. I felt a sigh of relief when the channel wound up the TKSS. Well, one cannot go on doing the same stuff for 10 long years – if Sharma cannot re-invent himself, he has no business to be in this business. Flirting with women at 22 looks cute but when you are past 35 and have fathered two children it looks cheap. I wonder why none of his team members ever told him this. That’s simply not done, even if for laughter. Honestly, Sharma had stopped evoking laughter since long. And getting the die-hard fans, episode after episode, to sing your paens isn’t in good taste either, even if they are genuine fans.

Honestly speaking, I find serials like Bhabhiji Ghar Pe Hain (&TV) and Tarak Mehta Ka Ultah Chashma (on Sab TV) much more funny and entertaining.

I seriously feel Sony channel can instead air old cepisodes instead of presenting us this trash in the name of comedy. The childish banter between ACP Pradyuman and Dr Salunke evoked more laughter than this ‘comedy’.