Of late, while watching a few reels (of F.R.I.E.N.D.S.), I came across some hilarious stand-up comedians. I know there are many, but only some of them really make ME laugh. I save some to watch with the kids before we say our prayers at night, but I enjoy others when they are not at home. I avoid showing them reels with too much foul language. Not that they would get influenced; I’m sure they already know more bad words than those used on television, but I still try to avoid it as much as possible. We can’t stop it, but we shouldn’t encourage foul language either now, should we?
Anyway, lately I’ve realized that there is so much hatred in the world today. So, why not encourage some laughs instead of worrying about when I will get my gas cylinder at a decent rate?
I think he was the first stand-up comedian I’ve ever enjoyed watching. And some of his phrases stuck on for a long time. Currently, I don’t watch him much, but if you haven’t watched him at all, you may want to check some videos of his famous punchlines, like ‘Somebuddy gonna get a hurt real bad’, etc.
Born to Anglo-Indian parents in Toronto, USA, Peters was raised Catholic though he claims to be an atheist. His extended family lives in Bhopal, India. You can read more about him here.
We have never watched any of his videos with the kids due to the language used. You can also check if he’s performing near you on his website.
He’s the latest stand-up comedian I’ve been watching off-late. Mainly, short reels of his performances on his FB page.
I don’t think I’ve watched any of his full-length videos as yet, but the way he says things makes me laugh. He mostly picks on his audience and turns his performances into interactions.
Max Amini is Iranian-American. Wow! That’s the world’s current state of affairs right there! Just kidding. He is known as a world-touring stand-up comedian and has appeared on many television shows. Click here to know more about him.
You can check Amini’s live performances on his website.
Though born to a Swiss-German father and a South African mother, Noah took his mother’s name. Know more about him here.
Noah is hilarious, and some of his videos can be enjoyed with kids, as his content is mostly clean. I think he keeps his younger brothers in mind while performing. He talks about the funny aspects of being a South African in America, and sometimes he will make you laugh despite the serious topics he touches on.
You can follow his website here. Or watch some of his comedy on social media @trevornoah.
Born British-Canadian by descent, McIntyre is the son of Ray Cameron, who was a Canadian comedian (tongue twister right there!) and comedy writer on British television. Know more about him here.
McIntyre usually talks about parenting, children and couples. So, I watch them while alone and select which ones are appropriate to watch with the kids. You can catch his upcoming shows on his website here. Or just enjoy his reels and videos on social media. This video is what my kids and I enjoyed most! Hahaha!
I came across this unique Kolkata-based engineer-turned-comedian by chance. He’s got that shy-buddy way of talking, but he’s hilarious. He normally uses clean language, but you may want to check before showing some of his videos to your kids.
He hasn’t reached Wikipedia yet, but from his videos I’ve gathered that he was born to Bengali parents. He was brought up in Kolkata, India. You can find where he is performing on his website.
You can also watch his videos on his YT channel. Or his FB page. OR follow him on Instagram here.
They say that laughter is the best medicine, so why don’t you check out some of these videos and let me know which one you loved best? Or is there another comedian you enjoy watching? I would love to know.
This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’
hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla
in collaboration with Mister Tikku.
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enterPhoto by Anastasiya Gepp
27 Comments
Gone are those days when we used to see some amazing comedians… I still miss Charlie Chaplin…. time has changed and I agree with it but few comedians of today are so vulgur that some how I rarely watch comedy shows or comedy events. Thanks to you for introducing some name and especially a Bong one… I would to love to explore their taste of comedy
Do check him out. He is hilarious.
Comedy and comedians are two things that I feel come with a lot of pressure. As i remember words of Javed Akhtar comedy need not be cheap to be funny. And I must say a few are there already. I have heard Noah and Russel. Will surely listen to others. Thank you for adding the links here.
Anirban Dasgupta is new to me, checking him out now. Michael McIntyre’s parenting jokes sound perfect for family nights. Love that you filter comedians so carefully for your kids too.
I love watching stand-up comedy and some of these are my favourite too. Max Amani is too good. Have you seen Jimmy Yang? Check him out.
Will do, Varsha!
I also enjoy Trevor Noah. And recently started watching Max Amani and liking him.
I’ve watched some of them, and you are right, they cannot be watched in the presence of kids. I remember when we were younger, Brit humor and satire were popular – and now rewatching them, they truly stand out for their witty writing.
I agree we need some light moments in our everyday, especially with the state of current affairs.
I am not really fond of standup comedies mostly, because I haven’t found any good ones here in India. Most of them are crass and gross, like the latest Rs370 controversy. That said, I absolutely love Trevor Noah. His impression of the US president was so funny.
Check out the others mentioned above and let me know!
These people are stress busters, i follow russel and Trevor. I will check the rest
Loved this list Cindy. I do watch Max Amini and absolutely love his comedy. Haven’t watched the others yet, but now I’m curious to check them out.
Do check them, Anjali!
I’ve watched Trevor Noah and Michael McIntyre. Not the others. will look them up. Thanks for sharing the links, very helpful.
Except for Russell and Trevor , haven’t watched others. You are right. We need more laughs. Must watch more of such shows.
Aye! I was fortunate enough to catch Russell Peters live in action when he was on tour last year and Netherlands was one of his stops. So fun! I’m hoping to catch at least one Indian stand-up live in India when I visit this year.
Meanwhile, you can check out their videos, Manali!
Thanks for sharing the list, I am going to check them out soon. Standup comedy is something I recently started explroing because in my school and college days, I used to find it weird because of the foul language they use mostly.
Sure, do let me know, Tanvi!
Very informative article. Since I love comedy, I’ve followed all of these comedians after going through your article. Nice job!
Thanks, Swagata!
I am going to be honest; I am not much of a lover of standup comedy shows but Max Amani was the first comedian for me to make me laugh. But if I was making this list, I would definitely add Kapil Sharma, who’s shows were the reason my whole family used to sit together and have dinner and laughs at Saturday night. Normally nowadays, standup comedy is just about making fun of people to make some other people laugh, but Kapil Sharma was something else. He had better ideas and scripting.
Yeah, Arsh, I’m not very good with Hindi, so I rarely understand his jokes, but yes agree, he’s also good and can be watched with the family.
Out of these, I’ve only watched Trevor Noah. I’ll plan on seeing the others also. I like Vir Das also. And such a good practice of saying prayers before sleeping. Certainly, we should avoid foul language and hatred. We need a lot of laughs.
Yeah Vir Das is more of Hindi and some jokes I didn’t get so couldn’t connect with his jokes.
I heard about Russell and Anirban, but others were new to me. Saw Russell’s YT video that you linked here. The online world is turning into chaos, and a little humour never hurts. Would definitely watch them.
I watch a lot of stand-up shows, Cindy. The best part of living in Hyderabad is getting to see them live. My favourites are Zakir Khan and Vir Das. While Zakir is family-oriented comedy, Vir is totally political and gets into trouble most of the time for shooting off his mouth, but both are hilarious. Stand-up has been my go-to while dealing with my grief. I have seen people watching and listening to sad shows when they are sad, but I am the opposite. I never watch or listen to the sad ones. Laughter is surely the best medicine for me. My list of stand-up comedians is quite long 🙂 I run out of videos, with just a couple of them. I wish I had known when Max Amini was in India. I keep watching his videos on YouTube. There are Samay Raina, Ashish Solanki, Amit Tandon, and Gurleen Pannu, to name a few.