Comedian Vir Das accused audience of 'destroying stardom', says 'they value artistry'

Second-time Emmy-nominated Comedian Vir Das on October 31 spoke about his journey, the reality of stand-up comedy and his love for the audience of the current generation.

Speaking about how the audience makes comedians humble, Vir said, “Earlier comedians were like, ‘Here are my jokes, if you are offended, I am off to the next city.’ Now we have to be humble about the fact that the audience has a voice and we have to deal with them in the most humble manner. I love this generation. They have destroyed stardom and they value artistry”.

He added, “There’s nothing worse in this world than the silence of the audience. There’s no greater teacher than the audience. There’s no greater editor than the audience. They will change the lines. Our evolution comes from the audience”.

Speaking about the audience getting offended by comedians, Vir Das said, “We are like this big joint family having dinner together and someone is going to hate the bhindi and somebody may want chanas. What I love about my art form is that we can fundamentally disagree about it and laugh about it at the same time. These are just words at the end of the day. Whether I am right or wrong, it doesn’t matter in a stand-up comedy setting”.

 Vir Das was a guest at The Indian Express Adda on Monday (October30). He was joined by other nominees from India — Shefali Shah (Delhi Crime 2) and Jim Sarbh (Rocket Boys), while Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, moderated the session.