In India, stand-up comedians seem to have it hard. No matter how careful they are, there will always be someone offended over a joke. And if the subject of ridicule happens to be someone’s role model (dead or alive), you are in for a serious round of trolling. One funny jibe on the wrong (or maybe the right) subject, and it can even earn you death threats. The argument of Free Speech won’t come to your rescue.
In this predicament, what’s a comedian to do? Make a joke out of it, of course. That is exactly what stand-up comedian Saurav Ghosh did when he received a threatening message from an admirer of Chhatrapati Shivaji who had a bone to pick with Ghosh over a joke he had cracked.
What followed was a hilarious exchange between the two. Ghosh’s witty counter to the bhakt’s threats will leave you snickering for sure. Check it out:
This is not the first time a stand-up artist has come across butt-hurt Bhakt who can’t take a joke lightly. Mumbai-based comedian Kunal Kamra faced something similar over a video he shared that criticised and joked about demonetisation and the government.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)