Text #4: Biswa & No Offense
For this week, I attempted to watch the comedy special Biswa Mast Aadmi on amazon prime. Biswa and Kanan Gill would do Pretentious Movie Reviews of Bollywood Movies on youtube together, but now they seem to work more independently. They were both very humorous in their short youtube videos, pointing out all the absurd aspects in Indian movies (like the impossible fight scenes where people are flying). However, watching Biswaâs own comedy act was not as enjoyable as expected. Biswa is this lean man that did IT (I think) and has thin, black glasses. Clothes hang loosely off him. In the future, he looks like he could be the CEO of a tech company if he wanted to:
Instead, heâs a comedian. He talks about bugs bursting into God, and speaks in a dialect of Hindi thatâs known for the roughhousers, or gangsters of the village. Tapori, itâs called. And he frequently starts laughing at his own jokes.Â
There were some funny insights and joke in his piece. He talks about how he doesnât trust ants because, like in the old stories of Indian times, if you murder someone or treat someone badly, poof! they will burst into God and God will tell them: This is a test and you failed. He talks about forging his fatherâs signature because it was cool to have a good signature in school, and getting beat up for it. He talks about being introduced to weed by a rock band, and finally understanding Hotel California because he could see the Hotel.Â
But he wasnât as funny as I'd expected, and there are a few reasons that I think this is the case. First, he is a very thin man that looks a little nerdy--you wouldnât expect him to speak in Tapori, a language for roughhousers and gangster. Itâs a very overconfident language. Secondly, my cousin suggested that itâs weird that he laughs so much at his own jokes. I suggested he was stoned. Third--it just wasnât super funny! I donât know what it was about it--it was amusing, but it wasnât always funny.Â
I think his style of language didnât match how he physically looked, and that was a bit offputting. I know that comedy is an act, or staged, but it canât be inauthentic. We talked about matching what you say to your image--like if John Mulaney cursed a lot, it wouldnât seem right. Thatâs what it felt like here.
I got to watch a bit of the History of Comedy: No Offense. I havenât finished the whole thing yet, but there was one part especially that rang with me and connected to Biswaâs piece. Someone talked about how good comedy comes from being closest to your authentic self that you can. I think that holds true in most cases that are important in your life--especially in your career. If you are authentic and true to yourself in what you can do, Iâd like to believe youâll be the most successful, and the most happy, in your life. Maybe thatâs just the Hallmark-lover in me coming out, but I still believe itâs true.Â








