Vir Das hosted the International Emmy Awards 2024.

Back in 2015 I was cutting my teeth in stand-up comedy and got a chance to perform at the ‘Weirdass Pajama’ fest – the only comedy festival of its kind at the time which was organized by Vir Das’ company. It was a pretty big deal. I wasn’t exactly on the main line-up though. A couple of us upcoming comics had the unenviable task of warming up a crowd in the entrance lobby of an auditorium before the doors to Vir’s headlining show opened.

So our audience was essentially a scattered crowd of people ordering samosas and drinks at the food stall, those frantically calling their friends to know where they had reached and those checking their watches. It was a tough gig but it was a gig nonetheless.

Our “stage” was 3 wobbly wooden boxes banded together and the microphone and speaker setup was pretty basic. PA systems have a habit of failing at crucial moments and that’s exactly what happened. Minutes before our set, the mic stopped working. Vir came out in stage get up just to check if everything was fine. On finding out that our sound system had gone kaput, it would’ve been very convenient to call off our entire act.

Open mic-ers weren’t very high on the pecking order of performers that night.

What Vir did instead was start plugging-unplugging wires, tapping mics and not only making sure we got to do our 20 minutes of material but staying back to watch our sets in the crowd before he had to go do a 90-minute stand up show himself.

That little act of a comedic heavyweight giving us nobodies a shot won me over. It didn’t matter then if his show that followed was the most hilarious or not.

As I see Vir go on adding the many feathers in his comedic cap both at home and internationally (his latest was hosting the international Emmy awards, making him the first Indian comedian to do so), I feel his journey serves as a masterclass in how charm, tenacity, and a deep connection to one’s roots can pave the way to global success.

What makes his success more interesting is that it comes on the back of a very strong foundation of being a relentlessly touring stand-up comedian. Most Hollywood stand-up comedians who went on to global fame usually did so thanks to a breakout performance in movies or TV. Think of Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Kevin Hart, Chris Tucker, Aziz Ansari etc. And once the movies came calling, the stage took a backseat.

It’s not that the world of cinema and television hasn’t offered Vir opportunities, but mainstream crossover success in these mediums has eluded him thus far. Projects like Mastizaade, a raunchy Bollywood comedy, led to more memes than box office collections leading the comedian to poke fun at its failure himself. His Netflix show Hasmukh, a dark comedy about a small-town comedian turned serial killer, showed promise but wasn’t renewed for a second season. Even his foray into Hollywood, with a minor role in Judd Apatow’s critically panned The Bubble, did little to bolster his cinematic portfolio.

Vir Das taping for a show in London.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

So what Vir reverted to was what he does best: tell jokes on stage. There are instances when you can see his social media pages share clips of his performances from New York, Mumbai and London all within a span of days.

Throughout all of this there is an innate sense of ‘Indian-ness’ that Vir projects. Whether making an entrance on the Conan O’ Brien show or receiving an Emmy or a Koffee with Karan appearance, he tends to do the bowed down ‘namaste’ with the joining of hands followed by a graceful gesture of ‘adaab’ or ‘salaam’ bringing his right hand to his forehead. Vir’s wardrobe choices are a healthy mix of East and West including sherwanis, suits, and harem pants. His ‘lungi’ inspired outfit to host the Emmy’s was designed by NIFT graduate Shubhangi Bajpai whom he found after extending a call on social media.

Vir Das hosted the International Emmy Awards 2024.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

His comedy sets are tailored for audiences at home and abroad. He has mastered the ability of seamlessly weaving his Indian identity into his comedy without alienating his global audience.

“I’m too Indian for the west and too western for India” he says in his Netflix special ‘Landing’ which was shot in the US. This is followed by a number of examples in the form of jokes, like how Vir may not be “Indian enough” to study and become a doctor but he is Indian enough to know not to be treated by a white doctor.

References about noisy news anchors and cricket may come hard and fast in his shows in India but he’s equally at home joking about Trump and his immigration policies in his shows in the US. The fact that his accent hasn’t changed needs to be commended too.

Is Vir the funniest Indian comedian is perhaps a question that is up for debate. One can make an argument that Vir’s material is broader and more palatable as compared to the generation of comics that emerged after him. That said Vir’s material cannot be classified as ‘safe’ either. He has on multiple occasions, through his comedy, questioned authority and shed light on the attacks on our freedom of expression.

Vir Das’ ‘Two Indias’ performance at the Kennedy Centre.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

The starkest example of this was, of course, when his spoken word piece ‘Two Indias’ performed at the Kennedy Centre landed him in hot soup back home with police complaints and a moral police brigade going after him.

Instead of giving into the sensationalism, Vir put his head down and avoided doing any kind of press or interview regarding this. “The first time I talk about it, it will be a joke” Vir later recounted on Cyrus Broacha’s podcast, explaining how funny it was that the controversy led to a British news service allegedly accusing him of having ‘divided India’. Once again he used humour as a resort to get out of a tricky predicament.

While he may or may not be the funniest, his affable, articulate personality, sharp wit and remarkable charisma have helped him seem like a fit at platforms where Indian artists had hitherto been ignored.

Whether he’s engaging in spirited discussions on podcasts or charming audiences during panel interviews, Vir’s wit and relatability shine through. Watch him telling Conan O’ Brien on his podcast how Americans miss peanut butter while travelling to India or how ‘The Avengers’ is a Bollywood film in spirit on the Australian panel show ‘The Project’.

Vir Das with Conan O’Brien.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

This charisma also extends to his social media presence. Vir frequently shares snippets of his life on tour. Whether it’s a call out to search for upcoming designers to dress him up for an award show or musicians who would like to open for him, these acts seem like a genuine chance for his followers to get a leg into the industry rather than create a distant parasocial relationship.

If the gigging life gets too much for you there’s always the cutesy stray cats and dogs that make frequent appearances on Vir’s Instagram stories.

With a new Netflix special which was shot in Mumbai on the way and another round of upcoming film projects, there is little doubt that Vir is putting India and ‘Indian’ comedy firmly on the map.

I am reminded of his appearance on the popular American podcast ‘You Made It Weird’ hosted by comedian Pete Holmes where Vir was talking about a recurring dream he had about ‘Milan Subway’ located in Santacruz, a suburb of Mumbai. It’s a road notorious for flooding during the rains. And at that moment I felt Indian comedy had truly gone international. Milan Subway was being mentioned on a couch in Los Angeles where hundreds of great comedians had sat before.

And perhaps that’s what we want from our artists who go international. Tell them about our flooded subways.