What makes Papa CJ tick?
It’s a school night (Saturday) and we’re at Club Boudoir, Dubai Marine Beach Resort & Spa. The show is running 30 minutes behind schedule (9pm), which is a given, for in attendance are Indians - all familiar with the ‘Indian Standard Time’. Papa CJ, the stand up comedian, whose act we are here to watch, too is not perturbed (he’s been at the venue since six). He loves performing for ‘desis’. It’s going to be a fun evening and we know that from the moment he takes over the stage, rather, the tables, floor, and everything in between. He isn’t your regular comedian (if you’ve watched him perform in the past) - he doesn’t walk in with a script in his head. Rather, you (especially the ones in the first few rows) are ‘his’ script. So, what flows in are punches directed at us, the audience! Picture this: A Pakistani (with a Canadian passport) is told to stay within ‘boundaries’, a couple (dating) is taught about love and more, a certain smarty pants is put in the spotlight… And well, the audience is at its sporting best too. Even Ronak Dixit, the host, is not spared.
Minutes before the show, in a chat with Papa CJ, we’d asked him if he’s a funny guy at home?
“I am, but then I don’t feel the pressure to be funny all the time. I am professional, I won’t tell you a joke for free.” Well, fair enough, after all, he’s been recognised as the winner of India’s and Asia’s Best Stand-up Comedian Award, amongst other laurels.
COMEDY AS A CAREER
He has been doing stand-up (comedy) for 13 years now. “My dad, a tea planter, worked in one company for 35 years. I had a standard middle-class upbringing,” he recalls. (Which, brings us to his anecdote - In my home, shampoo never finished, it magically got thinner over time. Now, who cannot relate to that?) Later, he studied at a boarding school in Himachal, followed by under-grad in Delhi, and an Oxford MBA program in London.
Only to become a stand-up, huh? Was that the reaction he got from his family and friends, when he quit his job to perform gigs! “I took a year’s break from work and during that time I came across stand-up comedians. I thought to myself, this is amazing: you get to talk rubbish and have a good time, plus, you call it a job!” Within the next ten months, he performed 250 gigs. While, somewhere in between all this he went broke too and had to take up a job in a recruiting firm. Whilst, he worked during the day, he performed at night. Meanwhile, he had begun to coach corporates as well - think Google in Ireland and Nike in Amsterdam. “It funded my comedy habit.”
In 2008, he moved back to India, a land he’d not leave for anything. We asked him to name the three things that could make him shift to DXB (including a Ferrari), but he went these three instead - “Nothing, nothing, and nothing.” But, we have cleaner roads, we insisted. “I love being home. I am very Indian - I love the sense of belonging you experience when home. The roads aren’t important to me, especially because when I walk on the roads in India I feel like ‘Mere Baap Ka Raaj Hai’ (the roads belong to my dad).”
What does he have to say about YouTube comedians? “I think it is fantastic - the more, the merrier. The more comedy there is, the more laughter there will be in the world. We need more happier people in the world.” Plus, he makes a point - how many of these ‘going viral’ today comedians can feed themselves via the same. Well said. “Comedy is subjective – what you might think is lousy, might make another laugh. As a comedian, initially one works towards pleasing everyone because one is seeking the confidence that you can make people laugh. Gradually, you find your own voice and you do whatever works for you. If the people like it, it is fine, if not, they’ll find another favourite. But, in the end, your audience will find you.”
As for him, he’s here to have fun. “There is no place I’d rather be than on the stage.” However, he is yet to reach a ‘certain’ level of success. “The longer I do comedy I feel the less I know about it. It’s like the better you get, the more insecure you get.” His 2017 comedy goal is to play outside his comfort zone, “In a position, where you can fail. It’s easy to get comfortable and repeat performing a show, which works.” So, does he have a career path chalked down? “No, I am just rolling with the punches. Ninety-nine per cent of things I do are based on stuff that has actually happened to me - what I have gone through, making it relatable for all.”
So, are middle class people his favourite? “Rather, they’re the audiences.” But, does he ever fear that with age, he’d get grumpy and will be left with no more punches? “Of course, I will get grumpy with age (that is the beauty of getting old). But then, I had always wanted to be a dirty, old man!”
P.S: Until we meet next, here’s a task for all. There’s a sense of mystery around this funny man, Papa CJ - no one knows his real name. “Not even Google,” he smiles, “The reason I don’t tell people is because they are so curious.” CJ is his initials, as for Papa he laughs and suggest it must have been a sub-conscious decision, “I made it on the spot. Angrez (Brits) should also know that there’s someone who is their dad!”
• On Trump & the USA: I don’t need to crack jokes on him, he’s doing a good job himself
• On social media: I hate it. The worst part of my job is self-promotion. It sucks that we need external validation for everything we do. I wish we could go back and discover the art of conversation — sit with somebody and have a coffee and talk, without looking at our phones.
• Do you laugh at your own jokes? Yes!
• His favourite comedians: Chris Rock and George Carlin
• Dubai is like India because… it is full of Indians!
Comedians are not celebrities, in fact they’re the opposite of it.” Papa CJ