Stand-up Comedy and Young India: The Expression and Construction of Identity

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this essay, I explore the genre of live comedy outside its traditional Western setting in popular and academic understanding. I argue that its ever-growing popularity in urban India is reflective of an expanding middle-class’s search for an authentic social identity. I demonstrate – through ethnographic and analytical detail – how stand-up comedy is well-placed to offer insight into this effort to move between and beyond the twin forces of deep-seated cultural traditions and the westernisation of public culture. In addition – as my four key comedic informants were keen to emphasise – its significance does not exist merely in the detail of the content they divulge but in the form itself, as an opportunity to divulge personal reflections in an intimate, communal space.