Archana Asthana
Masala Comedy Club’s (MCC) 5.0 version ended its last show this weekend at the Sunnyvale Theater bringing belly laughs with intelligent, clean, topical and relatable comedy. The music accompanying each comic maintained the tempo, while pulling names for the line up out of a fishbowl by the audience set up the expectations!
Ritwik Verma did an outstanding job as the evening’s host, full of quips, jokes, commentary, and the introductions for the lineup, with monikers ascribed to reflect their individual style or personality.
Neha Goyal’s ready wit left the audience in splits. She related her life experiences with ubiquitous Indian “aunties” who serve as the local network of information dissemination through AI (Aunty Intelligence) and ML (Memory Learning) capabilities. Their distribution of spicy gossip morsels, which can be quickly twisted and extrapolated, rivals “Neighborhood watch”! Deepak Sharma’s parents were the butt of his jokes andthe prospect of a father’s second wife is gold in comedy. The jury is still out whether the father did have an extramarital affair and a resulting sibling!
The phenomenon of the big, fat Indian wedding, was explored with relish by Rajiv Neman, who lamented how this has affected even the most unpretentious, unassuming class of Indians, who are now compelled to hold various wedding rituals in far off exotic locations from Bali to Lake Come! The pain at having to spend a fortune to comply with the demands of being a guest at today’s weddings with color coordinated and themed outfits in events that mimic the Filmfare Awards Ceremony is real! In a hilarious observation, the“Sangeet” ceremony appears to be concocted to convince the groom that he can dance with his two left feet. Celebrity style swag filled with stories of misfortunes in Snehal Pachigar’s young life where the Universe is bent on giving the opposite of what he yearns for is a woeful tragicomedy. Parenthood in later life, also known as “doggy daddy” provides Harish Agastya with its own set of challenges, especially when handed the rear end of the pet to be his sole responsibility
The ups and downs of home ownership in the Bay Area, and the (self) pride and (non self) prejudice that accompany it was valiantly defined by Shiv Jayaraman, along with tongue in cheek admission of his abode in desirable Saratoga, parental disappointment at the village vibes not withstanding! Some observations…Milpitas “nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley”; Fremonters on a ”Mission”;Cupertino’s “diversity”had mirthful nods and shakes of heads in equal measure.
Ritwik Verma’s keen observations of the joys of parenting reveals that the evolutionary process only asserts itself in adulthood, leaving the children to exhibit simian behavior and traumatizing the unsuspecting non-parents!The pain of watching a daughter acquire a boyfriend, conjuring their moments of togetherness, until the boyfriend’s hot mother sweetens the deal was Ashok Vijay’s compromise with life.
MCC has matured immensely since its inception a few years ago, and dominates with its polished, deft, clever deliveries, exploring and extrapolating all aspects of life. Kudos to this young club where members enjoy and hone their craft passionately!
Picture Credits: Saurabh Malviya
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