Who doesn’t enjoy a good laugh? Isn’t that what we all do? To be honest, making someone laugh is easier said than done. This is where we hand it over to the professionals. No, we don’t just mean Kapil Sharma or anyone else who is well-known and has a YouTube channel when we say “pros.” We’re talking about lesser-known stand-up comedians in India who have the magical ability to make you laugh with their original material and novel comedic techniques. So, here’s a list of 10 underrated stand-up comedians in India who will make you scream their names.
Also read: 20 Best Stand Up Comedians From India You Should Follow
Siddharth Dudeja is a 20-year-old graduate who is on an indefinite sabbatical. Siddharth delivers flashes of brilliance on stage in between writing projects and trips to space, and is frequently seen performing at venues such as Canvas Laugh Club and what used to be blueFROG. He’s trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his sabbatical after performing at major festivals and as part of ‘The Best in Stand-up.’
Siddharth’s shows talk about how school and vegetarians ruined his childhood, and he occasionally talks about world peace, successfully exploiting his childhood for content for his sets. He also feels compelled to murder people who have a bad sense of humour, but believes that suicide is never an option.
In the city of thinkers, stand-up comedy arrived surprisingly late. For years, comedians like Anirban Dasgupta worked hard to create a space for this type of performance, in which comedy serves as cultural mediation. Dasgupta has over 162,000 YouTube subscribers, as well as a stand-up special (Take It Easy) and an Amazon Prime comedy series (the brilliant Afsos, starring Gulshan Devaiah) and was present at Kolkata’s first-ever comedy open mic.
3. Nishant Suri
Nishant Suri is one of the next stand-up comedians from India. On August 17, 2018, he became famous after winning the Amazon Prime Video reality show ‘Comicstaan (Season 1)’. Nishant has also worked as an engineer, a banker, and a photographer for weddings. Nishant has always enjoyed making people laugh, which led him to begin stand-up comedy.
Before entering the Amazon Prime Video competition, he had been pursuing comedy for three years. He took part in the competition and placed first. As a prize, he received Rs. 10 lakh. The show was also a success. Following his rise to fame as a comedian, Nishant performed at a variety of companies and institutions, including Microsoft6, Taco Bell, and the Indian School of Business.
Abijit Ganguly is one of the country’s few bi-lingual stand-up comedians who can perform in both English and Hindi. His solid corporate and educational background (alumnus of Delhi School of Economics and former Deloitte Consulting) ensures that he connects with the highly qualified corporate junta, and his Delhi upbringing ensures that his content resonates with the general public. He has spoken at TedX on multiple occasions and has worked on brand campaigns for Woo, Sprite, Culture Machine, OYO Rooms, and others.
Raunaq Rajani is a social media influencer, standup comedian, humour writer, and content creator. His live show and comedy videos on social media platforms like YouTube have helped him gain a lot of attention. His YouTube channel currently has 130K subscribers and 60K Instagram followers. Raunaq Rajani is one of the most underrated stand-up comedians in India with a fantastic sense of humour. With his fresh and contemporary comedy, he has entertained audiences all over the world.
He began his career by competing in the Vir Das Open Mic Contest, which catapulted him to fame overnight. After that, he worked as a scriptwriter for AIB Group for a few years. Later, he moved on and began a career as a stand-up comedian. Karunesh is an artist who never performs for accolades. In his words, his accomplishments are his audience. He got his solo show, “Paka Mat Na Mote,” with a full house after half a decade in the industry. His YouTube channel now has over 650K subscribers, making him a well-known celebrity.
Piyush Sharma graduated from IIT Bombay with a Civil Engineering degree, but soon after, he discovered that building a joke fascinated him more than building a bridge. He has nothing civil or engineering about him on stage, and he spares no one. He makes jokes about simple things like job life, small-town mannerisms, and the hilarious dynamics of parents and teachers vs. kids.
He is a small-town kid at heart. Piyush Sharma has been doing shows across India, including Corporate, College, and Auditorium shows, and is one of the most talented stand-up comedians in India because of his clean and observational humour. He has over 5.5 million views on YouTube and over 100k subscribers.
8. Mohd Suhel
Mohd Suhel is a comedian and an engineering student. His YouTube channel has over 4 million subscribers. Canvas Laugh Club, Habitat, Cuckoo Club, and Kalaghoda Festival are among the venues where he has performed.
In the comedy world, Jeeveshu is known as the “Salman Khan of Fat World.” As is typical of Punjabis, his jokes are inspired by either his amusing life or his overly optimistic mother, who is hell-bent on remarrying him. Jeeveshu’s stand-up acts will leave you in splits with witty one-liners and quirky jokes.
10. Gaurav Gupta
He is a member of the Baniya community who excels at making jokes about stereotypes about his community and has uploaded videos to his YouTube channel such as Baniya and his Punjabi Dost, Baniya Wedding Mein Punjabi Flavour, Baniya Harkat, Shaadi aur Gadda, and others. Gaurav Gupta then toured extensively throughout India for his solo stand-up special ‘Not Just Baniya.’
This is pretty much the end of the list of underrated stand-up comedians in India, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any more. There are plenty of other comedians who can make you laugh out loud, but these are a few of our favourites. We also anticipate the rise of many more Indian comedians in the future.