Welcome To The DeadAnt Comedy Awards

Comedians worked extra hard in 2024, performing at sold-out venues across the world, making big moves on film and TV screens, even making their presence felt at big international award ceremonies (looking at you, Vir Das). All to earn a shot at winning a DeadAnt Comedy Award!

With these awards we celebrate and highlight the best of Indian standup from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024. They’re like the Oscars, but the kind Indian standup needs deserves.

Popular Choice

Nominees

You laugh, you cry, you vote. In these categories, we let the people decide.

Entertainer of the Year

The heavyweight champ of 2024. This is the comic who owned the stage, the screen, and your group chats. If they weren’t in your algorithm, were you even online this year?

Bhuvan Bam
Kunal Kamra
Vir Das
Tanmay Bhat
Viraj Ghelani
Samay Raina
Sumukhi Suresh

Funniest Person on the Indian Internet

They broke the internet without needing to break into a 60-minute set. Memes, reels, sketches, thirst traps with punchlines—this category is for the digital disruptors who made us laugh-scroll all year.

José Covaco (@hoezaay)
Vishal Dayama (@dayamaged)
Srishti Dixit (@srishtipatch)
Zervaan J Bunshah (@bunshah)
Dharna Durga (@dharnaaaaa)
Jagjyot Singh (@aapkajags)
Aatman Desai (@aatmeme.in)
Anmol Babbarr (@anmolbabbarr)
Yuvraj Dua (@yuvraj.dua)
Rohit Raghvendra (@rohitraghv_)
Sakshi Shivdasani (@sakshishivdasani)
Kusha Kapila (@kushakapila)
Nitesh Shetty (@nitesh_shetty99)
Govind Menon (@agovindmenon)

Best International Special

Comedy from across the pond (or Pacific). The global special that hit hardest for desi audiences—smart, sharp, maybe a little dark. Judged on execution, delivery, and that universal LOL factor.

Taylor Tomlinson – Have It All
Mike Epps – Ready To Sell Out
Jenny Slate – Seasoned Professional
Dan Soder – On The Road
Hannah Gadsby – The Gender Agenda
Ramy Youssef – More Feelings
Tig Notaro – Hello Again
Dave Attell – Hot Cross Buns
Demetri Martin – Demetri Deconstructed
Neal Brennan – Crazy Good
Jimmy Carr – Natural Born Killer
Katt Williams – Woke Foke
Nikki Glaser – Someday You’ll Die
Sal Vulcano – Terrified
Russell Peters – Irresponsible Ensemble
Rory Scovel – Religion, Sex And A Few Things In Between
Nish Kumar – Your Power, Your Control
Ali Wong – Single Lady
Ellen Degeneres – For Your Approval
Anthony Jeselnik – Bones And All
Daniel Sloss – Hubris
Ali Siddiq – Domino Effect Part 3: First Day of School
Alex Edelman – Just For Us

Best Live Show (Touring Artist)

The comic who packed rooms, toured cities, and left audiences in stitches from soundcheck to encore. You bought tickets, you stood in line, you recorded the opening bit (don’t lie)—this is your pick.

Devesh Dixit – Khuli Kitaab
Gurleen Pannu – Pannu Yaar
Ravi Gupta – Kal Ki Chinta Nahi Karta
Abhishek Upmanyu – Toxic
Pranit More – Back Bencher
Manik Mahna – Manik’s Day Out
Angad Singh Ranyal – Mid-life Ghabrahat
Aakash Gupta – Daily Ka Kaam Hai
Siddharth Shetty – Phack you Avacado
Mandar Bhide – Aale Paak
Sumit Anand – Watermelon Under Tree Trunks
Anirban Dasgupta – Cry Daddy
Urooj Ashfaq – It’s Funny To Me
Masoom Rajwani – Taboo Talk
Haseeb Khan – Dropout
Punit Pania – Fresh Violence
Tarang Hardikar – Beautifully Wrong
Joel Dsouza – Gift
Ashish Vidyarathi – Sit Down Ashish
Madhur Virli – Kaam Chala
Pranav Sharma – Taaza Phool
Anuvab Pal – Nation Wants To Know
Daniel Fernandes – Do You Know Who I Am?
Chirayu Mistry – Mistry Solved
Jaspreet Singh – Grown Up
Yash Rathi – The Dark Matter
Maheep Singh – Mummy Kaisi Hai?
Gursimran Khamba – Lemons & Peaches
Samay Raina – Unfiltered
Manan Desai – Jati Rehje
Sahil Shah – Broken
Aaditya Kulshreshth – Smooth Kullu Smooth
Amit Tandon – Halwa
Viraj Ghelani – That’s So Viraj
Harpriya Bains – Carry On Mummy
Shraddha Jain – So Mini Things
Jamie Lever – The Jamie Lever Show
Anubhav Singh Bassi – Bas Kar Bassi

Vote Now

Click on the link to the form below to cast your vote in the People’s Choice categories. Vote now, or forever hold your peace.

VOTE HERE

Critics’ Choice – Jury

Democracy is all well and good, but there’s more to art than a popularity contest. That’s why we’ve put together a panel of industry insiders and comedy nerds to judge the Critics’ Choice categories. Say hello to our Critics’ Choice jury.

Abbas Tyrewala

Writer, Director, Emotional Saboteur

Abbas Tyrewala wrote Munnabhai MBBS and gave India its most quoted medical diagnosis: laughter. Then he flipped the rom-com on its head with Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, turning airport chases and talking portraits into a generational love language. A Filmfare winner who moves between Shakespearean gangsters (Maqbool) and high-octane espionage (War 2, coming soon), Tyrewala’s pen has range—and bite. For the DeadAnt Comedy Awards, he brings years of storytelling that’s equal parts heart, heat, and incisive hilarity.

KR$NA

Rapper, Lyricist, Human Metaphor Machine.

Before Indian hip-hop was cool, KR$NA was already 16 bars deep. One of the OGs of the scene, he dropped his first tracks as Young Prozpekt in the mid-2000s, then re-emerged as KR$NA in 2014—sharper, louder, and with a lot to say. His latest mixtape, Yours Truly (2025), racked up over a million Spotify streams in 24 hours. But the real flex? Lyrics that go hard as they flip punchlines mid-verse. At the DeadAnt Comedy Awards, he brings battle-hardened instincts, lyrical precision and rhythm, and a radar for spotting a good joke from a mic drop.

Gaurav Kapur

Performer, Producer, Cricket’s Coolest Middleman.

From Channel V heartthrob to cricket’s most charming hype man, Gaurav Kapur has spent over two decades making India feel like we’re all in on the joke. He brought the pre-match banter to Extraaa Innings T20, traded stat sheets for hot takes on Cricbuzz Live, and flipped the sports interview format with Breakfast With Champions, where athletes open up over eggs and ease. Most recently, he co-created Netflix’s Dabba Cartel, proving that under the blazer and boyish grin is a storyteller who knows how to surprise.

At the DeadAnt Comedy Awards, he brings a deep bench of timing, tone, and a keen eye for the unscripted punchline—because the best comedy, like cricket, is all about delivery.

Rohini Ramnathan

Radio Royalty, Podcaster, Filmy Oracle.

With two decades of airtime and zero dead air, Rohini Ramnathan is the voice you hear when pop culture needs decoding, and a little roasting. She launched the retro-cool revolution with Radio Nasha, dialled up the drama with Just Too Filmy on Fever FM, and picked up the Influencer RJ of the Year award at the Golden Mikes just for being, well, Rohini. Off-air, she’s been a quiet disruptor in Mumbai’s comedy and culture scene since 2009, sharpening wit, spotting trends, and always landing the laugh.

At the DeadAnt Comedy Awards, she brings a rare combo of timing, taste, and tea—because when it comes to what’s funny and what’s just noise, her radar’s set to savage.

Nikhil Taneja

Entrepreneur, Podcaster, Gen Z Whisperer.

Nikhil Taneja is what happens when a TED Talk starts a youth revolution. He’s the co-founder and Chief of Yuvaa, India’s first Gen Z-led media, research, and impact company, and the host of Be A Man, Yaar!, the viral therapy session disguised as a talk show that’s making masculinity cry (in the best way). In 2024 alone, he picked up the Kamla Bhasin Special Jury Award and the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity, almost as proof that healing generations is award-worthy af. A writer, producer, and forever online optimist, Taneja’s superpower is making feelings cool, and cool things feel deeply.

For DACA this year, he brings a pulse on what makes the next generation laugh—and why that matters more than ever.

Ravina Rawal

Founder, Editor, Exhausted.

Ravina Rawal has been shaping pop culture before pop culture knew it needed shaping. A former editor of some of India’s leading publications and now the founder-CEO of DeadAnt Media, she’s built the country’s comedy HQ—where cultural commentary, live stages, and breakout talent all come to play. Named one of Femina’s 50 Most Influential Women of 2024 and Hungama’s Game Changer of the Year, she brings edge, insight, and cultural fluency to everything she builds. With two decades across MTV, Vh1, Comedy Central, and more, she’s always known how to speak to the moment before it becomes mainstream—and still writes like the facts matter and the bar exists.

At the DeadAnt Comedy Awards, she brings deep industry instinct, a proven knack for spotting what (and who) is about to blow up, and zero patience for anything that’s just mid.

Critics Choice

Nominees

Best Indian Comedy Special Released Online

A top-tier, long-form banger that landed on YouTube or your favourite streamer and stayed in your head. Judged on writing, pacing, originality, and rewatch value. Extra points if we paused to tweet quotes mid-watch.

Kunal Kamra – Uncle Logic
Madhur Virli – The IIT Dream
Chirag Panjwani – Meri Pehli Shaadi
Azeem Banatwalla – Minor Celebrity
Aakash Mehta – Dark

Best Standup Comedy Bits

Brevity is the soul of wit—and this category proves it. A tight, under-20-min drop that slapped hard enough to go viral or become a cult classic. Sketches, crowd work, takedowns: if it made us laugh in public, it qualifies.

Gurleen Pannu – Annual Function
Aakash Gupta – Indian Cricket Fans & Virat Kohli
Aakash Gupta – Main Aur Mumbai
Jaspreet Singh – Out of Syllabus
Shreeja Chaturvedi – Yauvan
Prashasti Singh – Train Ka Suffer
Anubhav Singh Bassi – American Airlines
Gaurav Kapoor – Injury
Devesh Dixit – Galat Shaktiyan
Manik Mahna – Are You A Buffalo?
Shamik Chakrabarti – City Life
Varun Grover – Shaadi Aur Election
Varun Grover – Langur
Mohammed Hussain – Muslims Hate Each Other

Best Format Show By A Comedian

For the series that turned repetition into art. Podcasts, game shows, mockumentaries—this is for creators who nailed the structure, sustained the shtick, and kept us hooked across episodes.

Samay Raina – India’s Got Latent
Aashish Solanki – Pretty Good Roast Show
Raunaq Rajani – Relationsh*t Advice
Madhur Virli – Madhur Model
Nirmal Pillai and Abishek Kumar – First Move

Most Exciting Voice

Not the loudest, but the freshest. This is the comic who made you sit up and say, “Who is this?” Whether they bombed beautifully or killed it quietly, this voice brought something new to the table (and mic).

Manjeet Sarkar
Vineeth Srinivasan
Sharon Verma
Naman Arora
Viraj Ghelani
Pranit More
Ashish Vidyarthi
Jamie Lever
Shraddha Jain

Best Podcast by a Comedian/Comedy Creator

You tuned in for the jokes and stayed for the chaos. This goes to the pod that blended humour, honesty, and unfiltered opinions with the kind of consistency that made your Mondays bearable.

Sakshi Shivdasani Naina Bhan – Moment of Silence
Aadar Malik, Kautuk Srivastava, Neville Shah, Varun Thakur – The Internet Said So
Anuvab Pal and Kunaal Roy Kapur – Our Last Week
Amin Jazayeri – Untriggered Podcast
Amit Tandon – Chaar Yaar

Best Poster Design

Yes, it’s what’s on the outside that counts here. This award goes to the poster that made you stop scrolling, zoom in, and maybe even save it. We’re talking aesthetics, concept, and comedy alignment.

The Jury Ranking System

For the awards nerds out there, here’s a little primer on how the Critics’ Choice jury picks their winners. We’re using a ranked choice voting system, where instead of assigning numerical scores, jurors will rank nominees in order of preference. If a nominee scores over 50% of first-choice votes, they win outright. Otherwise, the winner will be chosen by a process of elimination and redistribution. Rinse and repeat, till we have our winners!