Comedian (and father) Atul Khatri is taking his show Daddy Kool pretty much everywhere over the next two months, with dates in Dehradun, Hong Kong and even Australia. We played a quick game of catch(up) with Khatri this weekend; the comedian hinted at a fresh YouTube release and opened up about how much he misses the missus when he’s on tour.
QUICK! WHAT’S THIS SHOW ABOUT?
This show is about me getting old, the national pastime of taking offense at everything under the sun, my experiences through the pandemic, my relationship with my daughters, unsolicited advice, musicians and my three-year-old grandson; Indie dog Mr. Butter Khatri. And more, of course.
HOW MANY SHOWS ARE YOU DOING, ACROSS HOW MANY CITIES?
The debut of the show Daddy Kool was actually in January 2020 in Mumbai. The idea was to take it to the US. In fact, I reached the US on 10 March 2020, just five days before the pandemic started and everything got washed out obviously. It was a 22 city tour but thanks to the pandemic, I had to come back and then after that two-three years, I could not take the show live. Also, thanks to the pandemic, I had to put a lot of the earlier parts of Daddy Kool in cold storage and added a lot of stories about the pandemic and COVID and things like that. So that’s what I got in the newer version of the show when I started doing it again in 2021.
I have taken it more or less everywhere throughout India; most of the major cities in India. I’ve taken it to Bangkok, Manila, Singapore and more. Just recently, between May and June, we had a one-month tour of the US in some 12 cities. And then I did 12 cities in Europe in June 2023. Now I’m taking it to Hong Kong in September and then to Australia and New Zealand. And that’s where I will sort of retire the current version of the show Daddy Kool that I’m doing.
HOW LONG DID YOU SPEND WRITING THE SHOW?
I would say it took me close to one and a half years to sort of write the show and to take it everywhere and you know, chisel it out. I mean, you guys know how it works. So, yeah, it took me around 18 months to make the show and that included trying new material, taking out old material and things like that.
IS THIS ALREADY LEADING UP TO A RECORDED SPECIAL FOR A STREAMING PLATFORM?
Well, I don’t think streaming platforms like Netflix and the proper OTT platforms are buying any comedy specials other than the big comedians like maybe Zakir (Khan), (Anubhav Singh) Bassi, Vir (Das), etc. So, they’re not really buying any shows right now. So let me see, I’ll definitely put it up on YouTube. Most parts of it. I will maybe, you know, put up smaller clips here and there. Not the entire show. Because I don’t know how putting up a free one-hour special on YouTube works. I don’t know if it does well or not in terms of revenue. So, might as well make small clips out of it and release it regularly to get more engagement out of it. And obviously, make reels also because that’s what people want to see nowadays. So, unless some OTT platform comes and buys it, which I’m hoping inshallah, fingers crossed, then I will definitely sell it at a good price if I get it.
WHY SHOULD WE WATCH IT LIVE?
I think any comedy show should always be watched live. In my opinion, if the artist is there in your city, you should see them live because a live show is 100 to 1000 times better than any other form on your phone screens. So yeah, comedy should be watched live. That’s why you should watch it live.
ACCORDING TO YOU, WHO WOULD BE THE IDEAL PLUS-ONE TO BRING TO THE LIVE SHOW?
Actually, I would not say ideal plus-one but you should get your ideal plus-three for the show. So, get your entire family as long as you’re an adult. I don’t like children coming for my shows. As long as you’re 14-plus 15-plus, please get your siblings, your father, mother, grandparents, everyone. The show is mainly in English. As long as you’re okay with an all-English show with a little bit of Hindi here and there, please do come and watch with not your plus-one but your plus-threes.
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME ‘DADDY KOOL’?
I hired a proper marketing person when I was with OML in 2020 and her name was Reva and she did an amazing job. In fact, she’s the one who also designed my poster of Daddy Kool, which I honestly think is very cool. So, she came and watched me for a few shows. And she did a proper job. She was just sitting in the audience watching my show and making notes. At the end of it, she said this show has to be called Daddy Kool because that’s the impression you give on stage that you’re a very cool dad. And that’s what I honestly hear a lot also. A lot of the fan mail and messages say hope my father was as cool as you. That’s why we came up with the name Daddy Kool. Obviously, the K was because of Khatri and so it became Kool with a K. She also said it’s a nice simple name and portrays who you are when you talk about your children on stage. And also there was this famous song Daddy Cool. So, it was all about that. Obviously, we didn’t use the song. If I put it up on an OTT platform I’ll probably try to buy either some rights for the song and use it in my packaging, but I don’t know when that will happen. So yeah, it was a very, very, I would say, proper approach taken to the name.
ON A SCALE OF 1 – WTFAMIDOING, HOW NERVOUS ARE YOU?
I’m always nervous before a show. And that’s how you should be, never get too cocky about it, never be so overconfident about it. So I’m extremely, extremely nervous before every show. And it’s only in the first five to ten minutes when you understand the crowd and you can gauge the decibel of the laughter and have an idea how the show is about to go that it starts getting comforting. So, I’m nervous before every show. It may be a private show or a public-ticketed show—I’m very very nervous before every show.
WHICH ONE OF YOUR KIDS DO YOU MISS THE MOST WHEN YOU’RE OUT TOURING?
Honestly, I don’t miss my kids while I’m touring. I miss my wife the most when I’m touring. So, this time in Europe I took her along. It was a good holiday plus tour. So, yeah, I miss my wife more than I miss my kids, they have become adults now. They have their own lives and they’re very, very busy.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART ABOUT TOURING ABROAD?
It’s really exciting to travel to any city in the world; be it abroad or in India itself as long as it’s a new city. But the best part I like about travelling abroad is that you get to walk a lot, especially if the weather is great. And you can actually walk there. They have lovely parks and lovely sidewalks that are missing in India. So, that’s my favorite part and every day whenever I’m traveling abroad, even on non-working days, I make sure that I can clock at least 15,000 to 20,000 steps. I also like to take a lot of walking tours where these guides show you the city. I think that the best way to know a city is to walk through it. You understand the streets and you get to explore all these local food places.
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