Jaspreet Singh has been on tour with his latest show With Love, Jaspreet since last August (not counting a few test runs in 2020). He’s taken it everywhere from Jammu to Bengaluru, from the UK to Germany. There have also been tour dates in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, The Netherlands and the UAE. Hell, he’s even taken it to West Delhi!
And he’s still at it, with a series of dates leading up to the end of this leg in Bengaluru on 16 July. Only for the monsoons though, because he’s ready to hit the road again in October. We figured now is as good a time as any to check in on the comedian about his show and life on the road.
QUICK! WHAT’S THIS SHOW ABOUT?
Personal stories about people I haven’t talked about much in my previous shows. Family, siblings and friends. It’s a mix of observational comedy and storytelling, and observations within storytelling.
HOW MANY SHOWS ARE YOU DOING, ACROSS HOW MANY CITIES?
I am mostly a touring comic because live standup is all I do. I have been touring with this show for the last 10 months with around 110 shows done already. I am currently going slow in my Indian tours with just four to five cities in July as I have international plans for August, September. So, I’m just taking a little break right now. I’ll be back on tour in India from October for maybe five to six more months.
HOW LONG DID YOU SPEND WRITING THE SHOW?
Most of the ideas keep marinating in my mind for years. One fine day you put them on paper. I did a few trial runs of this show in 2020 in some 20-seaters and some open mics. But then I was prepping my previous show for an Amazon release in March of 2022. After it released, suddenly it felt like I didn’t have a new show ready. For the next four-five months, I worked on the trial show I had written, doing mics and lineups, and was ready to tour by August. This is what happens when live touring is the only thing you do.
IS THIS ALREADY LEADING UP TO A RECORDED SPECIAL FOR A STREAMING PLATFORM?
That’s the job of the agency to figure out. I am currently open to all ideas; whether to put it out on a platform or release it myself on YouTube. I wish to tour it till March next year. If the tickets are still selling, maybe a bit more. But yes, I will plan to tape it when I’m 70-80% done with the touring.
WHY SHOULD WE WATCH IT LIVE?
Self-praise is allowed, right? I am a different animal when it comes to live shows. I enjoy them to the fullest, have a lot of expressions and act-outs on top of my writing, and am just a very happy friendly person on stage. I believe in creating a vibe during the show and making sure to involve people more and more as the show progresses. My live performance is the best thing I do overall in life.
ACCORDING TO YOU, WHO WOULD BE THE IDEAL PLUS-ONE TO BRING TO THE LIVE SHOW?
Siblings, spouse, parents, and friends. I think this is for everybody. I would not say it’s a super clean set but it’s definitely not 18+. I had a lot of senior citizens come to my show and enjoy it too.
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME ‘WITH LOVE’?
I am poor at naming the shows. The first show’s name was a joke from the show. The second show’s name is Koi Load Nahi and was recommended by a comic who said it goes with my vibe. He said, “You are always like, ‘Koi stress nahi, load nahi hai.'” And for this show, I wanted to spend more time writing jokes than writing a title. So, I just named it With Love, Jaspreet as I felt I had written it with so much love, it’s about the people I love and I wanted to show that to my audience. I’m just not good with nomenclature. If I named Sholay, it would just be called Jai Veeru.
ON A SCALE OF 1 – WTFAMIDOING, HOW NERVOUS ARE YOU?
I’m not nervous at all. I trust my content and have tested it a lot of times before taking it on tour. I usually do not take a loose show on tour. I tour only when I’m confident of my hour. So yes, pretty happy with what I am doing.
WHICH CITY DOES THIS SHOW DISTINCTLY KILL THE MOST IN?
No particular city as such. I have heard people saying that I must be killing the most in Punjab because, yeah, stereotypes. But I have some amazing shows in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Pune along with Chandigarh. I had some of my career’s best kills during my Europe tour, especially in Koln and Frankfurt and more recently in Auckland and Melbourne. I think content that focuses on feelings rather than locations will always connect throughout.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE POST-SHOW MEAL?
Mostly the local cuisine of the place I’m performing in. Otherwise, dal, roti, paneer and chicken are always there. If I’m in my city, then whatever is cooked at home.
comments
comments for this post are closed