If you were wondering how bad the post-pandemic slump was for live events this year, entertainment and ticketing platform BookMyShow’s annual report (1 January-5 December 2022) has some (bloody good) news! BMS tracked over 19,000 live events through the year, and plenty of them were comedy shows, with tours by Vir Das, Anubhav Singh Bassi and Harsh Gujral ranking in the top 10 of the biggest crowd pullers in the country.

Eight million people were back on party patrol this year in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi NCR, Pune, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Raipur, Chennai and Imphal, according to the report, which also highlighted some interesting trends. A staggering 6,00,000 people bought a solo ticket for their pick of live events, for example. That’s a lot of people who don’t mind not having company, as long as the entertainment experience is worth it.

Vir Das made it to the list because of his Wanted India tour.

“The #WantedTour an English comedy tour, is the 2nd highest live sales event of 2022 per the @bookmyshowin report,” Das posted on Instagram. “To our incredible audience who came out, I thank you! To all the brands who were ‘unsure’, this is a short read. Congrats Diljit! 🙏.”

Anubhav Singh Bassi’s Bas Kar Bassi was a popular choice amongst the audience.

“I love nothing more than being on stage and being on the road to be on stage.” Bassi told DeadAnt, “We were pressed for time this year due to several commitments but my team and I did One Last Tour for my show Bas Kar Bassi like the happiness of the world depended on it. We did the best we could and my audience showed up for me to get me to this list. I am beyond grateful. And come on, sharing space on a list with Diljit Paaji is another feeling altogether. My team and I have great plans for next year as well so stay tuned. More miles, more smiles!”

And finally, Harsh Gujral’s Jo Bolta Hai Wohi Hota Hai drove a lot of ticket sales as well.

“Generally I don’t take it seriously whenever someone says ‘you’re working so much,'” Gujral told DeadAnt. “But last night, when I read this (report), I felt a little proud […] 2022 was very important for us, we upgraded our game, made some changes. If because of us, the industry and upcoming comics have benefited even by 2%, 4% or 10%, that makes me very proud and happy.”

“Comedy has always been amongst the most chosen formats for live entertainment in India as globally and has clearly got its well-deserved spot in the sun,” Anil Makhija, COO for Live Entertainment & Venues at BookMyShow told DeadAnt. “During the pandemic-induced lockdown period, comedy was a fantastic genre that beautifully and naturally fit into the virtual/digital medium. Indian audiences grew through that phase with scores of new and veteran comedy fans seeing great entertainment value from stand-up comedy.”

“Stand-up comedy artists’ tours are far more flexible and less demanding on the tech-riders when it comes to shows across large and smaller scales,” Makhija added, explaining some of the advantages that a comedy tour has in the Indian live entertainment space. “This allows them to cover a significantly larger ground including tier 2 and 3 cities for their tour, thus expanding audience reach multi-fold. Indian consumers are really enjoying comedy and over the past 3-4 years, younger folks have developed not just the ability to laugh at these jokes, but also enjoy the fourth wall being broken down through audience engagement with the artist on-stage, making jokes on the crowd as part of their acts.”

Other non-comedy names on the list include Diljit Dosanjh (#1), Post Malone (#6) and Sunburn: Alan Walker (#7). We’re thrilled to close out the year with the satisfaction of seeing standup in India give both cricket and international pop stars a run for their money. And we can’t wait to see laughter take over 2023.