Comedian Vikram Arul Vidyapathi is currently touring the world with his debut solo show Vikkals of Vikram. The comedian is set to take Coimbatore by storm on 2 March after which he’s jetting off to the Land Down Under with dates in Aukland, Melbourne and Sydney on the schedule. For someone who is touring on such a large scale, standup comedy was not really on the cards for Vikram. So, how did he get here? Read the entire interview to find out!

1. What’s the show about?

The show is about a young college-going boy who goes out into the world without knowing the nuances of society. He has his prejudices that are then challenged and he learns things along the way. It’s partly anecdotal and partly observational.

2. What’s the idea behind calling the show ‘Vikkals of Vikram’?

‘Vikkals’ in Tamil means ‘hiccups’. So, the literal translation is ‘hiccups of Vikram’. It’s like saying my jokes aim at the hiccups in society. I do anti-caste jokes, I talk about feminism and it’s importance and I also talk about being sex positive and inclusive. These are all hiccups for people who conform to the traditional and prejudiced ways of society. The advantage is also that my YouTube channel and Instagram handle are the same. It’s a familiar name to my audience and they can connect to it easily. That’s why I thought of calling my special that.

3. Is this your first solo tour?

Yes. This is the first time I’m going on the road with my show.

4. How many shows are you doing, across how many cities?

I’m doing almost 25-30 cities. Some of them are already done including Mumbai, Delhi, Salem, Vellore and some international shows in Birmingham, London and Amsterdam. My next show in India is in Coimbatore on 2 March. After that I am flying to Australia and New Zealand for more international dates.

5. How long did you spend writing this special?

I started performing this solo around 2022 when my Instagram reels had started to go viral. Most of it was written in one year. And then I kept polishing it as I performed the shows. So, it has probably been 2 years of writing and fine-tuning the hour.

6. How did standup comedy come into your life?

Standup started as an accident for me. I’m a theatre artist. In 2018, one of my writer friends went for an open mic so I had gone to show support. There was one more spot open so I signed up as well. To be very honest, I liked the attention. In theatre you have to share the limelight. There’s no such thing in standup. Good or bad, it’s all on us.

7. You’ve also found a lot of success on Instagram. How did that journey begin?

I started the YouTube channel in 2019 because I wanted a platform to promote my standup shows. I also realised that in India, people come for the artist rather than the comedy. So I thought that I have to become famous to sell tickets. The channel was doing well but then the pandemic hit. So we hit pause on the YouTube content and shifted to short-form on Instagram. And just like that—I don’t mean to brag—we became a sort of sensation in Tamil Nadu. And then it all blew up.

8. Do you also see yourself doing a sketch comedy show similar to what you do on Instagram?

Vikkals is not just me alone. We have a team and two of the main faces are Hari Muniyappan and Sibi Jayakumar. They are a core part of the team. So if we decide to do it together, it might happen. It’s certainly something that is exciting.

9. Who is a comedian you really admire?

Dave Chappelle for sure. I also recently watched Zakir Khan’s special Haq Se Single even though I don’t really know Hindi. But just by reading the subtitles I felt like he’s my brother sort of vibe. That really inspired me. I don’t even know the language he’s talking in but the way he performed made me feel like he’s one of my best friends. That’s something I really want to achieve. There’s also Alexander Babu. Nobody can really compete with his shows. They’re like amusement parks. As a performer, I’m pretty competitive and feel that I can emulate whatever I’m seeing on stage. But 15 minutes into Alexander’s performance and I had tears in my eyes. It was so electric. I would love to do that but I have no clue how to get there.

You can get your tickets for Vikkals of Vikram here!