Comedian Raunaq Rajani has been a part of Mumbai’s standup comedy circuit for almost a decade. In all these years, he’s experimented with a variety of formats including pranking strangers on the streets (the OGs will remember the ashirvad bit) to dishing out unhelpful relationship advice on his popular panel show Relationsh*t Advice. In addition to this, Rajani has been a regular performer at comedy venues across the country, constantly working on his craft and material. So it comes as a surprise that the comedian doesn’t have a standup special to his name yet. But that’s about to change this Sunday. Rajani is all set to tape his debut comedy special Manchild at Mumbai’s Sophia Bhabha Auditorium on 5 May. We got in touch with him between all his planning to know more about the show, process and his feelings about this big step.
What’s the show about?
The show is about growing up. It’s about adulting. It’s about me being a, as the title suggests, man-child. I basically tell three stories that helped me grow as a person. Incidents where my stupidity gave me some perspective on life. I’m also turning 30 this year. And there are things that you have to reevaluate once you’re a “man” so to speak. Your relationship with your parents changes. Your role in society changes. So, these three stories that I tell in the show helped me come to this realisation.
How long did you take to write the show?
I had been touring and doing trial shows for the last two years. And a lot of those jokes had a recurring theme, I noticed. So Manchild as a show came together last year, but there are a bunch of jokes from trial shows I did in the last 2 years. Those were called Stretching The Joke.
Out of all these shows you performed, does any particular one stand out?
There are a bunch of moments. I can’t really single one out. But I’ll share one. The show is usually 80-90 minutes long. But I ended up doing two hours and some change during my recent show in Hyderabad. I had a very chatty audience and we kept deviating from my stories and flow. It was like I was just hanging out with these people. Like, I don’t know who those people were, they didn’t know everybody in the audience either, but we were all laughing together in that moment and that was very special. We were referencing people who I spoke to throughout the show. It was extremely conversational and that led to my stories having a lot more improvised act outs and tags. More than usual. And there were technical glitches as well, so on paper everything was working against me. But it was one of the most fun shows I’ve done that I’m going to remember for a long time.
How nervous are you about the taping?
I’m trying not to worry too much about it. And because I’ve shot a bunch of YouTube videos and so many episodes of Relationsh*t Advice, I’ve realised that not all the videos have come out the way I had planned them. And because I’ve done it a bunch of times, I’m not crazy anxious about it. But in this entire process I’ve realised how we take the ecosystem for granted. Like, I can walk into so many clubs in the morning and say I want to record a show this evening. And the setup is there. But because this is a new venue, you have to get other professionals. And there are minor details about the equipment that make a difference to the final product. So, that process has been a little daunting.
Who’s on your team for this taping?
Neville Shah is the creative director on this one. And man, he’s a genius. He’s explained every aspect to me. He asked me what my vision was for the show. And I was so lost. I told him I just want to tell jokes and people will laugh, I don’t know what else I’m envisioning. So he’s been spoon-feeding me information about how these things work. Balraj Ghai’s team is line producing it. And Kriti from OML is helping with production as well. They’ve all been so helpful during this entire process. They’re all great people who know what they’re doing.
Do you have any plans for the special’s release?
Yes, I’m recording this for YouTube. I’m not sure about how I’ll release it though. As in, I still have to decide whether it will be the entire set or a couple of shorter videos. For that I’ll speak with some people who have done this before. Currently my focus is on the taping and not on the outcome.
You’ve also been a lot more active on Instagram and YouTube shorts. Do you think this helps in translating to ticket sales?
I’m really not sure what translates to what. But I’m aware that as a comedian your job is to constantly keep at it. We’re often short-sighted, in the sense that, we’ll put stuff out only if we have a tour coming up or something and then disappear. But I’ve changed my outlook on this starting this year. I’ve realised that this is my full-time job. So, I’m always looking for content to put out. Because you never really know what adds up to what. There’s no quantitative measure to this things. But yes, it is definitely about visibility. At the end of the day, if you want people to come for your show, you have to be in their eyes. And you can’t be sporadic about it because eventually people will lose interest. So yes, it’s always good to keep putting out material in any capacity. This is the world we live in.
What emotions are you feeling right now?
Honestly, it’s a dream come true. I’ve performed at Sophia’s a few times as a part of the The Big Show. But before comedy started for me, I used to work as an understudy in a theatre company that used to put up shows at Sophia’s. And your job as an understudy is to quickly change the set on stage so when the lights come back on it’s a new visual. I got fired from that job because I kept running up on stage and instead of quickly picking up the props, I used to stare at the audience. And my director used to get so angry at me because the audience could see the lights glare in my glasses. But I always had that hunger that, “Oh, it’s a full house. I want them to see me once.” And I involuntarily would do it again and again. When I got fired from that job, I told myself that one day I’ll get to show my face on stage here. And now I am fulfilling that dream of mine, performing for 90 minutes at Sophia’s. Everything is a dream right now. I’m just so happy.
Get your tickets for the live taping of Manchild here.
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