For the last five years, Blue Material, India’s first Dalit-led comedy collective, has been quietly shaping a parallel space in Indian standup to platform voices that highlight issues of caste, class and share their lived experiences. On 10 May, Ravi Gaikwad, Ankur Tangade and Radhe bring that work to Backspace, Lower Parel. The comics will perform two shows with Tangade and Radhe performing 20–25 minute sets and Gaikwad performing for 45 minutes. Their material will be recorded for YouTube for the first time in the collective’s history.

Blue Material began five years ago as a small multilingual comedy collective with three comics. It has since grown into “a pan-India roster of active 12 comics,” alongside a network of open mics and lineup shows across multiple cities. Earlier editions were Mumbai-only, but “now it’s become multi-city,” Gaikwad told us. “The last edition we did was three cities, now it’s expanded to four or five cities,” he said reflecting a gradual expansion of the collective’s footprint.

The group describes its work as building a parallel space within Indian standup rather than reacting directly to the mainstream scene. “It’s a parallel scene,” Gaikwad said, emphasising the need for alternate platforms where performers can find stage time more consistently. At the same time, they are careful about how the collective is framed. “Blue Material is not comics doing Dalit jokes. It’s Dalit comics doing jokes,” he said.

Their name signifies the sky, a symbol of non-discrimination, under which everyone is treated equally. At the same time ‘Blue’ comedy is a genre of comedy that is often labelled off-colour, risqué, indecent or profane. “Which is exactly the duality that inspired our name,” Gaikwad said.

Earlier Blue Material shows have often functioned as informal meeting points as much as performance nights. “Mostly it has been a spot where people are coming and meeting long internet friends,” said Gaikwad, describing rooms where comics, rappers and DJs overlap with audiences already connected to the work in some way. The upcoming recordings continue that trajectory, documenting sets from within the collective while slowly building visibility for a scene that, until now, has grown largely “only word of mouth.”

You can get your tickets here.