Sonali Thakker is a name that most Indian standup fans would know. She’s been in the circuit for a decade, has performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (twice!) and has been on the writing team for a number of famous award shows and web series. Lately, she’s been working behind the scenes on Netflix India’s YouTube property The Awkward Interview hosted by Aishwarya Mohanraj. “I really enjoy it because it’s Bollywood and it’s like not a typical talk show,” she told us.
In addition to rubbing shoulders with the who’s who of Bollywood, Thakker also frequents the comedy clubs in Mumbai. She can be spotted at a couple of lineup shows every week. With all that practise under her belt, Thakker is finally ready to perform her first solo show in a while. Perfect Role Model is an anecdotal hour about all the mistakes she’s made in life that… well… make her the exact opposite. She’s set to perform a show in Mumbai on 1 September. Here’s all you need to know about the new show and exactly what not to do if you’re in the audience.
What is ‘Perfect Role Model’ about?
I think all of us are very flawed in some ways which we’re a little vulnerable to show to the world. So, I just started picking out certain characteristics about me and that’s largely what the show is about. It’s honestly just instances from my life where I may have seemingly taken some wrong decisions but they came with pure intentions. I didn’t really mean to do the wrong thing!
How long did you take to write this show?
I’ve actually been working on this for about say 6-7 months. It didn’t start out as a full hour that I was writing. As I started writing my material, I think I became more aware of who I was as a person and that’s how the show evolved.
Why did you decide to call the show ‘Perfect Role Model’?
I just thought it was quirky because these are such wrong decisions to make that it would be funny to just call myself a perfect role model. Because I’m not.
Currently you are putting up one show at a time. Will you be announcing a full tour soon?
You know, I’m doing an hour after a really long time. I haven’t done a full hour for many years now. But finally I feel like I have a something different to say from my, you know, from previous hours. Also, because I’m not a very popular comic on YouTube, it’s very hard for me to like sell tickets. So I’m also just in the process of figuring out the show and the flow and piecing things together. Because I feel like when you do 15-20 minutes versus when you do an hour, you realise what the gaps are in the middle.
Obviously the plan is definitely to tour with it, but I don’t have a plan in place to tour with it. First, I want to do as many solos as possible in Mumbai. I have another show in Thane. Then perhaps I’ll start touring with the show in Bengaluru and then Delhi and Hyderabad. But yeah, the plan is always to tour with it for sure.
You’re performing an hour after so long. Is there any nervousness?
Yeah, obviously I am nervous. Just being on stage for an hour is daunting. You know, you’re always scared. I mean, I’ve been doing this for a decade. I’m still a bag of nerves before I have to do an hour. Sometimes you’re just like, I hope I can hear myself talk for an hour. And sometimes towards the end of your show, you dread it. Like, I know I’m supposed to close this show the minute I see somebody looking at their watch. My main aim is to finish the show and make sure nobody looks at their watch. So yeah, obviously, I am always a bag of nerves.
How do you deal with the nervousness?
I think the way to cope with the nervousness is just to do as many hours and solos as possible. Because I don’t do so many solos, I think it’s a little more difficult. But I think it’s just a matter of doing the first two shows. And then just once the ball gets rolling, I think I won’t be as nervous as I’ve been in the past.
Do you think you’ll be leveraging Instagram reels and YouTube shorts to promote your shows?
I do think about that a lot. But in my experience, whenever I have focused on getting a reel out of a show, or getting snapshots for social media, it has always taken my focus away from what I want to do on stage. For some reason, I’ve never been able to like cope with it.
I’ve never been able to give my 100% to both, the social media element of the show and as a performer. It always takes my attention away. So honestly, I just don’t focus on the social media element, although I know it is super helpful. And I know it can really go a long way. It’s something I battle with. It’s something I try to cope with. Someday I will overcome this challenge.
What is the last standup special you watched that really inspired you?
I am terrible at watching comedy of late. Oh, my patience level is really bad. I honestly can’t watch a special in a go. I don’t know if it’s just me or if everyone suffers from that. You know, we have this whole syndrome of not staying away from our phones and all content has to be like podcasts running in the background. I think that’s just a very terrible way to watch standup.
But I was shamed by a lot of comedians for not watching Shane Gillis’ latest special Beautiful Dogs (laughs). That was a special I really enjoyed. I’ve been meaning to watch a lot though. There is Nikki Glaser’s latest special. I’ve been meaning to watch Taylor Tomlinson’s latest special that came out a while back.
Who is a comedian you’ve seen in the Indian comedy scene lately whose material you really liked?
Tushar Poojari! He plays a lot at The Habitat. Oh my god. He’s so funny. There are times he kills so hard,
it’s very difficult to go up after him. He’s too good.
You can get your tickets for Perfect Role Model here.
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