Sikkimese comedian, filmmaker and storyteller Bkey Agarwal made it to the finale of Nepal’s Comedy Champion season two and placed second after the popular vote. The comedian’s successful run on the show has won him a lot of support and put the spotlight on Sikkim’s emerging comedy scene.

Agarwal is also one of the founders of Sikkim’s first comedy club Hasais Katle, which shared a statement with EastMojo about his achievement. “His performance was liked and loved by people not just from Sikkim but from the entire Nepali-speaking diaspora,” the club said. “He utilised the opportunity he got on that stage fully, trying various new kinds of formats and themes, which was never tried before in the Nepali comedy scene. Though he couldn’t win the title, he is already a winner for many of us, and he has made Sikkim proud. Bkey is an example that Sikkim is a home of many talents and artists. We hope Bkey keeps entertaining us with his unique style of comedy.”

Agarwal was also lauded for his performances on the Nepali comedy reality TV show by club co-founder Saroj Kharel, who said “until Comedy Champion season two, Bkey mostly did observational comedy with more emphasis on pop culture but his performances during Comedy Champion have proven that he can be very versatile. The way he could adapt to Nepal’s generic sense of humour is a solid mark of his talent as a comedian.”

Biswas Timshina, known as BT Kancha in the Sikkimese comic fraternity told Sikkim Express that “Bkey getting into the finals isn’t just a big news for him but it also means a huge leap for the Indian Nepali stand-up scene. I’ve been getting messages from Nepal-based comics as they express their desire to come across the border to perform.”