Aakash Mehta has always had his hands in multiple pies: touring with multiple shows, making music, building comedy venues. But after being on the road for almost a decade straight (sometimes with three shows at the same time), the comedian thought it’s time to take a break and focus on the club business. But he could only stay away from his first love, the stage, for only so long. Mehta is back with a new tour titled Relapse that doubles as a reset: a stepping stone back into the groove of standup and rebuilding his relationship with his audience. He kicked things off yesterday at Backspace Thane and will be making his way to Pune, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Delhi before his final show in Mumbai.
We spoke to Mehta about what pulled him back to standup, the isolation of stepping away from touring, how running clubs has changed the way he sees the scene, and why getting back on stage still feels—by his own admission—like a relapse.
All of last year you had been saying that you were done with standup. What brought you back?
I realised very quickly that standup is the lens through which I process the world. Without that lens, things started feeling overwhelming.
Also, when I stopped touring, I got cut off from what was essentially my extended family. I used to have people everywhere I went. That isolation hit hard.
And finally, when I was at a Lollapalooza recently, every few minutes someone would stop me and say something kind about my work. My wife was standing next to me the whole time saying, “This is why you should be doing what you do.” That’s when I felt like, yeah, let’s go back.
During your break from the stage, what were you working on?
A lot of different things, honestly. I was losing weight and learning how to ride a bike—I bought one as well and will be putting out bike vlogs.
I was also working on the next five to ten songs I want to record. The plan right now is to record two of those in April. At the same time, there were personal things happening too—I lost my grandfather during that period. A lot happens in a year, and it wasn’t really a quiet break in that sense.During your break from the stage, what were you working on?
What made you take the break from touring in the first place?
I started touring in 2015 and at one point I was traveling the country with three shows. That pace is fun in your 20s, but in your 30s it starts taking a real toll.
Part of it is that your enthusiasm changes. Part of it is that I got married and realised I actually like being at home. Earlier, I’d be motivated to keep moving constantly, but that changed.
Also, very practically, I knew that if I wanted to build the clubs properly, I had to step away from touring for at least a year. That break is what made it possible for us to work on opening multiple venues in a short span of time. Otherwise, none of that would have happened.
What is this new tour about? Is it a full new hour?
Honestly, I still have three shows lying around from before. But this tour is more about getting back into the groove of performing regularly again.
The material is largely drawn from what happened during that one-year gap—why I stepped away, what I was doing during that time, and why I’m back now. Eventually, I want to return to touring the wedding show again. Right now, this is more like a transition phase where I’m rebuilding rhythm and processing material for future releases.
Are you planning to record material from this tour for release online?
Yes, I’m recording certain sections from specific shows. The idea right now is to put out one standup video a month, and then alternate that with crowd work videos.
Two videos are already in progress—one is done and another is coming soon. The next one will likely be recorded in Pune. This year, the main focus is consistency. Historically, even working out regularly has been harder for me than I expected. But I got into that groove and started enjoying it. So, if I can manage that discipline, I’m hoping I can maintain a steady release schedule for my standup as well.
Which cities are part of the first leg of the tour?
The first leg is the usual circuit—Gujarat, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune and Mumbai.
After that, the plan is to do another round covering places like Nasik, Kolkata and Goa, basically wherever is left. But that will take some planning because I have an exciting project that might come through. Let’s see!
Why are you calling the show ‘Relapse’?
Because in some ways it genuinely feels like a relapse. Getting back on stage after a break and doing trial shows again reminded me of how intense that experience is. Being on stage for 90 minutes feels like a rush.
At the same time, I think it’s also an opportunity for audiences to reconnect a little bit with my work as well. It’s not just me returning to stage—it’s also people getting back to the relationship we had developed with my live shows.
With the whole format show boom, have you been contemplating putting one together as well?
There’s no disrespect to people doing them because it clearly makes sense for a lot of creators and there are obvious reasons why someone would want to do those kinds of projects. It’s a steady flow of content, it helps you be in the public eye, it’s an alternate revenue stream.
But personally, I’ve always been more interested in creating something original rather than adapting existing formats too closely. That’s been the plan from the start. Otherwise, it starts to feel like repeating earlier phases of online comedy where a lot of work was inspired by existing international formats.
If something reaches the level of a show like The Nation Wants to Guess, which has taken a format and really made it its own, that’s exciting to me. That’s the kind of thing I find interesting.
You’ve been running clubs for almost a year now. Are there any exciting voices that you spotted during this time?
There are some really strong voices around right now. Noel [Cordeiro], for example, is doing very thoughtful, intelligent standup that’s extremely well written and well structured. But he’s also someone who’s been around for years. It just goes to show that it takes time before people start noticing what kind of work you put out. In standup, it’s rarely a case of “where did this person suddenly come from,” because most comics have been doing mics for a long time before they get bigger opportunities or visibility.
Naye mein, Kailash Koppikar is a comic I enjoy watching. He’s fun on stage and also building a presence online.
That said, when you’re running venues, a lot of your time ends up being spent in the green room looking at Excel sheets rather than actually watching sets, so you don’t always get to see as much as you’d like.
You can get your tickets for Relapse here.
comments
comments for this post are closed