Comedians, meant to be entertainers, are now truth tellers: Kenny Sebastian
Sebastian, who recently released his second special, opens up about his process, and affirms the belief that of late, it is the comedian who’s turning out to be a staunch critic of societal injustice, not the media.
More often than not, halfway through comedian Kenny Sebastian’s set, his jokes often get drowned in laughter from the audience. The middle-class relatability infused with associating commonplace incidents with objects, has helped him develop an ardent fanbase that spans people of all age groups. But “the content doesn’t necessarily have to be rooted towards the middle class for it to work,” feels Sebastian. He adds, “I feel it’s the complete opposite, the topics were more real and honest compared to what’s seen on TV. Topics like sex, dating, being emotionally vulnerable, that’s what really strikes a chord with most people and that voice never found its way in conventional forms of media like radio, TV or print in India.”
The comedian has two specials on two leading OTT platforms and many numerous on his popular YouTube channel. Sebastian finds working on specials more interesting. “A longer one hour special needs threads, themes and a coherent structure for it culminate towards a proper ending. The biggest advantage of an OTT is you get to reach an audience that is very different from the YouTube audience that is way more unpredictable. I feel, using both platforms to explore varied types of content is the idea way to go,” he says.
In the past few years, the comedy scene in the country has skyrocketed. It seems, to many, that the practice of criticism, be it the establishment, its policies or just the common public, has been unabashedly explored on the stage than the news. Sebastian agrees. “When the general public looks towards the comedians to speak the truth then it’s an alarming sign that the media has truly failed us all. Comedians were meant to be entertainers and are slowly turning into truth tellers. It’s getting very hard to trust the opinion of anyone,” he says.
He feels that day by day, it’s getting “very hard to trust the opinion of anyone now, since everything’s so heavily biased”. He adds, “A comedian truly has nothing to gain with his/her political views (as they, mostly lose — death threats, FIRS, banning from venue etc.) , as there’s so much on the line.”
