“I am here to do my job and will continue to do so. I will not stop My job is to make people laugh and if you don’t find it funny, don’t laugh,” Vir Das said in an exclusive interview with India Today Television, from New York. His Netflix comedy special, Vir Das: For India, has received an International Emmy 2021 nomination, and he is naturally excited. Still, he says he’s only here for the “selfie”. A few days after making headlines for myself monologue of two india, which was criticized by many for “insulting” India while others called it “brave”, Veer opened up on India Today about his comedy brand, censorship and more.
on two indian monologues
I was just doing a show. We were full, and it was my audience and I wrote an excerpt… I don’t think you ever expected to start a conversation. I guess you expect people in the room to laugh. Any Indian with a sense of humour, who enjoys satire, and watches my full video, will know what happened in my video and will feel loved and amazing.
On the challenges faced by comedians
Comedians have to face challenges just about anywhere. The challenge for me is that everything changes so fast how you write a new joke. Attention span changes so fast, news changes so fast. How to keep writing jokes to keep it up? It doesn’t matter whether I’m at Madison Square Garden, Wankhede Stadium or at your dining table, the only expectation from a comedian is, make me laugh, make me feel good. It doesn’t matter if he’s a big comedian or a small
on censorship
I hope no one needs to think so much about telling jokes. They are just jokes. I have tremendous respect for everyone and for any kind of feedback. If you find my jokes funny, I appreciate you, if you don’t find my jokes funny, I appreciate you. If you don’t find my jokes funny, I hope you find something else (and) so funny that you fall off a chair laughing. And I hope you post about something you like, so we can all see it.
I’ve been lucky I didn’t experience it [censorship], I’ve done three comedy specials with Netflix and the only conversation we’ve had is ‘Jao log ko laugh’ and I’m like ‘Ok’.
on Emmy nominations
I don’t expect to be served dinner most nights. So I am very excited to be nominated for Indian Comedy. We did a Netflix show with a guy sitting in front of a blue door and then with these other shows to get Emmy nominations that have a budget of $2-3 million! Apna Darwaza Toh was Rs 10,000.
The 49th International Emmy Awards are being held in New York City on Monday, 22 November (Tuesday, 23 November IST).
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