Social media has created pressure on comedians to constantly create content: Bharti Singh
Comedian Bharti Singh says the pressure to constantly create attention-grabbing content on social media has intensified the demands on stand-up comedians, but she consciously keeps her own humour "clean" with her family audience in mind.
"There’s immense pressure on stand-up comedians to create content that will garner the audience's attention. Everyone has a different style of making people laugh, some may resort to cheap jokes, some adhere to clean humour. However, I keep my audience base in mind, which is a family audience," Singh told PTI in an interview.
Singh said she often self-censors her material because she knows her family, including her mother, will watch it.
"I self-censor things keeping in mind that my mother is going to watch it too. Besides, I don’t crack jokes on topics I’m not aware of (politics or religion), I often crack jokes on food, family, etc," she said.
Reflecting on her career, Singh said she was initially nervous about comedy and did not fully understand the craft when she entered the entertainment industry after growing up in Amritsar.
"I was very scared in the initial stage of my career. I didn’t even have an understanding of doing comedy. I came from Amritsar, from college. It took a little time for me to get started here," she said.
Singh made her television debut in 2008 with the reality show "The Great Indian Laughter Challenge", where she became popular for her childlike character 'Lalli' and finished as the second runner-up.
She went on to feature in several comedy shows, including "Comedy Circus", "The Kapil Sharma Show" and "The Khatra Khatra".
Over the years, Singh said, audiences have become like family to her, with their affection giving her the confidence to experiment with her work.
For Singh, however, the basic purpose of comedy remains unchanged — making people laugh.
"Laughter is the best medicine, and I’m glad to have got the opportunity to do so," she said.
The comedian is also open to exploring acting in films and OTT projects. She said she and her husband, producer Harsh Limbachiyaa, are working towards developing a one-hour stand-up comedy show for an OTT platform.
"I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a one-hour stand-up comedy show with Harsh on OTT. We are working towards it, and it might take some time," Singh said.
The couple is currently hosting "Indian Game Show", which brings television actors, social media influencers and other entertainment personalities together for chaotic and humorous games.
Singh said the show's central aim was simply to entertain, with much of its humour emerging spontaneously.
"The only aim is to entertain people through the show. We think we’ve come to an amusement park today, and we just want to play. If you see the episodes and the promos, you will see the celebrities simply enjoying the show," she said.
Singh is working with Limbachiyaa on the show after a gap of five to six years. She said their long familiarity makes their professional equation easy and effortless.
"Indian Game Show" airs on the Sony Entertainment channel.
