Stand-up Comedian Vir Das Featured in Variety Magazine’s ‘2021 Comedy Impact Report’
- The list includes 35 talents, writers, creators and agents “who kept the laughs coming even through the darkest of timelines” over the past 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indian comedian and actor Vir Das has made it to Variety’s ‘2021 Comedy Impact Report,’ a list of 35 talents, writers, creators and agents “who kept the laughs coming even through the darkest of timelines” over the past 12 months of the COIVD-19 health crisis. “From a deadly pandemic to political strife and the encroaching doom of climate change, all the way to the quarantine-related closures of comedy clubs, the impossibility of touring, and the stop-start struggle of shooting, it’s been harder than ever just to get a joke across,” the magazine says.
I just wanted to thank @Variety for putting me on this crazy list. The team and I at @TheWeirdass never imagined #TenONTen could go from a tiny forest in Goa to the Variety Comedy Impact Issue. Crazy, just crazy.”
Variety chose Das for “Ten on Ten,” the Zoom special he released last year, which “ featured his crowd work as he chatted with fans all over the globe.” This year, Das “shifted gears,” and recorded “Ten on Ten” before a small crowd hidden in a forest. “It’s 10 hard conversations, about topics that are hard to laugh at and hard to do within system I exist in,” Das told Variety. Das has never been worried about the contexts of his jokes. Most of his material is based on religion, freedom of speech and tribalism. “If I’m carrying my own speakers and microphone up a hill in a forest during a pandemic it better not be for jokes about airplane food,” he says. “I’m not thinking about the government response. Being in the jungle has set me free.”
In a recent interview with The Times of India, Das spoke about how “tough” and “emotionally draining” the past last one and a half years have been. “We lost our dog Dr. Watson a few months ago,” he said. “That took a toll and I also went through some tough times. Financial troubles are something that everyone has gone through in the past one year, and I can’t be singled out. Though I kept busy with virtual shows, stand-up comedy is a live show business and I missed it tremendously. The last two years have been such a learning experience that I came out with a renewed perspective on life.”
Earlier this month, in an Instagram post, Das posted a picture of his cupboard showing his minimalist living and shared that he “donated every piece of clothing” he bought in the last decade. He also shared his rule for 2021: “To fill life with and spend unlimited money on: Food, Travel, Music, Books and Shows.”