Improv comedy group from Bengaluru turns 10; 4 shows to mark the milestone

An improv comedy group from Bengaluru is marking its 10th anniversary with four shows this week.

Unlike standup where artistes deliver rehearsed lines, improv involves coming up with witty jokes on the spot based on prompts from the audience. Saad Khan, Danish Sait, Darius Sunawala and Anil Abraham from The Improv group will perform in the anniversary shows.

Saad says it was their group that had introduced improvisational or improv comedy to Bengaluru in 2013. “Back then standup comedy was just getting off the ground and nobody had even heard of improv comedy. People would call me up and say ‘I want to watch ‘improve’ shows’. Or, ‘I want to enrol my child in your personality development classes’. They thought I was teaching public speaking,” Saad says.

It was Saad’s idea to bring improv comedy to Bengaluru, something he had seen and performed in New York. Given his background in theatre and films, he was able to rope in artistes to form a group soon.

With time, their audience grew from 150 to 1,000. They copyrighted their show format. In 2015, they got to meet and interact with Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood of ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ fame on their tour to India — “A big day,” Saad recalls. In 2016, the group was selected for the Sweden International Improv Festival. Two years later, they were chosen as marquee performers for a popular pan-India tour. Comedy talents like Danish Sait, Sumukhi Suresh, Kenneth Sebastian, and Shraddha Jain started at The Improv, Saad says with pride.

“Danish came to watch our show in 2014. He expressed his interest to join us. The first character he performed at the trials was Nograj (a narcissistic politician, on whom Saad and Danish would later base their Kannada film ‘Humble Politician Nograj’). He was on fire! Darius (an audio professional) had won many JAM (Just a minute) non-stop speaking competitions in college. He was nervous initially but came around,” Saad reveals.

Danish, popular for his Instagram sketches as Rammurthy Avre and Jaya Didi, says his life is “one big improv”. “Even before I joined The Improv, I used to do prank calls as a radio jockey. That called for improvisation,” he says.

While Saad, Danish and Darius have been core members of The Improv for long, Anil is relatively new on the roster. A dermatologist and theatre artiste, he says improv has taught him the importance of active listening, spontaneity, teamwork, and optimism.

“Once Saad asked the audience about the most unusual thing they had found in a woman’s handbag. Dildo, one said. There was silence. But Saad and Darius have taught us to not be afraid of silence. If you look flustered, the audience knows you are in a bad situation and it works for the comedy,” he says.

Saad considers the audience as collaborators and together, they have delivered big laughs. Once they asked why couples fight and one remarked ‘Do they need a reason?’ Another time, a ‘Give me an occupation’ query fetched the response ‘Housewife’.

On December 13 and 14, 6.30 pm and 8.30 pm, at Mother Tekla Auditorium, Ashok Nagar. Tickets online.