Bringing laughter to the region

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Photo by Andreas Parrsiaouros
Photo by Andreas Parrsiaouros

You havenโ€™t known the true meaning of difficult until you have tried to write stand-up comedy.

The mere idea of telling a homemade joke in front of an audience would scare some people half to death. However, for third-year economics student Sohail Chatur, writing comedy is nothing out of the ordinary.

โ€œIโ€™ve always enjoyed watching stand-up comedy,โ€ said Chatur.

โ€œOne day, though, I realized that it wasnโ€™t enough for me just to watch it.โ€

Drawing inspiration from comedians such as Ed Byrne, Russell Peters and Chris Rock, Chatur decided to try his hand at writing. He frequented the Yuk Yukโ€™s comedy clubs in Toronto and Kitchener to learn the tricks of the trade.

โ€œMy first ever performance on amateur night I got laughs, but then the second time was absolute silence for five minutes,โ€ he said.

According to Chatur, the difficulty of writing something that will get a good crowd reaction is more organic than formulaic.

โ€œJokes will come to me in all different forms. Sometimes something funny will pop up in the middle of a conversation, sometimes it will come to me when Iโ€™m about to fall asleep and a lot of the time it is just my personal experiences,โ€ he said.

Most amateur stand-up comedians are given a five-minute set at local comedy clubs, which Chatur said is more than enough time to tell six to seven jokes.

He continued that the key to a short set is to โ€œhave multiple jokes and punchlines to keep the audience laughing the whole time, instead of just once at the end.โ€

Chatur, on top of performing started his own company in July โ€” Crooked Sword Comedy โ€” that aims to bring more comedy outlets to the Kitchener-Waterloo area.

Crooked Sword Comedy gives amateurs a place to practice their material and hone in on their skills. They also bring out semi-professional and professional comedians for performances.

โ€œTo get started I basically made a list of venues and started making calls and sending e-mailsโ€ said Chatur.

Churchill Arms, a local pub, saw the potential and now hosts Crooked Sword Comedy nights on Wednesdays. On top of that, Molly Bloomโ€™s in Kitchener reached out to Chatur to host a comedy night.

The need for live comedy in K-W is evident from the feedback Chatur has been getting, and he said this need is something he always wanted for the area.


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