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Rahul Subramanian recalls a sweet moment from one of his Crowd Work shows last year in San Jose: while talking to the audience, he found that one of them had recently lost their job. But the gathering also had a recruiter. Soon, they both started talking as Rahul mediated the conversation. They exchanged email IDs and agreed to meet after the show.
“It was like a really fun LinkedIn,” laughs Rahul.
Unlike a conventional stand-up comedy show, crowd work allows for such moments because it is unscripted and unrehearsed. In this format, the comedian is supposed to constantly interact with the audience and come up with jokes on the spot. Despite its difficulty, if done well, crowd work, due to its participatory nature, can entertain the audience more than a regular stand-up.
Crowd work has arguably been Rahul’s forte. It is, he says, an extension of his personality. He has always liked talking to people. He has been a prefect at school, cultural secretary in college, and in other activities that involve social interaction.
His new show, aptly named Rahul Talks To People, which starts streaming on Amazon Prime Video on March 30, has him, well, talking to people. He says he is “excited but also mildly nervous” about it. “I don’t think I have put in so much effort into anything as much as I have for this special. So, there is a more emotional investment,” he says.
People familiar with his crowd work videos on YouTube and Instagram will know what to expect from the 52-minute show. “It’s the same format. I talk to people, and the people talk to me. But every conversation in this show will be different from the other. They will have a different topic, involving different people from several cities to avoid monotony,” he says about the show.
Unlike the YouTube videos, which Rahul says are heavily edited, Rahul Talks To People, directed by Rahul’s fellow comedian Biswa Kalyan Rath, will have segments mostly unedited. “We decided not to edit them too much to retain the stories in the conversation. Even if one or two lines weren’t funny, if they added to the story, we kept it.”
Rahul’s been a part of the Indian stand-up comedy circuit since it took off in the early 2010s. A lot, he reckons, has changed ever since. “When I started, there were probably some 50 stand-up comedians throughout the country. I knew most of them personally. But now, many more comedians are extremely popular and talented who I have never even met. That’s how much the industry has grown,” he says.
“When I began, I wasn’t sure if there was a career in it. Now, college kids aspire to get into comedy full-time. The opportunities are more, and the entry barrier is low, but that also means the competition is high. So, it’s easier for someone to get in but tougher to break through.”
Another significant change he observes is the growth of social media over the years. It has become a breeding ground for comedians. Nirmal Pillai, Abhishek Kumar, and Niharika NM are a few names that became popular on Instagram during the pandemic through their Reels. Rahul agrees social media is an important marketing tool for comedians. “The end goal is to make people watch our stand-up shows live. So, whichever platform has the most reach, we will be there. Right now, it’s Reels. If it’s vlogs tomorrow, we’ll do that too.”
The other side of this social media explosion is comedians, to avoid controversies and getting cancelled, are cautious to touch on certain topics — politics and religion, for instance. How does Rahul circumvent this?
“For crowd work, I don’t have this problem because it is basically like talking to someone for the first time. The topics of conversations are more casual. But, generally speaking, a simple yes or no wouldn’t suffice. If you were my best friend, I could have discussed this in-depth in my living room or over a cup of coffee without worrying about any consequences,” he signs off with this evasive yet witty reply.
Rahul Talks To People is streaming on Amazon Prime Video
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