I Want More & More People to Realise Their Dreams - Arpan Khosla



1. How and when did you choose comedy as a career?

I always was the funny guy in class & wanted to entertain people as well as the teachers all the time. Also, in school, I found out that I had a knack for writing & started writing poems. Writing in general & not particularly comedy happened at first. In college, I used to write street plays, poems & scripts for one-act plays.

Poetry was & still is seen as more of a deep source of writing & not entertaining one. So, I thought if I could combine my funny bone with my deep poetry skills, the result could be a different kind of entertaining & sellable piece of art. I called it Pomedy (Poetry + comedy).

I did 400+ shows where I used to all premise of content as jokes & main content as poetry. In 2018, I also started doing complete stand-up comedy gigs & have never looked back.

2. What type of content do you enjoy producing the most and is the most challenging?

Deep, Dark & Relatable content. I take a lot of content from my mom & my family in general. I love doing corporate jokes, jokes about failing relationships, breakups & mundane life of people in general. I love making dad jokes & have tasted the best success with them.

The most challenging content for me has been a story knitted together as a comedy set. Also, doing sensitive topic jokes is always a challenge.

3. Do you prefer digital as a medium or do you enjoy doing live gigs more and why?

No comic prefers the digital medium with the kids & the dogs crying in the background. But yeah, with online gigs, people from around the world can see you & that feels pretty empowering. I think the online thing will stay after COVID ends. But yeah, live gigs are the thing I love & I’m sure I will be back on a real stage soon.

4. People, who are interested in taking up stand-up comedy as a profession, do they need a funny bone or they can develop one?

Both scenarios are possible. I keep reading books about stand up which make me feel that people who start out late also have a great chance in this industry. You just need to keep practising & honing your skills. There is no point having a funny bone & not practising it every day.

5. How stable is being a stand-up comedian as a profession in India? And what is the future of this profession?

Stable than many other art forms I would say. Depends on how quickly you rise & get people’s recognition for good content. COVID has been tough for all artists & comedians aren’t spared either. But aiming just for virality is a sin. It takes time in years to develop a sellable art form.

So, patience is important. Once you start getting gigs, the pay scale increases gradually. The future of the profession looks great to me & I believe this industry is still in the booming phase in India.

6. What impact do you want to make in this world? 

Create great content, bring smiles & keep people entertained. I want more & more people to realize their dreams & realize their utmost potential.

7. Which is your favourite book and why?

Zero to One by Peter Thiel. I read it & in there was a line “If you are just doing your job for the sake of it, leave it”. I left my job the next day.

Interview By - Benil Joseph