Share this:
In a tribute to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, each week, I will be introducing comedians who have not made it to the top yet, but have the potential to become brilliant humorists.
Arnab Chanda is a young comedian, born in the UK and raised in the USA and therefore, he has this friendly, joyful American accent, which we French hate.
His comedy acts mixes self-loathing with “intellectual” references. In other words, his humor, while being accessible to everyone, hints that he is educated and not a wannabe-funny-man who will make vulgar and grotesque jokes that we have already guessed the punch line of from the start. He does not get caught in the easy clichés, which is why his gigs are original and he can be considered as an ingenious comedian.
He would like to be perceived as a sarcastic misanthrope who goes though life painfully wondering, day after day, what disappointment is awaiting him, like this from his Facebook page: ” I can’t remember a day when I didn’t wake up not expecting to be screwed or let down.”
I can perfectly picture him waking up in the morning, starting to mourn about life… But with a huge smile on his face. He is not very convincing as a dispirited human being.
Indeed, at 31, he has an appearance which could still attract pedophiles and which is absolutely non-aggressive and shows no traces of suffering and wounds. Look at him! In French we would say : “On lui donnerait le Bon Dieu sans confession” which means he could receive Communion without having to confess to his sins.
Although he plays with the contrast between his looks and what he says, he still has not perceived the latitude of freedom of expression he holds with this polished and innocent face. He is one of the rare humorists who could say the most horrific, disturbing things and still get away with it. When he uses the “F” word in his acts, it does not sound like a bad word; it is as if he were talking about a rare and precious butterfly!
I do have one criticism though (I am French after all): Mr.Chanda, stop driving the family’s Volvo: be less politically correct and be more political! Use this face that we want to pinch the cheek of and provoke us; make us feel uneasy. You are still too smooth… If you leveled your acts up a notch, you could make them incredibly and uncomfortably intelligent! Only then would you have reached your full creative potential.
You can watch Arnab Chandra perform by clicking on this link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpQnRDKBmRs
And here is a list that he made of comedians that we should check out in 2012:
Rory Scovel:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCjDwE9-tyo
Fahim Anwar:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s86P5x-8kgw
Dr. Brown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNM7SWrBFoA
Sarah Kendall: http://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/s/246/sarah_kendall – She is Australian !
Tom McCaffrey:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF5CNoUecjc
HansTeeuwen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI0dGxnVP8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
Bryan Gutmann: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnLfbSy09AM&feature=relmfu
TJ Miller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCO5muBDyLY
Joe Wong: great great joke writer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD0s7gfTotk
Ted Alexandro:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arSH063yDvg
Anthony Jeselnik: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xytT1oWhTu8
Josh Fade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p5k4azCCno
Lachlan Patterson: funny joke writer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEaKlK6gpNA
Benny Boot: another brilliant joke writer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IxnetEAq48