Rahul Subramanian on people avoiding front seats at his shows: Always picked people from behind

Comedian Rahul Subramanian is back with crowdwork special Rahul Talks to People on Prime Video. A crowdwork, a sub-genre of stand up comedy, revolves around the comedian’s interaction with the audience or the crowd. Talking about it with Hindustan Times, Rahul explained, “The jokes and humour are made on the spot, the basis of which we have the conversation. It’s completely spontaneous, and unscripted and the audience is involved in the interaction.” (Also Read | No laughing matter! Comedians at loggerheads over whose joke it really is)

Rahul Talks to People streaming on Prime Video since March 30 in India and worldwide. When asked about the challenges of an organic show, Rahul Subramanian admitted, “It’s tough but also fun. I would say tough because it goes on for an hour. Just because the first fifteen minutes are fun, that doesn’t guarantee that the next 15 minutes will be.”

“There’s no resting period. But when a joke lands in crowdwork, the high is much bigger than a scripted format. Here the comedian doesn’t see it coming. The greatest excitement is to see how my mind works. It’s like everyone wants me to win. Everyone is nervous and is like ‘ab kya bole (what will be next)’. It gets disappointing when jokes don’t work.”

A few sections of social media believe it’s best to not pick seats in the first two rows of Rahul Subramanian’s shows, especially crowdwork. He reacted, “Which is very weird because I don’t pick from the first and second rows. Hardly have spoken to the first-row people. I have picked from behind, always. I can talk to anyone.”

Having performed in India and other countries, Rahul is experienced with domestic and international audiences. Which one is difficult? Without picking sides, the comedian said, “Indians are everywhere hence we can perform anywhere.” Rahul once performed for foreign audience at a Melbourne show. “Most of my audience, 99% of them are Indians…I like performing for them because my sensibility matches theirs. The humour is for desi people,” he explained.

Rahul speaks less of his private life and often leaves fans heartbroken with his marital status. When asked about female fans wondering about his marriage, he opined, “I have no idea. My relationship has never been a secret because, in my first stand-up special, I talk about it, in 2018. Social media is like that only. People are just interested to know everything about you… I will just sit back and read these comments without saying anything.”

Rahul Talks to People is produced by OML and directed by Biswa Kalyan Rath. It is a mashup of varied Crowdwork segments with 6 sets of audiences from 5 different cities–-Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai.