It'll be a riot

Gear up to laugh to your heart's content at The Indian Laugh Riot, a show that is part of the Singapore Comedy Fringe Festival organised by The Comedy Club Asia.

The Indian Laugh Riot will showcase and feature India's best stand-up comedian Papa CJ along with three up-and-coming comedians from Delhi - Raghav Mandava, Neeti Palta and Varun Grover.

Papa CJ has done over 1,500 shows around the world and has been called the global face of Indian stand-up comedy by Forbes magazine and recognised as one of the most influential comedians around the world by Toastmaster International magazine.

He has represented India on various television channels and set up a charity for underprivileged children in India funded by his comedy shows. He does free shows in hospitals across the world and for the armed forces of India.

Raghav Mandava, who has many sold-out shows to his name and over 200 shows under his belt, is one of the first Western stand-up comedians in Delhi.

He has become a fast-growing brand with a style of comedy that is unapologetic, daring as well as observant about the strange quirks of humanity.

Neeti Palta is one of the few female English stand-up comediennes in India. She was voted the Best Stand Up Comic at the Oz Fest and was India's first stand-up comedian to perform at Melbourne for the prestigious Melbourne Comedy Festival 2013.

Varun Grover writes stand-up comedy for online show Jay Hind and has also written for The Great Indian Comedy Show and Oye! It's Friday. He also wrote the lyrics for Anurag Kashyap's two-part epic Gangs Of Wasseypur in 2012.

The show will be held at the DBS Arts Centre - Home of SRT on April 25 at 9.30pm - and will be hosted by homegrown stand-up comedienne Sharul Channa.

Ms Channa has been touring Asia with the aim of putting Singapore comedy on the world map.

She recently did five shows with the Canvas Laugh Factory in Mumbai and was also part of five sold-out Super Kam all-female stand-up comedy shows in Kuala Lumpur.

On the upcoming Indian Laugh Riot show, she said: "It will be a great showcase of the little India versus big India concept. The comedians from India will be talking about the Indian perspective of Singapore and I will be adding in bits about the Singaporean perspective of Indians throughout my hosting.

"They will also talk about Indian subjects like politics, societal norms in India and personal experiences. Neeti Palta, for example, is one of the few female English stand-up comedians in India and she will be talking about how she gets teased by men on the streets of India."

pgaya@sph.com.sg

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