Urooj Ashfaq
| Photograph Credit score: Particular association
Urooj Ashfaq is on cloud 9. It has been a few week since this Mumbai-based humorist received the Greatest Newcomer Award for her present ‘Oh No!’ on the Edinburgh Fringe Pageant. “The information has lastly sunk in!” exclaims the 28-year-old over a name from Rome. “The award is an encouragement to do higher,” she provides.
The primary India-based comic to win the award in its 40-year historical past and the primary comic of South Asian origin to win it since 1997, Urooj’s jokes draw on her private tales and experiences. In Oh No!, a 60-minute taboo-breaking act produced by Soho Theatre in affiliation with OML, she displays on cultural variations, her experiences with remedy and her mother and father’ divorce.
with the Greatest Newcomer award
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular association
Born in Dubai, Urooj shifted to Mumbai on the age of 12. She found open mics in Jai Hind school at Canvas Chortle Membership in Mumbai and did her first open mic in 2016. On that day, she joked about how regardless that Halley’s Comet got here again, she didn’t get a reply from a boy ! “My jokes had been too lame,” she laughs including, “I cringe pondering of these jokes however everyone’s first joke sucks, so it’s high-quality.”
It’s this self-deprecating humour and optimistic angle that has helped her carve a distinct segment for herself on the comedy circuit. For somebody who cherished jokes in any medium, standup comedy appeared a brand new ‘cool‘ factor to aim. “I believed I used to be humorous and tried it out,” recollects Urooj whose preliminary themes too had been on her private life with its bitter-sweet tales and experiences. “I didn’t know find out how to have interaction folks for an hour,” recollects Urooj, who honed her expertise by way of open-mic periods and has accomplished round 200 performances a 12 months (open mics and solo exhibits in India). In her earlier quick movies on YouTube, the narrative focussed on her remedy and childhood, the place she additionally learn out traces from her diary.
On the spot join
The tales evoked laughter because the viewers discovered an immediate connection. Urooj feels when feelings are conveyed in the proper manner, they discover their method to folks. She explains her method, “It doesn’t matter should you say ‘you go for remedy, since you really feel unhappy’; the viewers empathises as they too have been by way of it, however once you make it sound humorous, they’re hooked.”
Writing a joke, attempting them out at open-mics, making edits based mostly on suggestions and attempting them once more is a part of her artistic course of.
Whereas a few of her favorite comics embody Sarah Silverman, James Acaster and Bridget Christie, she finds reside gigs extra attention-grabbing than on-line periods. “It’s tiring and annoying to place stuff on-line as one has to maintain up with the demand,” she says. Ultimately, its suggestions too is predicated on many components. “Stand-up comedy content material can’t be generated as quick as different content material might be. One can shortly make a video of what one’s dad or mother sells however one joke turns good solely after engaged on it a number of instances, however on-line, you may’t enhance it as it’s important to generate new content material shortly.”
Like most comics, she has skilled days of ‘killing’ and ‘bombing’ (when the exhibits do properly or poorly ) in equal measure. “The onerous work that comedians put in is to get on stage even once they have had a foul night and even weeks. Public talking and humiliation are nice fears however that’s one thing one has to get previous to say: ‘I’ll nonetheless do that, attempt to make this joke higher’ and that’s what everyone does.”
With plans to carry out Oh No! in Delhi on September 30 and Soho Theatre in London (October 30-November4), Urooj hopes to experiment and broaden her horizon. “I would make some errors however that’s okay as that’s half and parcel of the method.”