How did you choose this profession?

The practical answer is that my brother, New York-based Author Rakesh Satyal, saw an article in the local paper, Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest, taking place at Go Bananas Comedy Club in Cincinnati.  I entered it and made the semifinals; the next year, I won it.  I was awarded with a week to emcee for a weekend.  In most comedy clubs, there's an MC, a feature, and a headliner.  You start off emceeing.  I never took the week, just considering it something I couldn't do unless I was willing to put 100% into it.  I did very little standup over the course of the next few years.  Then, I broke up with my girlfriend, which left me with all sorts of time on my hands - that's why many new comedians start their sets off with, "So... I just broke up with my girlfriend..."  In total, I did it for four years on the side in Cincinnati whilst working at P&G's world headquarters.  I turned 30, flipped out that I'd lived in Ohio my whole life, got a job at FIJI Water in Los Angeles, and moved to the West Coast.  I worked there for 12 weeks.  I'll never forget what my Mom said after I'd just left two jobs in three months:  "Beta, you cannot keep getting jobs and not doing them."  I took September 2006 to think, feel, sit, meditate, explore, write, poll my friends and family members, and then on October 1, 2006, I declared myself a full-time comedian.  I've been doing it now for almost a dozen years and have never looked back.  

 

The philosophical answer is that I'm fascinated by a profession where you get ahead solely by your own thoughts.  That's amazing, isn't it?  When you see Russell Peters or Dave Chappelle or Amy Schumer or any really huge comic fill an arena, it's incredible.  Most comics are enormous music fans; of course I am because my 18-city 2017 tour, Taking a Stand, focused on music for 90 minutes.  And we are in awe of musicians.  But one thing that separates us is that we're just a man and a mic (or, in more PC terms, a person and a mic - I just like alliteration).  Even a singer/songwriter has a guitar.  We're just standing there, talking for an hour - and all of that came out of our heads.  It's similar to how a baseball pitcher can throw a ball 100 mph.  A tennis player can hit a ball 150 mph, but the player is still using a raquet, just like the singer is using a guitar.  A pitcher is using nothing and just generating that kind of energy from his own body.  That's what we're doing up there - creating something out of nothing.  It's an unbelievably cool profession to me.  (I'm Indian so perhaps I should've used a cricket analogy instead of baseball, but hey.)  

 Have you performed in Boston before?

Yes, but only a few times.  In November 2005, I did 30 minutes, opening for Russell Peters, at the Orpheum.  I'll never forget it because I was sitting stage-left behind the curtains and I felt something run under my feet.  Instantly, I knew what it was.  Seconds later, the huge rat darted onto the stage.  Men yelled and women screamed.  I wish I could remember the joke Russell made, but it was something so fast and so funny that I realized how good a comedian he was (and is).  I co-hosted NetIP's 2008 conference with my friend, Actress Melanie Chandra.  Earlier that same year, I performed at Boston College.  In 2011, I performed for GE, one of eight times I've done so.  I returned to perform at BC, also in 2011, and I did 90 minutes, still one of the longest standup sets I've done.  It was a huge compliment from the amazing audience that, midway through, I told some street jokes (jokes that comedians know we didn't write, like "Three Guys Walk Into a Bar...") and somebody yelled that I should go back to my own material.  I did and got more laughs from my own original material - what a cool feeling of validation.  So, net/net, I can't wait to return to Boston.  I need to get there more.  

 

What are your thoughts on performing at AIF/a charity event?

When I first moved to LA in 2006, I did a 15-minute set for an AIF event.  There were only about 500 people there but it was instrumental in launching my career in Los Angeles.  For years, people came up to me and said, "I saw you at AIF."  It was really the Who's Who of Desis in Southern California.  As such, I can't wait to perform for the Who's Who of Boston.  I don't love the term "movers and shakers," but that's who it is - people who are actually doing something to capitalize on our identity as Indians and Americans - and do something for the good of both countries.  As you may know, I just returned from India, where I toured my latest show, Free Speech Squared.  I did 28 gigs in 28 days.  The message was that I'm a product of the world's two most important democracies.  I love performing for charities, whether that's doing standup, emceeing, or leading the fundraising charge.  I did that for an organization in Memphis, TN, and my contact said to me, "You should have that on your resume - we raised a lot more tonight because you know how to energize people to give."  I took her advice and now I'm ending this interview question with it.