Stand-up Comedy is a booming business after the emergence of social media and online culture. Indian stand-up comedy rose to fame in the past decade and has become very popular among young and old. Several laugh clubs have opened to serve the purpose across the country. A stand-up comedy video takes no time to go viral on Youtube, Twitter, or Instagram if it reaches the right audience.
A stand-up comedian and their comedy videos are loved by all and why not? They provide us with the best medicine, that is laughter. There are many stand-up comedians in India, some of them are so popular that one can easily recognize them by just their names, and they have really huge fan base.
Here we have listed the 10 Best Stand-up comedians of India whom you can follow on various social media platforms to have a hearty dose of laughter:
Indian Comedians List In Brief:
- Abhishek Upmanyu
- Anubhav Singh Bassi
- Abish Mathew
- Zakir Khan
- Aditi Mittal
- Appurv Gupta
- Atul Khatri
- Kanan Gill
- Kenny Sebastian
- Kunal Kamra
1. Abhishek Upmanyu
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Background story before taking up Stand-up Comedy?
The 31-year-old (as of 2022) is one of the best and most popular stand-up comedians in India. Abhishek is a chemical engineer who completed his BE in Chemical engineering from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and worked in a few private companies in Delhi after his graduation. He worked as a research analyst in HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd and Grail Research.
How did he take up Stand-up Comedy?
He left his job in 2013 and joined ‘On Air with AIB’ as a writer in 2015 as he wanted to pursue stand-up comedy as his career. He uploaded his first video on Youtube in 2016 titled Indian Insults and comebacks.
Achievements
He gained immense popularity after his Comedy shows, Thoda saaf Bol, and Jealous of Sabjiwala. His USP is relatability, his target audience has been India’s large population of engineers. He talks about common topics like discrimination, Breakups, respecting elders, etc which people can easily relate to. Abhishek has millions of subscribers on Youtube who wait eagerly for his comedy videos.
Abhishek Upmanyu Youtube
The Indian stand-up comedian Abhishek has 3.97 million subscribers on Youtube as of 2022. His videos get millions of views in no time.
Check out his most popular Youtube video:
Click Here For Abhishek Upmanyu’s Instagram Account
2. Anubhav Singh Bassi
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Background story before taking up Stand-up Comedy?
Anubhav Singh Bassi, the 31-year-old Indian stand-up comedian has a BA LLB degree and he graduated from NLU-Lucknow. Before entering into stand-up comedy, Bassi was a UPSC aspirant and an entrepreneur.
How did he take up Stand-up Comedy?
Bassi recalls his entering into the Stand-up comedy business as a coincidence. At the Canvas Laugh Club, he tried his luck at an open mic in 2017. His set was loved by the audience and the organizers contacted him to do another at a following open mic event. Since then, there has been no looking back. Bassi has been a performer since childhood, and he prefers live shows to internet videos.
Achievements
He is a Youtube sensation, his first video on Youtube ‘Cheating’ went viral and gained millions of views a day. Bassi did a cameo in Zee5’s Comedy Couple and also did a monologue for Amazon Funnies. He did his comedy show tour in more than 35 cities in India, known as Bas Kar Bassi. Golden Glory Awards (2021) awarded him the ‘Youth Icon of the Year’ award. He also delivered a TED talk.
Anubhav Singh Bassi Youtube
The Indian stand-up comedian Anubhav has 3.49 million subscribers on Youtube as of March 2022.
Check out his most popular Youtube video:
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3. Abish Mathew
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Background story before taking up Stand-up Comedy?
Abish is from Kerala, he did his schooling at Fr. Agnel School, New Delhi, and did his graduation in History at Ram Lal Anand College from the University of Delhi. Before becoming a stand-up comedian, Abish used to work as a radio jockey on Red FM.
How did he take up Stand-up Comedy?
He is known for his work in All India Bakchod(AIB) and for his popular talk show named “Son Of Abish” where he hosted a number of stars and other stand-up comedians. He was also a host in Comicstaan. In his comedy shows he talks about living in Mumbai, married life, and life as a Christian.
Achievements
Abish has a prolific presence on Youtube for his comedy series ‘Journey of a Joke’ apart from Son of Abish. He also released Whoop with Amazon Prime Video in 2018. He served as host on both seasons of Comicstaan.
Abish Mathew Youtube
The Indian stand-up comedian Abish has 1.08 million subscribers on Youtube as of March 2022.
Check out his most popular Youtube video:
Check Out Abish Mathew’s Instagram Account
4. Zakir Khan
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Background story before taking up Stand-up Comedy?
Zakir Khan is originally from Rajasthan, though he spent most of his adult life in Delhi. He comes from an artistic background and has supportive parents. He is a college dropout and is a diploma holder in Sitar. He wanted to be a music teacher if not a stand-up comedian.
How did he take up Stand-up Comedy?
Zakir Khan won the comedy competition ‘India’s Best Stand Up’ by Comedy Central in 2012 which brought him to the limelight. He eventually started performing in many stand-up comedy shows and also produced some radio shows.
Achievements
in NDTV Prime’s ‘The Rising Stars of Comedy’ television show, his comedy style was well received by the audience. “Sakht Launda” is his punchline which got very popular among audiences.
With Sorabh Pant and Gursimran Kamba from the Indian comedy group All India Bakchod, Khan wrote and co-hosted ‘On Air with AIB’.
For the fifth season of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, he was one of the mentors on the show besides Mallika Dua and Hussain Dalal in the year 2017. He worked in an Amazon Prime special ‘Haq Se Single’. In the Amazon Prime web series, ‘Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare’, he played the protagonist. He also co-hosted the 5th Annual Golden Kela Awards.
In Amazon Prime’s Comicstaan Season 2, Zakir also appeared as one of the judges where he mentored the contestants in a genre of comedy. Alongside Bhuvan Bam, Zakir was also seen recently in Amazon Prime’s One Mic Stand Season 1.
Zakir Khan Youtube
The Indian stand-up comedian Zakir Khan has 6.95 million subscribers on Youtube as of March 2022. His popular acts include: When I met a Delhi Girl, What happens when you fail in an exam! and Life Mein Chahiye Izzat.
Check out his most popular Youtube video:
Zakir Khan’s Instagram Account Is Here!
5. Aditi Mittal
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How did she take up Stand-up Comedy?
Aditi can be counted on the list as one of the first women to take up stand-up comedy as a career in India. She is known for her Indian English stand-up comedy. Presently she is a regular at Comedy Store Mumbai, Canvas Laugh Factory, and all across the country, she has performed at places and humor festivals. Aditi also performed internationally at clubs in the UK and at Laugh Factory, Los Angeles. Her jokes include various cultural issues and women’s problems in India.
Achievements
Mittal’s articles and columns have been published in DNA, Firstpost.com, Grazia Men magazine, and Financial Times. She was named by CNNIBN.com as one of the top 30 “witty, intelligent, and incredibly fun” Indian women to follow on Twitter. Times of India rated Mittal amongst India’s top 10 stand-up comedians.
The BBC for the prestigious 100 Women Conference in London sent her an invitation in 2013 and 2014. Mittal has been featured in the American documentary Stand-Up Plane Along with South African and American comics.
BBC World and BBC America featured Mittal among “India’s trailblazers”, and she also appeared on BBC Asia along with RJ Niha. She was one of the founding members of two of the biggest parody award shows, Ghanta Awards, and the Filmfail Awards, in India. She was a part of the AIB (All India Bakchod) Knockout Roast pane. She also appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4’s show ‘The Now Show’.
Aditi Mittal Youtube
The female stand-up comedian India, Aditi Mittal has 242K subscribers on Youtube as of March 2022.
Check out her most popular Youtube video:
Follow Aditi Mittal On Instagram Here!
6. Appurv Gupta
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Background story before taking up Stand-up Comedy?
The Indian stand-up comedian and Youtuber, Appurv Gupta is a Delhi guy who completed his engineering at Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida.
How did he take up Stand-up Comedy?
After his graduation, Gupta started performing at the Toastmasters Club. Since then, he has performed in more than 1000 shows in India and abroad. He also participates in corporate performances for brands like Tanishq, Airtel, Adobe, Radio Mirchi, Amex, and several IITs.
Achievements
Three solo shows written by him gained over 10 million views on social media (RelationShip Or RelationShit, Appurview, and Laugh with an Engineer 2.0). His web series “Mudde Ki baat” covered topics such as cricket, startups in India, Bollywood, and Chetan Bhagat
Gupta claimed the second rank in the “Top 20 Indian stand-up comedians in 2014” by CNN-IBN and was also present in the Forbes India 100 Celebrity nominees list of 2015 by Forbes India. Some of his best acts include GuptaJi Ki Aeroplane Wali Journey, Micromax & Patli Pin wala charger, and Apple.
Appurv Gupta Youtube
The Indian stand-up comedian Appurv Gupta aka Guptaji has 504k subscribers on Youtube as of March 2022.
Check out his most popular Youtube video:
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7. Atul Khatri
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Background story before taking up Stand-up Comedy?
Atul Khatri completed his BE from TSEC, University of Mumbai. He also attended Manchester Business School in Manchester, England to pursue Business Administration. He joined his family business after graduation as the Chief Executive Officer.
How did he get into Stand-up Comedy?
Khatri took to stand-up comedy at the age of 43, he wanted to take up something new so he started posting jokes on Facebook and decided to explore the field of stand-up comedy. He also tried courses on bartending and disc jockey.
Achievements
FremantleMedia awarded him the “CEO’s Got Talent”. He has done many Youtube videos, TV Ads, and over 400 comedy shows. He also performs at the Canvas Laugh Factory, The Comedy Store, and East India Comedy. At the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Khatri was among the three finalists.
Atul Khatri Youtube
The Indian stand-up comedian Atul Khatri has 326k subscribers on Youtube as of 2022. Popular stand up comedy acts: ‘Atul Khatri on the Justin Bieber Concert’ and ‘When your child turns 18′
Check out his most popular Youtube video:
Atul Khatri’s Instagram Channel Is Here!
8. Kanan Gill
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Background story before taking up Stand-up Comedy?
Kanan completed his B.E. in Computer Science. Before taking up stand-up comedy he used to write funny songs and perform in a band as a lead singer. Kanan also worked for three years as a software engineer at a company named Exeter Group Inc.
How did he take up Stand-up Comedy?
Besides working, he participated and won in competitions like ‘Punchline Bangalore’ and Comedy Store in Mumbai. He then decided to become a full-time stand-up comedian.
Achievements
His YouTube series ‘Pretentious Movie Reviews’ went viral which made him very popular. He was accompanied by Biswa Kalyan Rath in reviewing the movies. He also worked in a comedy show, ‘The Living Room’ on Comedy Central. With the movie Noor, Gill made his acting debut with Sonakshi Sinha as a co-actor in 2017. Gill launched a show on the Amazon Prime Video, ‘Keep It Real’. Gill’s special ‘Yours Sincerely’ was released on Netflix in 2020.
Kanan Gill Youtube
The Indian comic artist Kanan Gill has 780k subscribers on Youtube as of March 2022.
Check out his most popular Youtube video:
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9. Kenny Sebastian
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Background story before taking up Stand-up Comedy?
Kenny pursued a degree in Visual Arts from the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath. On 16th January 2022, in Goa, Kenny got married to his longtime partner, Tracy Viegas. Kenny gained popularity initially by making songs from tweets, popularly known as #KennySing4Me.
How did he take up Stand-up Comedy?
He took up stand-up comedy after he created an improvised sketch show, ‘The Living Room’ for Comedy Central which gained him a lot of audiences. Then there was no looking back.
Achievements
He also acted and co-wrote a web series ‘Star Boyz’. He also acted and did a cameo in the web series, Pushpavalli, and ‘Better Life Foundation’. With other Indian comedians, Kanan Gill, Abish Mathew, and Kaneez Surka he was featured in ‘The Improvisers: Something From Nothing’. He also worked with Kanan Gill in the Amazon Prime Video show, ‘Sketchy Behaviour’. Kenny also has two stand-up specials one each on Netflix and Amazon Prime. He is also a judge at Comicstaan on Amazon Prime Video. Not surprising to know Kenny also has a podcast on Youtube titled ‘Simple Ken’.
Kenny Sebastian Youtube
The Indian comic artist Kenny Sebastian has 2.17 million subscribers on Youtube as of 2022. Popular acts: Middle-class restaurant problems & Indian Parents, OCD, and Electricity at Home
Check out his most popular Youtube video:
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10. Kunal Kamra
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Background story before taking up Stand-up Comedy?
Kamra hails from Mumbai, he pursued Commerce from Jai Hind College. But in his second year, he dropped out and started to work as a production assistant in an ad film production house for eleven years.
How did he take up Stand-up Comedy?
He did a gig in Mumbai at the Canvas Laugh Club and started performing as a stand-up comedian in 2013. In 2017 one of the clips of his gigs was uploaded on Youtube, and he started getting death threats for his satirical take on Indian hyper-nationalism.
Achievements
Kunal started his web series titled ‘Shut Up Ya Kunal’ with Ramit Verma in July 2017 where some of his guests were Javed Akhtar, Arvind Kejriwal, Asaduddin Owaisi, and Ravish Kumar. His best performances include jokes on bachelor life, cabbies, and ridiculous TV advertisements.
On Youtube, he released a comedy video titled “Patriotism and the Government” in 2017 where he mocked the government, Indian banknote demonetization, and the attitude of Indians towards the army. It is widely known that he received death threats after this piece. If you didn’t know he had to face the court on more than one occasion.
Kunal Kamra Youtube
The Indian comic artist Kunal Kamra has 2 million subscribers on Youtube as of March 2022.
Check out his most popular Youtube video:
