Cyrus Broacha at Kala Mandir livening up the Saturday show with some rib-ticklers. Pictures: Arnab Mondal

Sitting across funnyman Cyrus Broacha is no joke. Gearing up for Kalkutta Komedians with Cyrus Broacha, in association with t2, at Kala Mandir, the political-satirist let it rip at The Park well before the evening show on Saturday.

Being Cyrus Broacha: Ummm, I have no idea about that. I am just running away from my wife (Ayesha). At the moment she thinks I have gone to work, she still doesn’t know that I don’t have a job!

Shah Rukh-Salman hug: I think this should be front-page news, instead of some 80 people dying in Spain at the same time! And Mahesh Bhatt, the great philosopher — he’s the fourth great Greek after Aristotle, Socrates and Plato — clearly pointed out, very succinctly, that India should take this as a lovely moment for all of us to hug each other. I am a little disappointed. I was hoping that they (SRK-Salman) would keep fighting. I don’t think they are friends. I heard Salman was trying to get a shammi kebab from behind Shah Rukh and the picture happened.

The royal baby: There was an Indian doctor involved, Sunit Godambe from Mumbai’s Nair Hospital, a place you can’t go to even if you are dead. It didn’t affect me so much since I didn’t get a call from them to attend the naming ceremony. (Any suggestions for the name?) Jairam? I also like the name Raouf (Gangjee of Kalkutta Komedians), who has by the way a lovely name since my German shepherd makes the same sound (‘rouf’!) every morning. He’s the one who has brought us together in Calcutta. I am going to write to Princess Kate and Prince William, Raouf is our decision.

Ranbir-Katrina affair: Yeah, I can’t sleep at night. I can’t believe this is true. I personally believe we should stop the country for three days and talk this out — are they having an affair or not? Isn’t Katrina an old lady by now? What is she now? 50? She’s been around for a long time. I always thought that she was seeing Salman, but my newspapers don’t come that regularly. So Salman is seeing Shah Rukh now?

After your books Karl, Aaj Aur Kal and The Average Indian Male: I have to give a third book by October. I need to tell Random House that it is not possible. I keep bargaining about the dates, since I forget about writing and then they send me nasty letters. It becomes exactly like school where people don’t study till they have exactly three days left for exams.

Movies in the pipeline: Adult erotic films, but can’t find a cast to play along. If not, then Calcutta. I heard Rohit Roy is shooting here for a film, his fourth apparently, and I just met him at the gym preparing for his role and he told me that, “I do Bengali cinema, because in every film I get not one leading lady, but two.”

Your fitness regimen: Fitness?! I do go to the gym regularly but when I tell people that, they laugh, like you are doing right now. I lift quite heavy weights, but unfortunately no one believes me. Yet I spend a lot of time there since I feel the dumb-bells there are more affectionate.

The city with a funny bone: It’s not in India. Maybe Sicily or some other distant place. India now is a bit scary actually since there is no right to freedom of speech here.

Coming to Calcutta: From my experience, Cal has always been a very positive place to come to, a city that gives back. It’s easy to perform here and Calcuttans have a very strong opinion. Calcuttans like to talk so it’s always fun for us since my shows have a lot of interactive stuff. I don’t plan anything and I try not to work since I am very lazy. The first rule of comedy should be, you must be very lazy. Whoever works should be immediately removed.

The best interview you have taken: I think Bill Clinton was fun, as I was really scared that it would go bad and he would go laughing on my face. Then Richard Gere was quite scary also because I was standing on his foot by mistake. I remember saying when going to interview him, “I am a big fan of yours....” He just said, “That’s all very well. But will you please get off my foot.”

Amongst Indian celebrities Shah Rukh is a great one to interview. He’s a brilliant TV anchor, a people person and enjoys talking. Amitabh Bachchan, a very very erudite man, he knows how to handle us.

Amongst the younger generation I like Ranbir. They are very sharp, they don’t make a mistake. Though I do miss some of the older guys.

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Saturday evening was a laugh riot as the packed audience rolled all over Kala Mandir to catch funny man Cyrus Broacha with Kalkutta Komedians in association with t2. People kept pouring in even after the show had started to catch the ‘Baap of Bakra’ in action.

But wait, was it him? A desk with an old lamp on stage, and a really old man with a funny wig. Name? Arnab Sardesai. Cyrus was definitely in his elements with his Parsee anecdotes, funny Hindi, daily bulletins and the well-loved interviews along with his three golden rules for any show which are best kept a secret for just the show-goers.

The English stand-up comedian proved to be quite a taskmaster as well as he had the couples in the audience ducking for cover, hounding them with his ‘test of Devanagari script’. With prizes like pencil sharpeners and baby rattles to be won, who could possibly give it a miss?

Playing the prelude to the man’s entrance were the Kalkutta Komedians, Vaibhav Sethia, an ‘IIT-ian by degree and a comedian by heart’, first-timer Biraj Choudhury and engineer Anirban Dasgupta with a strong south Indian connect (read, his better half). Bangalore boy Akshay BD, a lawyer by profession, was a surprise package with his fresh takes and caricatures. And then there was Raouf Gangjee, who played MC but did manage to toss a few ticklers at the crowd.

The best medicine?

“I am really happy to see a full house for a comedy show in Calcutta. I believe we should have more shows like this. People need to laugh more often” — Pallavi, actress.

“We came in a really big group to catch Cyrus live and enjoyed ourselves a lot. I especially enjoyed the joke on Punjabi women, even though I am a Punjabi myself” —

Ritu Dhingra, homemaker.

“We came in a really big group to catch Cyrus live and enjoyed ourselves a lot. I especially enjoyed the joke on Punjabi women, even though I am a Punjabi myself” —

Ritu Dhingra, homemaker.

“It was a welcome change from the regular hang-out at pubs with friends on a Saturday night. I really liked Akshay BD and Vaibhav Sethia” — Ranadeep Basu of Dream Show Experience.

“It was a great show, a complete riot. The best thing was that the topics were extremely relatable, right from politics and cricket to daily news. We definitely need more such shows” —

Pallavi Kejriwal, homemaker.

“Calcutta needs stuff like this. I remember Cyrus the best because of MTV Bakra and it was great to watch him live” — Vikram Roy, working with a beverage company.

“The first reaction? He’s bigger and broader in person than on TV (laughs). I loved Cyrus’s audience interactions. I also loved Akshay BD’s style” — Nandini D.P. Sarkar, communication and fund raising officer at Iswar Sankalpa.