What's so funny Kenny?

It takes hard work to make three generations laugh, stay away from controversy and improvise when many others merely copy. Comedian, musician and writer Kenny Sebastian flips open his gag file and shows us how he does it

- Christalle Fernandes

"It's like I'm screaming inside," says Kenny Sebastian about performing live. The 33-year-old comedian will be doing a lot of screaming over the coming months. His new comedy tour, Professor of Tomfoolery, travels to nine cities starting July. It's his eighth comedy special, over a career that spans 15 years and over 800 shows. "I started comedy in a time where we were just excited to put our ideas out there, not bothering what was going to happen," he recalls. "Now, it's scary that jokes have legal implications."

Those who've followed Sebastian's work know that his brand of humour is simple, but never lazy. His sets poke fun at the quirks of Indian families and the love-hate relationships they share. He started his career with music covers and parodies of movies on YouTube. His #KennySingForMe series, in which he'd ask people to send him random words and he'd turn them into songs, made him an early hit.

He's starred in TV shows such as Die Trying (2018), about two musicians trying to make it big in Bengaluru; and the Netflix musical-comedy The Most Interesting Person in the Room (2020). He also hosts Simple Ken, a podcast about "things he wishes people spoke about more": Self-doubt, toxic positivity, and people-pleasing tendencies. He's writing a music-based comedy show. In short, he's on a roll.

Even at this point in his career, being funny is hard work. An 80-minute live set can take months of prep and weeks of figuring out who's going to laugh. Short-play Reels force jokes to be one-dimensional. Audiences have grown up, but only just. See what it takes to draw laughs and go home happy.

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