Funny Business

Ahead of his Netflix special and in the midst of a world tour, Vir Das takes time out to talk about everything from forgetting lines to being trolled

“UNAPOLOGETICALLY INDIAN” is how Vir Das describes his humour. And it’s what he will showcase in his 90-minute Netflix special, which rolls out worldwide this month and puts him in the ranks of comics like Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Jim Gaffigan, and Louis CK. “Hopefully being Indian won’t be the punchline but the perspective. We all basically laugh at the same things—politics, love, sex, breakups,” says Das, on the phone from Atlanta, where he has kickstarted the Boarding Das World Tour, which will see him perform shows in Australia, Belgium, Norway, Singapore, Thailand, South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, Switzerland, and more over the next few months. That he’s the first Indian comic to embark on a tour of this scale informs much of his set—“It’s brand new material about the journey into the next chapter of my life. Netflix is more about what it means to be Indian and how I foresee the world.” He spoke to Bazaar about what life as a stand-up comic has been like.

The last time you forgot your lines on stage?

Every time there’s a pretty girl in the audience who’s not laughing, I tend to fixate on that.