There and Back Again

You’re walking in a jungle, and you meet a lion. What time is it? It’s time to run.” That’s Vir Das’s earliest memory of a joke.

- Suhani Singh

He was 8, watching a senior’s speech at a school debate, and wasn’t impressed. His assessment: “The joke is wrong. If you run into a lion, it’s time to die.”

Twenty-nine years later, the boy who didn’t laugh is the first stand-up comedian from India to get a Netflix special, joining an esteemed legion that includes Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart. Das is conscious of the prestige platform. “They say that in comedy it takes 15 years to find your voice. I am a rank newcomer on the world circuit,” says Das, who has been at it for nine-and-a-half years. “There’s no wisdom or perspective to be expected from a guy like me. I am just figuring s*** out.”