It was a sleepy Sunday morning, a day before , myself and my wife both of us were exhausted driving 850 miles within 23 hours from Manchester CT to Acadia National Park Maine starting at 3:00 AM on Saturday morning and reaching back home at 2:00 AM on Sunday morning.
Sunday morning was sluggish than customary, there was a lingering happy expectation about the day for me as we are going to watch a stand-up comedy show live for the first time. Above all, it was going to be performed by our favorite standup comedian Aravind SA & it was a surprise for my wife’s birthday.
3 to 4 years back during a usual facebook scroll, a 2-minute video got my attention and a guy speaking English with Tamil accent was sarcastically teasing the Hard rock café in Chennai. Interestingly the 2-minute clip made us search for who this guy is? and lead us to few more videos where he made fun of Indian railway reservations, all his humor were so relevant to our age group and they were all funny exaggeration of our day to day life events.
After watching these videos there was a temptation to watch a full video of SA’s show but even after a long web search couldn’t find it anywhere, Thanks to Amazon, finally after a couple of years got a chance to enjoy the full 90-minute video. It was an energetic performance for 90 minutes; each humor was so good. We watched the video many times and whenever we have a get together at our place, I and my wife make sure we introduce the performance to all our guests. Every one so far has enjoyed the content of ‘Madrasi da’ without any complaints. The dialog ‘Such a Mylapore behavior’ we love it from the show & now we use the expression in our day to day life.
After a quick lunch, we drove for an hour to Shrewsburry MAS , on the way it was usual road delays in I 84 E, but we made sure we reach the show on time. It was a surprise for my wife and she doesn’t know where we are heading towards. My wife didn’t bother to ask me where we are going, as long as Jayaraj sir songs or Hindi songs are played she is fine with the drive. After we reached the hall we were welcomed with the board ‘I was not ready da’, that’s when she got to know what the plan is and she was super-duper excited.
We headed straight to the hall and the entrance was closed and SA was testing the acoustics of the hall inside. The crowd was full of young Tamils who were all dressed up fashionably good.
We entered the hall, found our seats, the hall was smaller than we expected so we were close to the stage. Thalaivar’s songs were played and there were countdowns on when the show will start, the audience was on time, that’s again a surprise to us, trust me very few of the Indian shows in the USA begin on time. When the songs ended, a small video clip about Aravind SA was played which was funny and then to the thunderous claps of the audience, SA made his appearance. One of the spectators shouted “Varungala Thamizaga Mudhalvar Aravind SA vazgha”, Aravind started with a response “I have to make jokes here da, not you”, from then on it was a zip through fun ride for 90 minutes.
There were usual SA show’s nuances targeting the audience especially Diwaker and family and the couple on the front row. It’s very tough to make an intellect laugh and its one step tougher to make the one laugh who thinks he is an intellect. Aravind SA definitely does this with ease, there were no down gears in his show, for 90 minutes people have to travel along with him. He didn’t ridicule any individual to make people laugh, it was all good-hearted humor. Our cheeks were in pain laughing continuously. His flow is like a state board student byhearting and reciting the answers so quickly and also, he has the nuances of the CBSE student who could bluff the audience to believe he is making the jokes instantaneously. Towards the end of the show we were hoping the show extends, we wanted the good time to continue.
After the show, we waited for the meet and greet, where we met SA and appreciated him personally to what he has been doing. My wife said him ‘’it was a surprise bday gift for her”, he replied to me “Unna maadri pasanga irukadhu naala dhaan engalukellam kashtam”. Clicked a couple of selfies with him and this show will linger in our mind for a long time.
After the show, we made sure we show off by posting the selfies in insta and FB , to our surprise our insta story was shared in Satired’s insta page and Aravind SA liked our posts.
One could sense the sense of brilliance in his speech and authenticity in Aravind SA’s efforts as there were no repetitive comedies between “Madirasida” and “IWasNotReadyDa”. There is a thin line of difference between adult jokes and vulgar jokes and he stays within the line. May he grow further in his profession and make sure we all laugh out loud. Hoping to catch up his future shows and thanks a lot for making us feel Boston like Chennai.
PS: Never ever go with your parents to his shows and make sure your wife doesn’t get hold of you while laughing for SA’s A jokes.
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