Even as you thought that the race for the best comedy show was between Star and Sony, the real battle was brewing between Hindi and English news channels. The Aaj Taks and India TVs raced ahead and have become synonymous with wholesome humor. The English news channels were groping for direction though, which was definitively provided by one Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai, and ably carried forward by the likes of Arnab Goswami and Barkha Dutt. I have been followingthe latter two recently, and their shows are a blast. Their brand of humor is as different as chalk and cheese, but the effect is undeniable. Thanks to a fortunate coincidence of ad slots and the fact that the two channels are next to one another, I was treated to a non-stop hour of their performance last night, and my stomach still hurts.
Arnab is clearly after a world record. He wants to host a debate where no panelist gets a word in. In fact, he already has the record for not allowing any panelist to complete a single sentence. His acts have me rolling on the floor laughing. Be it his frustration at not getting a straight response or his repeated assertion that India tunes into his show for answers, he is a blast. And I thought he was the definite numero uno until I stumbled upon Barkha Dutt.
Barkha’s humor is more subtle and situational. She patiently lets her guests finish their sentences, and sincerely follows up with a question, which is inevitably the same as her first one, or in the case that it is not, then totally irrelevant to the topic at hand. The poor panelist falls into the trap of repeating his stance, which only encourages Barkha repeat her question one more time. After two or three such rounds, she is bored and moves on to repeat this game with the next panelist. When she is done playing with all the panelists, she returns to the first one and, of course, poses the exact question she had begun the show with. You could see some panelists visibly struggle to kill their sense of déjà vu.
News channels were last on the list of my TV-viewing preference list and God knows I have missed on some fun. It’s time to undo the damage.
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