New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is putting his oratory skills to a new test. No, not in Parliament or at party rally/protest, but on a platform completely alien to politicians — a stand-up comedy show.
Tharoor features in the line up of the new comedy show, One Mic Stand, which also has actors Taapsee Pannu and Richa Chadha, artiste Vishal Dadlani and YouTuber Bhuvan Bam.
The show format appears to be a little similar to Comicstaan, which had comedian mentors. The new show will have stand up comics Kunal Kamra, Ashish Shakya, Rohan Joshi, Zakir Khan and Angad Singh Ranyal as mentors. An Amazon Prime Original, it is set to premiere on 15 November
What makes One Mic Stand unique is the fact that it includes celebrities who aren’t comedians, much less a politician. This will also be the first time an active politician and sitting member of Parliament stars in an entertainment show.
5 comics mentor 5 celebs, you either laugh at their jokes or you laugh at them trying! win-win ? #OneMicStand pic.twitter.com/H5vuvgr94X
— amazon prime video IN (@PrimeVideoIN) November 6, 2019
One Mic Stand will have five episodes in which each celebrity participant is paired with a mentor and will perform a stand-up piece to a live audience. The show will be hosted by comedian Sapan Verma.
Amazon said the celebrity-mentor pairings will be: Tharoor with Kamra, Pannu with Ranyal, Chadha with Shakya, Dadlani with Joshi and Bam with Khan. The mentors have been matched to their proteges keeping “ideologies and personal backgrounds in mind”.
A published author, Tharoor is known for his vast vocabulary, which he combines with quick wit and erudite statements. He isn’t new to shows by streaming services either. He earlier appeared on Netflix’s Patriot Act and was interviewed by Hasan Minhaj, whose claim to fame was his 2017 roast of US President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Among other things, the Peabody award-winning comic had tested Tharoor on his knowledge of millennial vocabulary.
The Congress leader is also a hit on Twitter, not just for his occasional quips directed at the ruling BJP party and its leaders, but for using words like ‘webaqoof’ and ‘farrago’ while doing so.
Word of the day!
Definition of *snollygoster*
US dialect: a shrewd, unprincipled politician
First Known Use: 1845
Most recent use: 26/7/17— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 27, 2017
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