It’s been a week since six Karachi-based comics wrapped up a set of weekend shows, spread roughly over three weeks, and across a wide section of locations in the city, allowing their comedy to be more accessible to fans – or anyone looking for a laugh, really – regardless of where they live.

I want to make the requisite references to comedy on-stage in Pakistan, but hesitate. Yes, there has been a very specific comedic culture in Pakistan, from your bhaands in Punjab to Omer Sharif and Moin Akhtar in Karachi, just your usual, garden-variety phakkar pun. While comedians in Punjab, KP (then-NWFP) and Sindh all found an audience on the state-run TV channel back in the day, catering to their audience in languages they understood, we still can’t draw a comparison.

You’d be tempted to suggest that there was modern standup in the first decade of the new century, which is just a very quaint and slightly misleading way to describe the last two decades.

But if you have been following the new generation of comedians in Pakistan, they still aren’t the same as Saad Haroon, Sami Shah or Faris Shah, who were all varying degrees of funny, but to state it blandly, and mildly, came from a very specific socio-economic class of Pakistanis.

That is to say, while newer, younger comics are educated, have every middle-class privilege there is, their experience is still very different from the kids making you laugh in 2004, and so is their comedy. One is not better than the other. But one is definitely more relatable than the other.

The most recent set of shows the six comics we’re focusing on right now performed were all sold out, and whether or not you believe laughter is the best medicine, spending about an hour just laughing isn’t exactly going to make you feel awful.

I mean, I say an hour, but there were six people telling jokes, with about 12 to 15 minutes per set, and you weren’t going to love all the jokes. Still, 60 minutes out of 90 spent in a state of solid laughter is more than we can manage in our everyday lives, and this is a service we should all be happy to pay for.

That said, while the comics are all very gifted in their own way, they have challenges. Or, to keep it on-brand: #challenges.

Akbar Chaudry, whom we assume is leading the pack trying to level Pakistani stand-up to at least a subcontinental level, says the bottlenecks comedians in Pakistan face are the same as those challenging any other creative pursuit.

“The two main things we face are a lack of industry and the societal judgement of any career that is unorthodox or doesn’t follow a linear trajectory,” he says.

For Akbar Chaudry, regardless, comedy is a worthwhile road to go down because he finds beauty in the truth that is essential to crafting a joke and making it work.

“This would be true of anything else too, but when a joke is true, when it’s based on what we know is the truth, it works. The audience, whether digital or live, will see that and connect with it.”

As well know, it is the jester that often gets away with making fun of the king, but Chaudry points out that not all comedy has to be message-based. Some jokes are just jokes, and if they make you laugh, that’s a job well-done.

“A lot of comedians end up becoming social commentators because when someone tells you a joke, or even acts out a joke, it stays with you longer,” says Usman Mazhar.

The actor, who finds stand-up adds to his skill, also thinks the biggest hurdle in the stand-up comedy path is a lack of venues. With no comedy clubs or slightly more intimate performance venues, comedians have very limited options when it comes to making some kind of semi-regular live connection with their audience as well as income.

“Do I wish there was an industry where hundreds and hundred of comedians could support each other? Sure. But right now, the people I’m working with, die-hard supporters of comedy and each other, are working hard to make comedy accessible to everyone, and that’s good enough for me. And yeah, we could always use sponsorships, not just for live shows, but also for digital content. If any potential sponsors are reading this, please link up with us!” – Hassaan Bin Shaheen

As such, comedians, like a lot of influencers and digital content creators, have their online platforms where they can perform for a much larger audience, as well as monetize their work.

During Covid lockdowns, digital content creation was definitely an industry that boomed, with artists who would otherwise perform live, turning to live sessions on Insta or Facebook to do everything from interviews with celebrities, concerts, and tarot readings.

In this way, comedians today have far better reach than, say, Blackfish in the ‘00s. If you had chanced to see the improv troupe live back in the day, you know they were funny and talented, and had they had the benefit of a digital audience, would have also had the privilege of helping a larger, wider section of their audience develop a taste for that genre of humor.

That said, one of Pakistan’s most legendary actors and comedians, Bushra Ansari, while discussing her love for performance, once said, “jab ‘taali’ se dil lag jaye, tu kisi artist ko uss ke ilawa koi cheez khush nahi karti,”.

So artistically, does a digital audience suffice? Add to that Hassaan Bin Shaheen’s observation of having to do too much to sustain one’s digital presence, and we have to add another vote for creating some kind of structure to support the live comedy industry in Pakistan.

“As a comedian, you want to write a joke and then tell it to your live audience,” says Shaheen. “But because we have to maintain our digital channels, we have to become full-time content creators.

We have to do longform content for YouTube, short-form for Instagram, and that forces us to wear just too many hats just to support our career.

“Do I wish there was an industry where hundreds and hundred of comedians could support each other? Sure. But right now, the people I’m working with, die-hard supporters of comedy and each other, are working hard to make comedy accessible to everyone, and that’s good enough for me. And yeah, we could always use sponsorships, not just for live shows, but also for digital content. If any potential sponsors are reading this, please link up with us!”

Ammar Zaidi, who thinks comedy is essential to the wellbeing of society also is confident that not only can corporate patronage help comedians, comedians can take the company’s messaging to the next level that they should be aspiring to. “Comedian aap ke brand ko chaar chaand laga de ga,” Zaidi says, “but you have to give them creative freedom.”

As anyone who has wor-ked in a creative or creative-adjacent industry would know, any kind of corporate affiliation means the creative will have to cater content to the brand’s sensibilities, and so while there is a lot of money to be made in that area, it might not always be artistically fulfilling.

“A place where there is a system to manage talent and the processes that sustain the industry is where you could reasonably expect comedians to pursue their craft full time. Otherwise you have to have a day job to earn regular money, and oftentimes, the focus will shift to your ‘official’ career, making the comedy suffer, and that is just not ideal,” Syed Kumail Zaidi says. Kumail teaches A-level physics, as well as runs a comedy channel explaining physics on YouTube.

Ali Abdullah is very realistic when he views the potential of a comedic career. “It isn’t just comedy, or art, in our society, khwab dekhna, kuch alag karna, are impulses that are judged and quashed. That to me is the biggest roadblock.

“As for the support we need, we need a culture of entertainment to thrive in Pakistan, so people can develop a taste for something than just eating out for fun. As for building a sustainable life out of comedy alone, I don’t think it can be done, unless you’re doing a lot of corporate gigs.”

As with all creative industries in Pakistan, some of which, like advertising, now have the clientele and structure to actively contribute to the economy and employment, something is still amiss.

For example, advertising as an industry needs more regulation to ensure agencies are treated fairly by clients and employees are treated fairly by agencies. Fashion, with its rich, long history in Pakistan, has made its billions, and everyone fends for themselves, which means new entrants are often left in the cold. Elsewhere in this issue we note in passing how a platform for influencer marketing is assembling creators and trying to create a more future-friendly playing field for all. If something as capricious as that can find its supporters, surely so can the comedy industry. After all, we all need to laugh a lot more.