Naveen Richard is here with his hilarious stand-up special, Relatively Relatable. Check out our interaction with him about the special, comedy and more before you start binge-watching it!
It has been over two weeks that we've all been in quarantine for safety reasons. And while we're lucky to be in the safety of our homes, there's no shame in admitting how utterly bored out of our minds we are. Before you think this is a pity party, let me tell you that it's quite the opposite. We at Social Ketchup believe that comedy is one of the best and most-effective cures of boredom and it has been keeping us quite entertained as we practice social distancing. Comedians certainly know how to crack someone up and everyone has their own personality. But as they say, comedy is a serious business so when we came across Naveen Richard's stand-up special, Relatively Relatable on Amazon, we knew we had to talk to the comedian about what went into creating this hilarious set.
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Read on to find what Naveen Richard had to tell us about his Amazon special, Relatively Relatable and more:
What is so relatable about 'Relatively Relatable'?
"Pretty much all of it. It's about a lot of everyday things like birthdays, food left in the fridge, using plastic and so on, you know, and it's quite family-friendly. Almost 95%of it is family-friendly so it's not just relatable to millennials in that way."
What was the inspiration behind this set and the famous Charlie Sheen look?
"That's a good one. I was very sure I wanted to go with something old fashioned because a lot of sets sometimes take away from the performer if they're grand and ornate. So I was thinking how do I make sure the attention stays on the performer. I think there's a reason why people used to make curtains back in the day. So that adds a little pattern in the background but the attention still remains on the performer. So, I thought I am going to design this costume which I of course got from Two and a Half Men, you know all these bowling shirts to make sure it was about the performance and nothing else."
Do you think, OTT has helped in promoting standup comedy?
"Oh yeah, hugely. YouTube is still the go-to place but with OTT coming in, people take it more seriously as a serious art form. See, to put a stand-up special on Amazon, you have to produce it, you have to put in a little bit of effort. It's like the movies, the way comedians are in movies. You got to treat the comedians like that, you've got to treat the art and set like that."
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What is the best part of having an hour-long special on an OTT platform?
"It takes some discipline to put together a one-hour thing. Just the fact that it's on OTT again, it kind of legitimizes your effort. You work on a special for two years and you put it on YouTube you don't feel special but when you put it on an OTT platform it's different. The thing about OTT is that not anyone can be on it. There's a process that you have to go through, unlike YouTube. It's great that anyone can be on it but it doesn't feel as special."
What kind of comedy trends are catching up among the comedians? What is your favourite?
"These days there's a lot of talk about politics. But what I would like the audiences to go towards is a slightly alternative comedy, sort of pushing the boundaries. And whether it's offensive or not offensive but challenging the intelligence of the audience by doing something slightly off-beat."
View this post on Instagram“Hello? Why am I holding an imaginary banana to my face?”
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What kind of comedy genre do you like?
"I like to keep it light just like the stuff we grew up on, the stuff from the 90s. I also like kind of alternative humour but I like to keep things positive that way. The feeling that you get from movies we grew up watching like, Jumanji. That's the feeling I am constantly looking for with my comedy."
How do you keep your audience hooked?
"Just draft, practice, writing. Writing is the only thing that can keep the audience hooked. You write over and over again just until you're sure, keep writing a tweaking it till the last moment. Even when you're performing on stage, that's the only reason the audience is staying because a lot of writing has gone into it but you have to make it seem effortless."
Check out the trailer of Relatively Relatable here:
Relatively Relatable is out already, you can watch the full set here.