When was the last time you played with toys or had the best fun playing catch -catch? Sounds like something meant only for kids? 27-year -old noted comedian Sahil Shah doesn't quite agree.
"Playing with toys is the best thing in the world! I don't know why people don't do this more. It's such a great stress buster," he says. In fact, Shah usually gets toys as gifts from family and friends, and he couldn't be happier. "Recently, my mother gifted one of my nephews a really cool toy. When I saw it I got mad at her because I don't know how she didn't think of giving me that one," he says laughing. "My mum just looked at me and said ‘grow up'."
And indeed, his friends do roll their eyes at him and tell him to grow up and be serious sometimes, but Shah is having just too much fun being a kid to pay heed.
"I get along well with kids because I'm at the same mental level as they are. In fact when I get together with my nephews, I'll say ‘potty', and then we will spend ten minutes just laughing about it," he says. Shah clarifies that he is not advising people to shun their adult duties but rather to continue with their responsibilities but also make time for the simple innocent joys in life.
"When was the last time you played catch- catch? It's so joyous. Kids have so much fun. They laugh at the silliest things sometimes. I once saw a baby laughing because someone in front of him was tearing paper! We have forgotten how to laugh at the stupid things" states Shah, who has been in the comedy field for seven years and is part of the noted East India Comedy Group.
"99 percent of the time I am funny. I do have a serious side but I rarely show it," he says. Of course, sometimes this tendency to be funny and act childish does lead to people not taking him seriously.
"Long ago, back in college I used to like this girl and one day I went up and asked her out. She laughed in my face and said, ‘That's so funny!' Ouch!" says Shah chuckling. But Shah points out that he can also use his funny side to his advantage. " If I ask a girl out and she says no, I can just laugh and say I was joking anyway," he says with a evil grin.
While over the years he has done shows all over India and around the world, ‘Childish Behaviour', is his first stand up special and took about six- eight months of planning.
" The show will talk about the fun of growing up. It will have a lot of my personal experiences so at the same time it is very therapeutic," he says, promising one hour filled with lots of goofiness.
So far, he has done about eight shows and the experience has been really good, he says. "There was one show where the uncle in the front row refused to laugh, but I managed to in the end," he says, adding that the man also got a hilarious nickname by the end of the night.
Post the Goa show, Shah will continue to do more shows around India as part of this special. " As part of EIC we have a whole lot of other things planned soon. But personally for me right now this is my whole focus," he says.
(Childish Behaviour, a stand up special by Sahil Shah and organised by The Las Viegas Comedy Club will be held on September 2, 7.30 pm at Entertainment Society of Goa, Panaji)
Because growing up is boring
Comedian Sahil Shah stubbornly refuses to grow up. And he’s determined to get everyone else to embrace their inner child too, in his first stand up special ‘Childish Behavior’
