“I’m a Marwari funding banker from South Bombay.”
Vikram Poddar’s introductory line on our name is sufficient to crack me up. Because the dialog progresses with the 39-year-old, he explains that the style of comedy he specialises in is area of interest — company monetary comedy.
“I all the time get requested why I made the change from funding banking to the comedy house and I’ve my retort prepared,” says Vikram. “If you happen to solely knew of the quantity of comedy that occurs in funding banking, you wouldn’t ask the query.”
However when he traces his steps to the time he switched fields round 2009, he notes that taking over comedy wouldn’t have been potential if he hadn’t labored in funding banking within the first place.
‘I all the time thought I might make a profession in finance’
Vikram grew up in an setting that was all about finance.
“My father was a pioneer in finance and I grew up seeing the Nationwide Inventory Change (NSE) and buying and selling taking place in real-time on a pc. This was in 1994 when the web had not even correctly damaged the market. One finally ends up doing what they develop up seeing and, likewise, I bought into funding banking,” says Vikram.
Nevertheless, in 2009, when he was laid off from a consulting agency and had free time on his palms, he determined to discover his humorous facet.
“I occurred to go to a Toastmasters Membership and that’s the place lots of people instructed me that I had a humorous bone. From then on I started doing impromptu comedy and participating in standups. In 2011, a possibility in contrast to some other offered itself earlier than me,” he says, referring to an open mic contest hosted by celebrated Indian comic Vir Das.
Vikram gained the semi-finals and it was his widespread line ‘Marwari funding banker from South Bombay’ that managed to do the trick. A sequence of open mics on the Canvas Snigger Membership, standups and extra adopted, however whereas venturing into this new territory was thrilling, it was difficult as effectively owing to the competitors, he remembers.
It was in 2014 that Vikram discovered his house within the cacophony of company comedy.
“I joined Weirdass Comedy, a comedy consultancy by Vir Das. He wished somebody who may write jokes that might attraction to a senior viewers and that was the true starting of my profession in comedy,” he says.
A slew of exhibits beneath his belt
Since 2014, he hasn’t seemed again. He has finished a lot of fascinating gigs however there are a couple of that he phrases unforgettable — for example the one he did in April 2015 for Aditya Birla at their International HR convention.
“I used to be instructed that my section was the spotlight of the 3-day convention, which noticed audio system from all around the world. To prime it off, the section was within the afternoon, a time when not many are alert. However the present went so effectively that it was the start of all the things that adopted,” he says.
The identical yr he hosted the ET Startup Awards and was featured on LIVE TV.
“The present was a month and a half after my dad handed away, however it was an enormous alternative. My viewers had the likes of the founders of Snapchat, Flipkart, Snapdeal and many others,” he remembers.
Doing company exhibits the place the viewers is the ‘who’s who’ of the industries can undoubtedly give one a excessive, however Vikram says there’s a sure magic about public exhibits.
He remembers one such incident when he was in Chennai for a company present for HCL Applied sciences. “I requested an area man if I may do a public present and he agreed. Although the quantity I used to be paid was a fraction of that of a personal present, the happiness it gave me was unparalleled,” he says.
On the similar time, although enthralling, comedy has its downsides, Vikram admits. “Comedians have to observe their phrases fastidiously as of late, with comedy in India typically turning controversial.”
“In 2013, I used to be known as to do a present for the LGBTQ neighborhood. I opened with a joke that I assumed was a praise to the neighborhood, however was booed by the gang. Everybody began speaking and nobody was listening to me. Lastly, I wrapped my section with a track by Adele and that bought me a number of cheers,” he says, including that standup comedy is unpredictable. “You by no means know what is going to work and what gained’t.”
However trying again, Vikram is amazed at how the dots linked. “Each time I’m requested the place I see myself within the subsequent 5 years, I reply that I don’t even know the place I’ll be in 5 months.”
An ideal instance of this, he says, is the lockdown.
“There was a lot chaos taking place on the earth. However I ended up touchdown my first digital worldwide company present in April 2020. Then Clubhouse went viral and I bought validation for my poetry,” he notes, including that company comedy could be very completely different at the moment from what it as soon as was.
“However I’ve to confess that I’m given extra respect as a comic than as an funding banker,” he quips, including that what he has learnt from life is that specializing in the algorithm won’t ever deliver one success. “It’s important to hold accumulating talent units and networks and hold modifying your act. Life may be unpredictable however it’s essential to be ready for something and all the things,” he cautions.
“A diversified portfolio method — that you simply use to your funds — is what it’s essential to apply in life too.”
(Edited by Asha Prakash.)
