It’s well past midnight on a nippy December night. You would expect Kolkatans to be comfortably snuggled up in their blankets, sleeping blissfully. What you would not expect is them turning up in large numbers to watch stand-up comedy.
A cafe in New Town has been treating people to laughs till the wee hours of the night for the past three years. Kolkata-based comedian Abhinav Tewary first chanced upon Throttle Shrottle near Akankha More in New Town in 2019 while looking for new places in the city to host live comedy.
“Back in September 2019, I discovered this cafe for bikers, which was open 24x7. I told the owners about the art form of stand-up comedy, and how we were trying to create a scene for it in Kolkata. Throttle Shrottle was very welcoming and supportive of the concept and we started doing shows there.”
Initially, the shows were held around 9pm, but the audience footfall made the comedians take a decision that no one had done before in Kolkata’s gig economy. “The owners told us that the real crowd only comes after 11pm. Back then, we were all budding comics with just a few years of experience, and the prospect of doing stand-up at 1am seemed very exciting.”
Tewary has been doing stand-up for six years now and has performed across the country. Yet, he swears that there is no room quite like Throttle Shrottle. “We generally start at 1am, but on some days, we have even started at 2am and wrapped up at 4am!”
Tewary admits his surprise at how receptive the audience is, given that it mostly comprises people who are there to chill, rather than eat. “The crowd is engaged in adda as most of them either sleep late or just want to meet their friends on a Saturday night. A lot of bike and car enthusiasts stop by while cruising with their vehicles. So people are willing to listen.” This often becomes a double-edged sword though. “Since it's a bikers’ cafe, the throttle from the bikes often drowns the punchlines!”
Dispelling an old notion
The timing makes the audience dynamic, with customers leaving and new ones constantly coming in. While most comics would find this to be a hindrance, the performers at Throttle Shrottle have made it work in their favour. “Sometimes, we reach the venue at 12am and see a packed room. In that case, we do an hour-long show from 12am to 1am. If everyone tanks at the end and isn’t feeling great, we try to redeem ourselves by doing another mic from 1.30am with a fresh audience! Sometimes though, we tank again!” Tewary laughed.
Those who have attended open mics would know how thin the attendance generally is. “In most places, even an audience of 10 people is considered a great turnout. But at Throttle Shrottle, I have seen 40 people turn up at open mics, which is an achievement even for solo shows at times.” This, Tewary feels, dispels the notion that Kolkata is a city that sleeps early. “Our generation is young and active. The wave of stand-up has created a demand where people are willing to perform and watch comedy at any time. This makes the room great for comics who want stage time and are hustling.”
The late-night timing makes the audience dynamic, with customers leaving and new ones constantly coming in. While most comics would find this to be a hindrance, the performers at Throttle Shrottle have made it work in their favour Abhinav Tewary
But the promise of an attentive audience comes with aggressive criticism. Throttle Shrottle is known to be a room where the audience does not spare anyone and below-par performances are met with unabashed heckling. “Once, a crowd of unruly boys had come for the show. The lineup had only one female comic, Amrita Chanda, who was incidentally the only English comic too. All of us who performed in Hindi and Bengali were heckled badly and we expected Amrita to get the same treatment, if not worse. But, she got their attention and all her jokes landed. They even appreciated her writing.” These stakes are, according to Tewary, what make it the best space for budding comics to learn.
‘There is a democracy in heckling’
The allure of the room has attracted comics from outside the city too, with many established performers like Shreeja Chaturvedi, Shaad Shafi and Manik Mahna taking the stage. “The beauty of this room is that the audience doesn’t know any of the big names. They don’t care about how many subscribers you have on YouTube, your viral reels on Instagram, or whether you were on Comicstaan. This is the only room in the city where the audience doesn’t differentiate between a famous comic and a random open micer. There is a democracy in heckling, where if you do well they will praise you to no end, and if you don’t, they will heckle you and force you to get down. People literally tell you to your face, ‘bhaiya, acha nahi lag raha’,” he chuckled.
A loyal audience
This dedication kept the room alive even during the pandemic, when it was always the first to welcome comics back after the lockdowns reopened. “Most rooms remained shut for months on end, but Throttle Shrottle always hosted us, even if we were just two people on the line-up. I have even gone alone at times and performed for 30 minutes,” Tewary recalled.
People have reciprocated their efforts and a loyal audience has been formed at the venue over the course of three years. Many of them have personally followed comics on Instagram to keep up with their work. “I was recently in Mumbai and the manager called me. He requested us to resume stand-up as soon as possible, because people were enquiring about our shows. In all my years in comedy, I have never seen rooms beckoning performers to keep open mics going.”
The timing is the key
Tewary emphasises that timing is the key. “From 10am to 10pm, we meet others as our most formal and presentable selves. But after that, you have no one to impress and simply want to unwind. I think this makes all the difference at Throttle Shrottle, because people are open to listening to anything.” The benefits of the room have percolated beyond its confines, too. “I have seen comics growing from here, and even making several solid minutes of material from it. Throttle Shrottle is an acquired taste. Tanking may deter comics at the start, but once you have the hang of the room, you can’t stop coming back.”
