Comedy Premium League

Overall, Comedy Premium League is enjoyable if you skip the unbearable bits and make peace with some of the bits you don't. With that method, you end up with a haphazard comedy special that you might end up enjoying. The Indian comedy scene is often criticised for the lack of women put forward but one finds solace in a show with a great mix of comics, but it could’ve done better with a more condensed format. People might argue that comparing Indian comedy specials to iconic acts like Bo Burnham’s Make Happy, Hasan Minhaj’s Homecoming King, and Hannah Gadsby’s Douglas (take these are recommendations if you must) is unfair; but one thing is clear: maybe it’s time we start.

Elsewhere, though, the timing is all too precise. You know why Rohan Joshi is making faces at a teammate during a roast; it's because the next joke will be aimed at him. Contestants Aadar Malik and Samay Raina give this away in another set, interrupting themselves to throw the audience. Yet, the problem in Comedy Premium League isn't that the gags are rehearsed, but that none of them yields big laughs. The two debate sets are massive downers. 'Dance of Democracy', a comedy sketch by Tanmay Bhat and team, commenting on China, corona and the US presidential elections, would've been stale in January, but is passed off as topical.