Funny first

Aug 01, 2013 |

Age Correspondent

Priyanka Kelkar

Bollywood comedian Johnny Lever’s daughter Jamie J will tickle your funny bone as a contestant in Comedy Circus Ke Mahabali.

Did you want to pursue comedy even as a child?
My father understood my liking for comedy as I acquired it from him. But as a parent, he wanted me to complete my education first, get a degree and then think of theatre or comedy. I chose to study mass media, in London. I was doing it to make my parents happy. For my creative satisfaction, I was a part of a theatre and stand-up comedy group.

When did you realise that comedy was “it”?
I told my father that I want to do stand-up comedy when he visited the UK for a show. He gave me 10 minutes to perform with him on stage. That was my chance to prove my talent! It was a fantastic experience to share the stage with him and the audience seemed to love it. I was later invited by the BBC to perform an act on radio. I came to India and started performing at The Comedy Store in Mumbai.

Are you nervous about your stint on CC?
I went for the auditions and was chosen like any other contestant. CC is a great platform, and I will be sharing it with Bharti Singh and Kapil Sharma. I am very excited. It will be amazing to share screen space with them!

What kind of work would you like to do on TV?
I would like to do a show that is funny, yet conveys a message. I admire international talk show hosts like Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres. I would like to host something like that…

***
Prankster alert
Hiten Tejwani may have quite a serious persona on screen, but off camera, he is considered a great prankster.
Hiten admitted that this is his way of lightening the atmosphere on the sets: “I enjoy being the senior-most actor on the sets and not being pulled up for my pranks. I don’t go overboard. My pranks keep people lively — shooting for 14-15 hours is no joke.”
Hiten once held a crewmember’s cell phone to ransom (the price: Sweets for everyone on the sets). Another time, he slipped a sachet of Eno into a co-actor’s coffee, who drank it down unsuspectingly. An unintended consequence of his prankster avatar has been that now, he’s blamed even for the mischief he isn’t involved in! — PK

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