Poking Holes In Absurd Modern Behaviour

Goon-swilling bogans, xenophobic politicians, teenage girls with a severe case of vocal fry — none of them are safe from stand-up comedian Neel Kolhatkar's take on things, which could be conservatively described as 'confrontational'. But there's substance to Kolhatkar's scorched-earth approach, with his style uncovering and skewering the absurdities of modern behaviour.

"I suppose my comedy can be quite aggressive, and I do tend to make fun of all aspects of society," says Kolhatkar, who's a lot more even-tempered and soft-spoken than one might imagine. "I think I did develop that tone early on. That's just my sense of humour; it's often making some social or political or cultural point. I don't want to shy away from anything, so I just put it all out there."

And while Kolhatkar has been putting it out there on stage for years, his online presence has proven extremely valuable in raising his comedic profile. Visit his YouTube channel and you'll find many a quick sketch or performance piece (although many are not safe for work, so wear your headphones).

"I'd say there's still quite a bit of separation between being an internet star and a mainstream media star but that is changing very rapidly," says Kolhatkar. "Over the next few years, I think you're going to see an amalgamation of the two mediums. In Australia there aren't many avenues for stand-up comedians on, say, mainstream TV. Comedians are generally known for being irreverent, sometimes polarising, and the internet is a great forum for comedy in general but also people whose comedy isn't vanilla — you're going to get the real deal. So it's good for comedy and for art in general. It allows the artist to stay true to their core beliefs and values and artistic integrity."

Still, there's nothing like performing in front of a live crowd, he says. "When you have an audience in front of you, there's a relationship between the two of you, a whole dynamic, and you need to understand that energy. With online stuff, you don't know how it's going to go until you post it. From online to live is not too different for me in terms of my material, but the process is very different. A live show takes a year to develop, while I try to post a video every few weeks. And the online content I do is more about me acting, being all sorts of characters, while stand-up is more me. I've done them both for quite a while now, and I'm happy to keep doing them both."

If you can drag yourself away from the internet in the coming weeks (I know, it's difficult), you'll be able to catch Kolhatkar's new stand-up set Neel Before Me at this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and then at Sydney Comedy Festival. "It's my third show at the Festival," he says. "My first was very YouTube-oriented — a lot of characters, and the comedy was very similar to the stuff I do online. With my second show I was maybe trying too much of the intellectual stuff to move away from that. This is good mix of both styles — there are substance to the jokes, and I think some of it is edgier than what I've done before. The main themes of my comedy are youth — because I'm a young whippersnapper — race, and the media, and I do like to see how far I can take it. That's the comedian's job."