Political goons shut down a stand-up gig
Watch footage of heavies intimating Indian comic
Footage has emerged of a group of heavies shutting down a comedy show in India on Saturday over political jokes previously made by the stand-up.
Three goons emerged from the audience at the Ministry of Comedy in Bengaluru, and surrounded comedian Sarat Uday Boddeda, with others standing intimidatingly in the aisle.
They demanded he apologise to wealthy politician Chandrababu Naidu, whom he'd joked about two years ago. Eventually it was revealed that there were ten supporters of Naidu, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, in the room.
The comic said he had already said sorry, but was cowed into issuing the apology again. The men then issue him a 'final warning' and ask him to be 'careful' about making such jokes again, according to the Hindustan Times.
They also demand Boddeda say 'victory to Naidu' and 'victory to [his party] Telugu Desam' – but the comic refused.
After getting their apology, the mob agreed to leave – but only if they got their ticket money refunded.
The incident is just the latest to highlights the threats faced by comedians on India's burgeoning stand-up scene.
Last week, two other stand-ups – Anudeep Katikala and Rafiq – were arrested over their jokes about Pawan Kalyan, the deputy chief minister of the same Southern Indian state Naidu oversees and a star of the local 'Tollywood' film industry.
He is from a different political party than Naidu, and the Ministry of Comedy incident could be seen as a tit-for-tat response to the arrests.
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