What the ‘falafel’ : One of the funniest folks on the world to give us laughs in Goa

He likes to call himself the Arabic papad who is tasty but not
free. Nitinn Miranni,  A standup comedian born in Dubai, he made his name
and won the title of Laugh Factory USA “Top 5 funniest people in the world” in
2015 and several other accolades later. He is now in Goa to present his show at
a local nightspot on Sunday. The
trained actor is based in Mumbai and is currently shooting for a web series.
His journey into comedy was interesting with many people trying to steer him
away from stand-up comedy but as he put it comedy found him and it has been his
closest partner for over eleven years. He said, “It was my calling like a
long-lost best friend who found me”. Living in a city like Dubai which attracts
people from all over the world who come and stay, work, and leaves after a
couple of years can mean the expatriate culture is constantly evolving. The
standup up culture, Nitinn says is booming for quite some time and he is the
only standup to participate in competitions in the US in Los Angeles like the Funniest
person in the world and was voted as the fourth funniest. He was representing
the UAE and India. The UAE, he said had become a melting point for comedians
from all over the world. He said “I have opened for Trevor Noah three now and I produce some of the
biggest comedy shows now in Dubai and kind of a pioneer producing desi comedy
shows. I brought in Atul Khatri, Amit Tandon, Vipul Goyal, and Daniel Fernandes
so it is booming”. When asked if there were any restrictions with regards to subjects that could
be discussed in Dubai, he said the authorities had been fairly lenient and
co-operative. He said at a personal level he did not mind the restrictions
because it would push you to come up with humour which is the second version of
what you are thinking. He  said, “ It is so easy to use the F word but
when I am in Dubai, I say what the falafel and I get a bigger laugh because
they know what I am talking about and they also like the fact that I am
respecting their culture.”  Speaking
about the comedy scene in India, he said it looked very promising though there
was a long way to go. He however pointed out that India was now a very popular
destination with many stand-up artists interested in doing shows. There was he
said a lot of competition which was very good for the country. He
had the opportunity to perform on the Kapil Sharma show and the story he
recounts is quite funny. Performing in Mumbai, he would get asked if he had
performed on the Ks show and he would drop names of big stand up stars like Maz
Jobrani, Trevor Noah, and Dave Chappelle and the like and they would still
persist and ask him if he did the gig with Kapil Sharma. He eventually
performed twice and said it was great fun and it was also great to get it off
his list of things to do. He would also like to perform with Raju Shrivastav
and Johnny Lever. Speaking
about his forthcoming show in Goa, he said it was one of his favourite places
to do shows having visited the state on numerous occasions and had always had
sold-out shows.  The audience in Goa, he said was great to him and he said
he was in Goa last month for a show which was sold out. He said, “The first
time I did a show at Cohiba, they thought they would be 15 or 20 people and we
packed it with 500 plus”. Goa he said was number one for him. As
a comedian who is fluent in English and Hindi, he said he was always
comfortable performing in front of a world audience which was very common in
Dubai. He said “I used to have audiences comprising of Indians, Pakistanis,
Germans, English and Lebanese and I would speak in English. It all depends on
one’s intent and I was focused on making them laugh. I once did a gig in Congo
in front of an audience who were not comfortable in English.  They laughed
and at the end of my show I got a standing ovation”. With
regards to the show on Sunday, he said he expected much laughter from an
appreciative crowd and he hoped everyone would have a great time. At a time of
hardship, one can hope the people of Goa have some good harmless fun.