"I did not think dad would let me join the film industry." Jamie Lever quit her cushy job in London to become a comedian in India. Not caring what the neighbourhood aunties would say!
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00:00Hi guys, this is Sonam Kapoor, I am at home and I am safe.
00:12You are put like a Johnny Lever video after this saying, aur kya karu main naanchu, that's
00:18really not fair yaar, like that is so mean.
00:21Hai ki yeh Johnny Lever ki weti hai aur yeh female comedian hai, toh dekhte hain let's
00:26see if she can make us laugh, because there is a stigma attached na ki females are not
00:31funny, women are not funny and it is a very common mindset, theek hai matlab okay, I understand,
00:38but why, why aren't they funny, why can't they be funny, haan.
00:42Hi this is Jamie Lever, I quit my job in marketing because it wasn't for me, no I wasn't happy
00:50at all, I was in the wrong place, I was lying to myself, I was hiding the fact that I wanted
00:59to be a comedian and that was difficult to accept, it took me the longest time to actually
01:06just admit, accept the fact that I wanted to do comedy, I wanted to be an entertainer
01:11and enter Bollywood and enter the film industry.
01:14I thought that my dad would never, never, never in a million years allow me to do anything
01:20with Bollywood or with the film industry, I really did not believe that and so I kind
01:31of just kept telling myself no, no it's not going to happen, it's not going to happen,
01:35just you know do what your parents are telling you to do, just keep quiet and just listen
01:38to them, so I was being this obedient child you know and you know growing up everybody
01:44always used to tell you, you know as a girl also you're being told constantly what to
01:48do, what is expected of you, what to eat, how to sit, how to be and what to study and
01:53you know what your future is going to look like.
01:55My dad wanted me to do an MBA but because I didn't have good grades, I decided I'll
02:02just do an MA and somehow got myself you know got into a university in London and I
02:10had applied there because I thought let me just get away and you know like just go away
02:14from this country at least, I'll be free, then I applied for a job and of all the people
02:19again I was the one who got a job and it was a good job, I was a sales executive so I was
02:27making money, I was selling market research books and it was a 9 to 5 job and I was working
02:34you know sending out emails like 50,000 emails every day, making calls and you know selling
02:39this market research book and all of that and it was boring basically.
02:44In 2012 I kind of I knew in my head and I told my family also, I mean I told my mom
02:49secretly, I was like mummy I have to tell you something, this is not me, my truth is
02:55something else, I want to do comedy.
02:58So my mom was really like surprised and she was like what will happen to my daughter,
03:02when will she get married, who will marry her now, so she was really worried for me.
03:07My dad knowing how he is and how he's been with me, somehow when he heard me you know
03:13he just kind of some there was some shift you know in his mind it was something happened
03:20you know he was like you know as he said he kind of put things together, he noticed
03:25like how in my college days I used to take part in all these competitions, I was winning
03:30like stand-up competitions and doing theatre and all that, he knew like in the background
03:34I was doing all of these things, he was aware, so like in Mumbai I had won a lot of competitions
03:41so he knew that somewhere like he said tumhare andar wo kitanu the always, so he got me and
03:49he said okay you know he said I understand, if this is in your destiny then I'm no one
03:55to stop you.
03:56So my juniors in college in Mumbai had become like popular stand-up comedians at that and
04:01they were performing at these comedy clubs that were new in Mumbai, so I remember calling
04:06one of my friends Sapan Verma you must be knowing, I called him and I said Sapan you
04:10know what I want to do comedy yaar, how do I do this, what do I do, I want to perform,
04:16so he was also like arey aap mujhse pooch rahi ho, arey arey yeh kya ho gaya, so then
04:22he told me no no you can you know call this comedy club and ask them and you never know
04:27they will just speak to the manager there, they will give you a spot, I said okay and
04:31I called them and I said you know I'm an aspiring comedian, can I get an open, can I get a spot
04:38there please I want to do like if there's an open mic thing I'll do it and that's how
04:43it started, I started doing gigs and I remember sending out emails to casting directors and
04:50producers and that list also I found out from my friend because my dad was like haan dekho
04:55tum kya karna hai, so I was doing all of it.
05:04A few years went by and I started doing TV more frequently and I remember my dad had
05:10told me you join my crew now and he had asked me to go on tour with him, so where my dad
05:17is a main artist and we were the other two comedians, we were kind of like the filler
05:21items in between, so me and another male comedian and even there it was very tough you know
05:27for the audience to kind of accept that ek toh yeh baat hai ki yeh Johnny Lever ki weti
05:32hai aur yeh female comedian hai, toh dekhte hain let's see if she can make us laugh because
05:37there is a stigma attached na ki females are not funny, women are not funny and it
05:42is a very common mindset, theek hai matlab okay I understand but why, why aren't they
05:49funny, why can't they be funny haan, so it would always take me kind of like even on
05:54stage while performing it would take me like a minute or two to kind of break that mindset
05:59you know of women and men, couple sitting in the audience, I had to you know it would
06:03take me time to break that mindset, it would take about two to three minutes for the audience
06:07to kind of surrender ki haan achha she is funny, oh let's she's saying some jokes, let's
06:12laugh and enjoy and loosen up, jokes are so easily available everywhere, you open your
06:26phone you get whatsapp funny forwards every day, you open Instagram there are memes, you
06:32want to see a funny video just open YouTube and you know just type in funny videos and
06:37it will give you thousands of options, so funny videos and comedy is so easily available
06:42to everyone and there's really intelligent comedy out there, you know some of the memes
06:47are really intelligent and there's yeah so people also have become really intelligent
06:52and people have people want like quick laughs, they want like a quick like two minute video
06:57to just you know you know to just relax themselves and you know they want two minutes of like
07:04funny content to just have a quick laugh, so everything's like very fast you know so
07:09even as comedians we have to be like we have to be five steps ahead and we have to think
07:14ekdum aage ka and we have to think of something really unique and something have a really
07:19fresh point of view, a fresh perspective and always kind of be on our toes and present
07:25something new all the time, so that's a challenge but you know I think because I love what I
07:31do and we all all the other comedians I'm sure they because they love it so much you
07:36know you know we we work hard and you know to keep ourselves also fresh and also we have
07:42to keep keep ourselves entertained so you know you gotta like keep that fire burning
07:49you gotta keep doing new things you gotta keep experimenting and you gotta think different
07:54all the time so it's it's really fun but yeah the audience has become really intelligent
07:58so you got to be super super intelligent to make them laugh so that's that's one thing
08:04that I noticed over the years oh I think earlier back in the day that people used to do a lot
08:08of slapstick comedy so that's kind of changed there's a lot of satire and political humor
08:16and that is also something that people really enjoy a lot these days and you know they want
08:22comedians to have a strong point of view about something they want comedians to you know
08:27like speak their mind and be real and be honest and not just say you know
08:31aese kuch safe stuff but you know just be more like bold and out there so that is one
08:38thing that I've noticed that has changed I need to drink water because I have a lot of
08:43dark circles yeah so I've been drinking a lot of water but what's important is you have to
08:47have this um Gucci ka thing in this in this Gucci ka tumbler only you can pour water and have