Comedy Premium League review: A comedic rollercoaster

Rating: 3/5

Comedy Premium League is a Netflix show that features some of India’s funniest performers as they compete in wit and wisecrack contests in the hopes of being declared the ultimate comedy champs. 

Story

Comedy Premium League is a comedy competition show that airs six episodes per season, lasting about 45 minutes and showcasing a wide range of comedic abilities.

The 16 comics are split into four teams and given various settings, a discussion topic, and a situation in which they must all scratch their heads to develop enough content.

Following the introduction of the 16 comedians, who are divided into four teams: Lovable Langoors, Naazuk Nevle, Gharelu Gilehris, and IDGAF Iguanas, the championship promises hundreds of jokes across multiple comedy formats, including stand-up, roast, Tu Tu Main Main, and In Slide, in which the comedian can show anything on the screen presented, such as news items.

Each round is scored based on performance and participation in the game. If a team exceeds the time limit, it forfeits its participation points. It’s difficult when most comics have a loose tongue, physically and figuratively, while attempting to balance the current with the timeless.

Performances

Comedy Premium League features Urooj Ashfaq, Sumukhi Suresh, Sumaira Shaikh, Rahul Dua, Mallika Dua, Rahul Subramanian, Kenny Sebastian, Aakash Gupta, Prashasti Singh, Kaneez Surka, Prajakta Koli, Aadar Malik, Amit Tandon, Rytasha Rathore, Samay Raina, Tanmay Bhatt, Rohan Joshi and Prajakta Koli in action. There are a number of highlights.

Tanmay Bhatt, Rohan Joshi, Sumukhi Suresh, and Sumaira Sheikh of the IDGAF Iguanas roast their own teammates, and regardless of the comparison, the jokes and punchlines land successfully.

Amit Tandon keeps pace with his significantly younger competitors as they perform a rap.

Prashasti Singh is one of the most unique comics around; when asked if she could get into IIM Lucknow simply by posing, she replies with a deadpan ‘Yes’.

Mallika Dua is a joy to watch as she returns unapologetically to the realm she knows best and gets the laughs, especially with her uniquely standing out Russian blonde act. 

Tanmay makes too many jokes about his time at AIB, Sumukhi appears as a schoolgirl, and Rohan is dubbed the “Shashi Tharoor of cats.”

Kenny Sebastian, who arrives as Miss Braganza, rescues the skit based on Kuch Kuch Hota Hai performed by the Gharelu Gilaharis, which was put up during a traditional stand-up round ended up breaking these conventions. Kenny switches from English to Hindi for a few lines in the same set while still keeping time.

Positives

The comedic rounds that Comedy Premium League has conducted are engaging and obviously varied, and the participants appear energized.

The jokes, though original, vary in degrees as they hit the laugh-o-meter, and the lines spoken during the rounds appear to have a message or a thought that a commoner would normally avoid saying, thus, breaking conventions.

Each round appears to be a little dull, but the joy is in the spontaneous conversation between the contestants brings the show to life.

The show’s greatest strength is that it allows the comics to explore a wide range of topics, from teamwork to solo performances. 

There appear to be times when the show leaves an impression that your favourite comedian could have gone on for a few more minutes.

The Comedy Premium League, featuring some female candidates, feels like a step in the right direction for Indian stand-up comedy, which has long been criticized for being more male inclined.

Negatives

‘Unpopular ideas’ seems to be the show’s weakest set, with contestants railing about chess, cricket, and covid violations. 

The show seemed walled in and was bland and homogenized, which, more or less, serves as the essential constraint for the show and has been crammed right back into the Comedy Premium League.

As this show is scripted beforehand, the timings are extremely exact, to the point of obviousness. When Rohan Joshi makes faces at a colleague during a roast, it’s evident that the following joke will be directed at him.

In another act, contestants Aadar Malik and Samay Raina reveal this to the audience by interrupting themselves.

The biggest flaw of Comedy Premium League isn’t that the jokes are scripted; none of them gets a good laugh.

Both argument sets are huge depressors. Tanmay Bhat and his team’s comedic routine ‘Dance of Democracy,’ which pokes fun at China, Corona, and the US presidential election, would have been better timed in January. Still, it’s passed off as cliche now.

Worth It?

Comedy Premium League, considering its ups and downs, is not exactly a revolutionary comedy show. It’s a one-time watch, but only if you don’t keep your expectations a bit too high.


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