Jestination Unknown

Okay, I want to really do a survey right now.

Raise your hands if you believe

like Santa-Banta jokes are a big issue.

Raise your hands if you believe they are a big issue.

If you believe you should laugh

and it's not a big issue, raise your hands right now.

Is that okay?

Some of you are making calls right now.

Bring hockey, we will meet him outside.

As a comedian, stereotypes are a dangerous territory for me.

I mean, we always get the laughs.

But, also backlash in fair measure.

Because in India, everything is funny until it's about you.

We all want to laugh. But not at ourselves.

Or sometimes the joke just plain isn't good enough.

I learned this at a very young age.

I heard a joke when I was in class three.

So this one time a Sardar kid is asked to write an essay on a cricket match.

And because he is a Sardar kid allegedly

he simply wrote "because of rain, match canceled."

Now is that joke funny?

No?

Do Punjabis get offended by it?

Well...

I came to find out.

We began in Patiala.

Why Patiala, you ask?

Because you know what, screw Chandigarh and Amritsar.

Patiala is the underdog.

It's like the Anil Ambani of Punjabi cities.

It's not as popular. Not as successful.

But still rich.

Also this is where India's funniest and most alpha people live.

We had to check it out.

We wanted to make an entrance.

So we didn't do public transport.

We want to go for it.

So we made a chungi entry

like true Patialians.

Punjabi style.

Open top jeep

two of my funny friends

and we went looking for comedy

and cliches.

Chicken, alcohol,

fields,

lassi, butter,

and of course,

the great Santa-Banta jokes.

But hey man, before we did any of that mission stuff

we had to check into our accommodation.

Welcome to Baradari.

And when you check-in into a hotel

you do check-in stuff.

You check for ventilation,

vastu,

feng shui,

very essential stuff to living in a hotel.

What's up, guys!

Hey!

Where have you been?

I had to plan this.

Plan what?

Breakfast.

Welcome to Patiala, my friends!

Anu Menon.

You are one of my favorite people in the world.

I love you

and also I am deathly afraid of you.

That's the nicest thing Vir has ever said to me.

-Amogh! -Yes.

We've worked together for how many years now?

-Eight years? -Yeah.

-We're like... -Husband and wife.

Did you guys smell that?

-Fear? -Misogyny?

Little bit of both.

But more than that,

I'm talking about...

the love of my life.

Butter chicken.

You're seriously going to have butter chicken for breakfast?

I will have butter chicken for breakfast, lunch,

dinner and even when I am fasting.

I'll even use it as a substitute for water.

I love butter chicken.

I know butter chicken.

Wait.

'Coz you're from Bombay,

you're some sort of butter chicken aficionado, right?'

I live on butter chicken dude.

You realize, I'm from North India?

You don't even have the right chickens in Bombay.

North Indian chickens are strong.

Have muscles.

Bombay chickens stand around waiting for an Uber.

Now, we are in Patiala.

First thoughts?

Patiala, make some noise!

That's what we are talking about!

Good to be here. Hello, everybody.

My name is Amogh. I am from Bombay.

It's my first time in Patiala.

Punjabis are genuinely the happiest people

I have ever come across in this entire country

and there's two very,

very distinct reasons for it.

Number one, your food.

It doesn't just taste great,

it sounds great.

Right? There is like poetry in your food.

Sarson da saag with corn rotis.

Please get some more plates. It's like, "oho!"

We are here to write jokes on punjabis.

This means we have to do Punjabi things.

What does this have to do with writing a joke, Vir?

Punjab sends the most people to the Indian army.

Where is the joke, Vir?

The top ten marksmen in India are from...

Do you want to look up a joke online, Vir?

When you fire a gun it releases pheromones.

Where is the joke, Vir Das?

You know, Lola would have fired the gun, Anu.

Aww, so hurtful.

No.

20% pay hike.

So my teaching instructor was this really...

like tall, like six foot four strapping Gurpreet. Okay?

So, he was like, all like... Bicep, triceps.

Quadriceps.

Patialacep, intercep, everything.

So, there was Gurpreet, married to a Gurpreet,

with a child Gurpreet. Right?

Very professional, right?

So madam, you hold the gun tight.

Keep your shoulders tight.

Head, tight. Waist, tight.

I was just hoping he was not tight.

Come to Patiala? Check.

Shoot guns, double barrel, boom. Check.

Get professional perspective on Punjabi humor

from a professor who professes about

Punjabiness in

Punjabi University.

We're getting there.

Do you believe Indians have a sense of humor?

Yes.

Do you believe that comedy is unpatriotic?

No.

Do you believe Sardars laugh at Sardar jokes?

They do when they themselves are the authors of those jokes.

Have you read all these books?

No, no.

Who has bought all of these books?

Myself.

What is your understanding of Punjabi comedy?

Punjabi comedy is actually rooted

in the small towns.

Like the other day I was speaking to some friends

about the culture of Punds.

Pund?

It's a pair of two persons,

they'll arrive at a wedding.

One of them will be carrying something,

the shape of a kind of slipper.

And making fun of your relatives.

And everybody laughs. Even the elders laugh.

-It's basically a roast. -Traditional roast.

-Traditional roast. -Traditional roast.

I am going to do a show in Patiala with my two very good friends.

Any advice that you could give us.

Try to mix

the traditional folk Punjabi comedy

with modern themes and style.

We are waiting for a post-modern Pund

to appear somewhere.

Post-modern Pund.

-Yeah -That's my...

If not anything else, that's my band name from now on.

I'll start a band called "Post-modern Pund. "

Should we be doing jokes about Sardars?

-No. -No?

I met a professor from Punjabi University,

and I was like sir, do you think Punjabis have a good sense of humor?

He is like, yes. Best in India.

I was like, should I do jokes about Punjabis?

He is like fuck no, you'll die.

There is a saying in Patiala.

If you can't find the answer in the city,

look for it in the peg.

I am sorry I said that wrong. In the PEG!

So, we went drinking.

Okay.

That's kinda rude.

You didn't...

You are supposed to go "Burrrrrrah!"

Okay, "tutak-tutak-tutiya."

-Sure. -Vir, I hate this place.

It's damn dodgy, dude.

We came to Punjab to research alpha culture.