At just 26, Kenny Sebastian has done something few Indian comedians have done before — he’s made a success of his comedy. Known for his keen sense of observation of culture, people and stereotypes, he has now performed in more than 500 shows in the last five years, written and hosted a show on Comedy Central that completed its first season and released over four comedy specials online along with India’s first sci-fi comedy web series.
His latest show, Don’t Be That Guy, coming to Dubai on March 9 at Ductac, fuses music and comedy as Sebastian talks about living life in the fast lane of his 20s.
Ahead of his UAE return, he told Gulf News tabloid! 5 things we need to know about him, but were afraid to ask:
1. I take time off comedy to become more hilarious
“Every 2-3 years, I take one month off my tours and gigs to go to an improv school in New York to work on my art. It obviously helps me keep me abreast of the new exercises and routines to change my perspective. It also gives me first hand exchange of ideas and feedback from people that are beyond my usual scope of friends. I will be doing that again in April or May this year.”
2. A man of few colours
“I am colour blind, so took me a while to come to grasps with it. Especially because I have an art degree and I wanted to appreciate paintings (and thus, sound fancy and sophisticated). But I hear most guys see mauve, cyan, turquoise and baby blue just as…blue. So no complaints there.”
3. The top three loves of my life
“There are few things I love in life so if I had to prioritise it would be my dog, followed by chai and T-shirts. I think shirts are really stuffy and that dogs are better than people sometimes. In fact, I would rather have chai with a dog over some people I have met.”
4. I can really be a geek
“I consider myself a geek and recently with a few friends collaborated to create 3 South Indian Boys in Space — a satirical spoof on all space movies with a ridiculous South Indian twist. I love making these episodes because it makes me realise that even though I can’t speak Malayalam very well, I can definitely be as ‘mallu’ [Malayali] as the next person with a devotion to Kamal Hassan!”
5. KennySings4Me
“I consider myself an artist before a comedian. I enjoy singing and concocting insane lyrics with a great beat. If you don’t already follow it, I have a twitter handle called #KennySings4Me where I try and develop a song within the same day when someone tags me on it. It really reminds me that music has no borders and can connect with everyone.”
Don’t miss it
Tickets to Kenny Sebastian show at Ductac on March 9 starts at Dh150 on platinumlist.net.
