A speakeasy model for standup comedy

When there is a public disturbance - loudspeakers being played at an ungodly, unlawful hour or antisocial behaviour - citizens have the right to call the police to put a stop to such nuisance. The police are duty-bound to stop the racket, not to castigate the complainants for 'over-reacting'. Such a case was made out to stop a comedy show in Bengaluru on Thursday. The comparison is ridiculous. Last week, noted comedian Vir Das' show was to be held for a ticketed audience. Public nuisance was not in the reckoning. Yet, after 'activists' demanded the police intervene, since Das had cracked jokes - in a US performance a while ago - that were deemed by the complainants as 'derogatory', the show was shut down.

During Prohibition in the US, when production, transportation and sale of alcohol were banned, underground bars - 'speakeasies' - sprang across that country. Their popularity played a key role in ending Prohibition. Unlike alcohol during 1920-33 in the US, though, standup shows, even of the deprecatory kind, are not illegal in 2022 India, unlike, say, 2022 Iran. Going 'underground', by using restricted-member social media communication rather than tell-all announcements, entertainment like Das' can thrive with far less anxiety. This speakeasy model would certainly 'protect' the more dour from such perceived menace.