Standup Ethnic Comedy Tickles Up Support for Open Forum

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: Before people started arriving last Friday night, May 19, the three radio show hosts were musing over the previous times they had organized these annual comedy programs. “Back in 2008, nine years ago, we did our very first one,” started Subodh Bhuchar, the most gregarious and witty one of the three, the one who is quick with a turn of the word, “at Madras Pavilion restaurant. We spread the news word-of-mouth, and 75 people showed up.”

“Yes, and the next year was at MP too,” chimed in the most serious of the three, Jagat Kamdar, “and 105 people came.” “We moved to Comfort Suites on the Southwest Freeway the next three years and had 230 people each time,” added Dinkar Chedda, the quiet one who always looks like he’s ready to do something mischievous, given a chance. Since he’s the one who controls the mics at the radio show, he sometimes can!

“It has all been by word-of-mouth, we never advertised – except on our show,” rounded out Bhuchar. “We outgrew India House and now this is our third year at the Zoroastrian Association of Houston’s center.” He looked around at the preparations for appetizers being laid out at the center’s large square lobby, where Dawat Catering’s co-owner Mahesh Shah supervised his staff. Located on West Airport close to Beltway 8 West, the center has a large hall that can hold 400 people for sit down dinners and has an open stage.

But what the three almost simultaneously pointed out, the programs have always been free but people buy raffle tickets by the dozens at the door and also write checks to show their support for their beloved radio show “Open Forum” which has been on the air for 19 years on 1480 AM, every Saturday from 4 to 6 pm. The annual comedy programs are the fundraisers that allow the show to stay on the air with minimum advertising.

This year, once again, the stand-up comics included Raj Sharma, an Indian-American from California who brought along two Iranian-American comics, Melissa Shoshahi from Los Angeles and Bob Khosravi of Austin and the three kept the audience tickled – in-between announcements and raffle draws – for two hours before a buffet dinner was served.

Bhuchar opened up the evening with a monologue on going to see the bluebonnets, Texas’ state flower, with his wife. He was joined onstage briefly by Kamdar and Chedda, who announced that OF could now be heard through its own downloadable app. Bhuchar did a shout-out to his older brother Vinod and his wife Vijay on their 45th wedding anniversary, and later asked people to send in selfies with the hosts in the background for an on-air contest, with the best winning a prize. The raffle draws featured several prizes from Four Way Travel, Madras Pavilion and Pro Liquor.

Raj Sharma has been at the OF comedy fundraisers before and strode onstage at home with the crowd. Born to Punjabi parents from India who migrated to London and then to Tennessee, he grew up in a traditional Hindu household in the 80’s in Texas and started his career in Dallas in 2002 with a chance trip to The Improv. He co-founded the Indians at The Improv, was a finalist at HBO’s The Lucky 21 and is currently on Ahmed Ahmed’s Next Generation of Evil Comedy tour.

Sharma worked up the crowd with his funny observations of the Indo-American cultural dilemmas and how they tackle life in the US. He has borrowed a bit of raw humor from Russell Peters, with his often used F-word in his 30-minute monologue, which put off half the older conservative crowd in the room, while the other half roared with laughter.

Melissa Shoshahi went into her take on funny experiences growing up in with her Iranian family in LA, and said it was her first time in Houston and Texas. She drew on how people confused her for being a Latina, “and then when they find out I’m Iranian, they ask ‘well, how did you escape?’ I tell them a sexy man with a beard said ‘I’m Ben Affleck and I’m here to get you out!’” Shoshahi did an impression of Kim Kardashian and shared some other mildly funny anecdotes and was much more tame than Sharma.

Shoshahi has been featured on Laughs on FOX, at universities across the US and is currently in the upcoming indie movie Lost in Austin.

Bob Khosravi closed out the set just as many people were getting anxious about dinner and realizing his odds, ended just short of 10:30 pm. He also made light of his experiences as an Iranian-American, who also often got mixed for other ethnicities. His monologue kept the fast-dwindling crowd amused, but his material was much simpler and tamer than the other two comics, though he shows great promise for his insightful and casual style of storytelling. Khosravi has performed at several venues across the country and is a regular on the Austin circuit.