In 2008, militant Pakistani Islamists killed 175 people in a series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. Feeling helpless, comedian Samson Koletkar got together a group of Indian and Pakistani comedians in the Bay Area in an effort to promote peace and unity through laughter. They performed two events in Hayward and Palo Alto.
In 2014, after Koletkar teamed up with fellow comedian and co-organizer Abhay Nadkarni, they officially launched the Desi Comedy Fest, which, in the last ten years, has become a mainstay of Bay Area live comedy.
“We are the biggest South Asian comedy festival in America,” says Koletkar, who lives in Hayward, “because we are the only South Asian comedy festival in America.”
Like many comedians, Koletkar’s humor is drawn from his upbringing. He was born in Mumbai but raised Jewish (his father is Jewish and his Hindu mother converted to Judaism). Koletkar jokes that he isn’t very religious because he performs stand-up on Fridays and Saturdays.
His only early comedic influence was Charlie Chaplin, whom he used to watch with his father. It wasn’t until he moved to Sunnyvale in 2000 and started taking stand-up classes a few years later that he heard of the likes of George Carlin, Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor.
“I always had this inkling for cracking jokes and making snarky comments,” Koletkar remembers. “I couldn’t figure out where that skill would come into play because in Mumbai, stand-up as an art form did not exist. What we mostly saw was all mimicry and impressions of famous personalities, which I don’t do. When I came to America and saw stand-up live for the first time, I thought it was awesome. And when I tried it, I liked it. I stuck with it.”
As a nod to his heritage, Koletkar took up Mahatma Moses as a stage and social media name.
“They’re the two most famous personalities: Mahatma Gandhi and Moses,” Koletkar says. “The whole world knows Gandhi and almost every second person on the planet has seen The Ten Commandments. So the name clicks for people. It’s a catch phrase.”
In his act, Koletkar pokes fun at everything from Indian restaurants and Indian customer service to marriage and his dual cultures. He even riffs on the challenges he faced when he and his wife adopted a child in America.
“We could raise the first white kid in America to win the spelling bee,” he once joked. “Our little contribution to making America great again.”
When booking for the festival, Koletkar and Nadkarni look for comics from all over the country, preferably ones who put on clean comedy, with no off-color material. They’re predominantly South Asian, but many also represent mixed ethnicities.
“Even though we may have similar backgrounds and similar experiences, there’s something unique about everybody,” says Koletkar. “So we don’t censor anybody. They can come and talk about whatever topic under the sun. But the one thing we tend not to do is bring in too much blue comedy.”
At its peak, the festival played 11 nights in a row, with as many as 50 comics, and appeared at such prestigious live comedy staples as SF Sketchfest and Montreal’s Just for Laughs. They’ve even toured India. Though the festival traditionally runs in August, it occasionally takes place on Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in October or November, or on Indian Republic Day, in January.
For the festival’s tenth anniversary, Koletkar and Nadkarni have rounded up 15 comedians to perform shows in Pleasanton, San Francisco, Mill Valley and San Jose.
“The number one thing we want the audience to do is to have a good time, laugh and connect at a very human level,” Koletkar says. “At the end of it all, the one thing I’ve learned in the 18 years that I’ve been performing with people from all kinds of backgrounds is that what connects us is humanity. You’re hearing it from the perspectives of a certain group of people, but it’s very global. We all share these experiences. When I’m talking about my first-generation immigrant experience in America, I’ve had people from Europe, South America and Africa come up to me and say, ‘You know, I can relate to that.’”
Desi Comedy Fest hits the South Bay on Aug. 8 with an 8pm show at San Jose Improv, 62 S. 2nd Ave. $30.63, via Ticketweb.com.
