Performer: Sindhu Vee Photograph by: Karla Gowlett Show: Sandhog Venue: The Pleasance Courtyard, Attic Promoter: Phil McIntyre Entertainments Online: Box Office Facebook Website
Tell me about your Edinburgh show.
It’s called Sandhog.
You’ll have to see it to understand why it’s called that.
The show is about how difficult it is to STAY married, how you love your kids SO MUCH it sucks but how, ultimately, it’s all about LOVE and who doesn’t want love in their life, so hey, best get on board.
Tell me about your first gig.
It was the heats for the Funny Women competition. I’d done their workshop and they were insistent. I’d heard my whole life that I was funny so I thought why not? Who will care? I told NOBODY – I just went. I had never seen live stand up at that point in my life. Just one DVD of Eddie Murphy. I went to the heats on a Sat evening in Soho because I was SO BORED OF BEING A STAY AT HOME MOM. My parents were visiting so they were with the kids. I had no idea what a ‘set’ was or anything. I just got on stage and talked about my mother. I remember not being able to hear myself, but hearing the audience’s responses very clearly (all very good, thank god). It was a giddy experience that I simply knew I had to repeat. And here we are.
Do you have any rituals before going on stage?
I always picture my mother telling me I can do it.
Tell me about your best and worst review.
I’m waiting to get a bigger sample size in reviews to decide which my best and worst reviews are… four reviews does not an opinion make, as they (I’m not sure exactly who) say.
During this Edinburgh run, do you plan to read reviews of your show?
Unclear at this point. But knowing myself, yes and then swear not to again and do it two hours later. But, as I say, unclear at this point.
How do you feel about reviewers generally?
They are doing their job.
In April 2018, YouTube comedian, Markus Meechan (aka Count Dankula) was fined £800 for training his girlfriend’s pug dog to do a Nazi salute with its paw, in response to the phrase ‘Gas the Jews’. Do you believe Meechan committed a criminal offence, and why?
I don’t know what the law is around this stuff and I don’t want to go read up on it now in order to answer this question. What I will say is: if its the law, its the law. Break it, take the consequences.
Are there any subjects that are not suitable for comedy?
Punching down at truly vulnerable people is always ugly. Never makes me laugh. Provoking/shocking an audience into giggling is not the same as writing a joke that makes them giggle.
Have you ever gone too far?
On stage with my jokes? No. Otherwise, yes, probably especially if you check with my family.
Looking back over your time as a comedian, tell me about the best gig of your career.
The first time I played to a theatre of 400+ people. They had all come to see ME! I couldn’t believe it. I was quite new to comedy and this was in India (Delhi, where I’m from) where I had told NO ONE that I was a stand up. And I naturally fell into gigging in English and Hindi. I did 50 minutes. It was unreal.
I think the most gratifying bit was afterwards when a bunch of my classmates from the convent I went to aged 11-13 came to the green room. I hadn’t seen them since then and hadn’t been in touch at all. We were all married with kids at this point. They had seen the ad for the show and just all come. They rushed into the green room and we all hugged and shrieked like school girls and they said ‘you always were the funniest in class and now look you are making everyone laugh’. To have them there saying those things and reminding me that making jokes had always been a big part of who I was was very validating and gave me a massive surge in confidence. Plus it was good to see how well we had all aged. Probably something from being around all those nuns all those years (not).