It’s common knowledge that MP Shashi Tharoor has a penchant for perplexing English words (recall the “farrago of distortions” or “floccinaucinihilipilification” incidents). Now, in a new Amazon Prime comedy special, Tharoor seems to be poking fun at his own language skills.
“It’s gotten to the point where anything I say is assumed by people to be more complicated than it really is,” he said in a sneak peek of the series, set to release on November 15. Even his lunch order is evidently hard to understand (or should we say, abstruse?).
“So I said, please may I have a Caesar salad. And this woman says, ‘Oh Shashi, always quoting Shakespeare,” Tharoor says.
Sneak preview of a minute of my stand-up comedy act (it does get better later!) #OneMicStand pic.twitter.com/tgXVZEYOir
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 13, 2019
One Mic Stand features five well-known personalities paired with stand-up comedians who will act as their mentors. The lineup includes Tharoor and Kunal Kamra, actor Taapsee Pannu and Angad Singh Ranyal, singer Vishal Dadlani with comedian Rohan Joshi, actor Richa Chadha with Ashish Shakya and comedian and singer Bhuvan Bam with Zakir Khan.
The promo for Taapsee Pannu's stand-up show is also out. In a short video clip, the actor is seen talking in Hindi and English about the online trolling she faces on multiple social media platforms. The photo of her in an off-shoulder dress gets a “Nice pic, dear” comment on Facebook and “hot baby” on Instagram.
But on Twitter? “Eh, put some clothes,” Taapsee says to the live audience. "Do they think I'll feel bad after reading this? Do they not know I'm from Delhi?" she asks.
please keep your comments decent on this post, your parents might be watching / @taapsee pic.twitter.com/9vjkM67N4g
— amazon prime video IN (@PrimeVideoIN) November 13, 2019
One Mic Stand’s showrunner is comedian Sapan Verma. In an earlier statement, he said, “The concept of One Mic Stand came to me many years ago and I'm glad that Amazon Prime Video were so supportive in making it happen. I think the idea of seeing your favourite people in a new vulnerable position is always endearing. Basically, I've got famous celebrities so that the show gets the views and top comedians to ensure the show is funny, so that I can just sit back and not do much."
Check out all the videos on Amazon Prime’s YouTube page.