A comedian who clearly knows his angle, he’s dry and confident but most importantly his material is so versatile it lands regardless of its geography
Combining observational comedy with storytelling, Shamik Chakrabarti’s Despite Appearances at Soho Theatre is both engaging and personal. I went in blind. I had not heard, watched or read anything about Chakrabarti’s comedy before and since seeing him I can happily say I’m a fan.
His style is a mix of observational comedy with engaging storytelling, where he finds witty nuances within universal subjects. The title of his show, Despite Appearances, summarises his aims to ‘break away from shallow, face-driven stereotypes’ (Soho Theatre show description). Chakrabarti is clever in appearance, he is tall and wears glasses, and his jokes are clever too which consequently makes him cool. His set addresses seemingly mundane topics such as; deer spotting, driving, watching reels, conversations with his dad and losing his laptop, to effectively reveal that despite their appearances these topics really are more exciting than you’d think. They become gateways to explore bigger issues such as Chakrabarti’s belief that he is “a man-child”, which he explains through the simple tale of leaving a laptop on an auto in Mumbai.
Chakrabarti’s vivid narration and ability to pull jokes out from behind ears, makes him a refreshing comic to see. His continual addition of playful insights and layering of his jokes, made the room constantly hum with giggles and smirks, which would often lead to eruptions of laughter and applause. Reactions like these made me understand why Chakrabarti won the best selling show at the Mumbai Comedy Festival 2024.
The cabaret format of the venue made me feel like I had just met this guy in a bar and he had started telling me funny vignettes from his life. He was wearing a Joy Division ‘Disorder’ T-shirt, which despite the suggestion, the show was well ordered and rehearsed. So well rehearsed in fact, his delivery at times felt completely spontaneous. Instances of him calling out an audience member, even teasing them, calling them “bro” and saying “uh-uh don’t do that”, for attempting to film him when he is about to repeat a comment an AI sex bot left under a reel he watched.
His joke catalogue is clearly extensive, his quick thinking enables him to use such material when things like audience interruption happen to his advantage – seemingly without breaking a sweat. Another moment when an audience member’s phone pinged, which unfortunately happens too often these days, Chakrabarti turned the disturbance into an opportunity to joke about how people with a whistle text tone are more like obedient dogs to their masters. The moment worked so well it almost felt planned.
He kept good time, he didn’t wear a watch or seem to even look at one and never spoke about time in his set; which contributed to the depth of his stories as the audience were able to invest in and hang on every word. However, I found that the pace at times slowed which meant staying on the same page was difficult. When a comic’s style is connective storytelling, seamless segways are always difficult to achieve; sometimes they snag and occasionally this did happen for Chakrabarti. However, these moments, which were very brief and rare, were handled with swagger revealing more about the comic’s ability to stay cool despite his appearance.
It’s exciting to see a comedian who clearly knows his angle, he’s dry and confident but most importantly his material is so versatile it lands regardless of its geography. I have never been to Mumbai, or India for that matter, yet I still found myself laughing at the situations he created. His style is not about ripping apart systems, he does what comedy at its core should do which is just make you laugh because it’s simply funny. Shamik Chakrabarti is a comic I definitely hope to see more of.
Despite Appearances at Soho Theatre is still available to watch at Soho Theatre next weekend (2nd-3rd May). It is also just one stop in his 2025 international debut. Chakrabarti will also be performing Despite Appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe (30th July-24th August, Eve at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower).