The Indian stand-up comedian talks infrastructural comedy, an annoying bridge near his house and why he think’s Australia is too organised.
“There’s not enough chaos,” Azeem Banatwalla says gently, reflecting on his recent stint in Melbourne. “Don’t get me wrong, I love it. But us Indians thrive in the chaos. Melbourne’s a bit too organised. Then again, it is nice to have good air and roads that actually work!”
Banatwalla certainly knows how to open a conversation. His words—part gentle sting, part satire—are both funny and stark in the same hushed breath. It’s this knack that’s led to Banatwalla becoming one of India’s most critically acclaimed stand-up comedians.
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Currently calling from Sydney, Banatwalla has just wrapped his run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He’s got one final show before flying home—his biggest show outside of India.
“It’s going to be three hundred seats,” he says, flashing a toothy grin. “I’m looking forward to it. As an Indian comic, it’s nice. You can be wherever in the world, and you know there’s always going to be a few Indians that will show up. It sometimes can be useful to be a part of the most dominant population in the world!”
This isn’t Banatwalla’s first time in Australia, though. He first came down under in 2018 as part of an Asian comedy showcase. Back then, he’d only performed for Indian audiences—and quickly learned that things were different here.
“We tend to perform bilingual back home. So, the setups are in English, but the punchline is in Hindi. Which just makes it infuriating for non-Indian people. So, coming down here and not doing that was eye-opening.”
Back in India, Banatwalla is known for his rare brand of comedy—namely, infrastructure satire. When I ask what he means by that, he jumps straight in.
“Basically, for the last 18 months I’ve been known for the fact that I kept ranting about a bridge near my house. The corporation started building it from opposite sides. They built it for two years, and when the two sides came together, they were misaligned by two metres.”
This bridge sparked a particular brand of ire. “I’d been waiting several years for that bridge—it would’ve made it easier for me to get to the airport,” he adds.
Eventually, the bridge was fixed—after a bunch of engineering college students were enlisted—but the seed of comedy had been planted in Banatwalla.
“I became an infrastructural comedian,” he says with a giggle, fully aware he’s probably the only one out there doing it.
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Strangely enough, Banatwalla never planned on becoming an infrastructural comedian. In fact, he never really planned on comedy at all.
“I graduated as a computer engineer, like every second Indian. But it was just after the recession. I got a job, but they told me to stay home for a year until they had space. I couldn’t do that. I had to make money, so I got a job as a TV writer. Me and the others I was working with became India’s first wave of stand-up comedians.”
Eventually, when the UK’s Comedy Store opened a branch in Mumbai, Banatwalla and the rest of the scene got to properly cut their teeth. Meeting seasoned professionals, it was a baptism of fire in how to work a room.
“There were all these English acts every night, and then one Indian act. Then, when [The Comedy Store] became more established, the British acts left, and it was just us. So we had to perform in all English.”
Despite juggling other gigs, Banatwalla eventually quit his day job as a writer for National Geographic in 2014. He was all in on comedy—and it paid off.
Which brings us to this trip back to Australia, with his show Generational in tow. A performance exploring our generation’s hyper-connected lives, our loneliness, our friendships, and our phones.
The show’s concept came out of Banatwalla’s move from his hometown of Mumbai to Goa. A self-described “pleasant change”, but also one that forced him to rebuild his social circle—an experience that ended up feeling pretty isolating.
For Generational, Banatwalla plays with the concept of the “second screen”—a term from TV writing that refers to the idea that your audience is probably on their phone while watching.
“The background stimulation is a lot of AI-generated imagery. But it evolves with every show. To me, it’s like using the screen as satire. That’s the idea. There’s less space for the audience to be distracted.”
But there’s another reason for the screen, too. “My ego can’t take the fact that you’d be on your phone at my show—so I have a common phone screen in the background.”
It all comes out.
Banatwalla has just finished his touring run in Australia. You can check out his Instagram and YouTube here.
