As a comic on social media it's important to have thick skin shares Sanjay Manaktala

Sanjay Manaktala otherwise known as Sanjay Comedy has created a niche in the market with the diasporic content he shares online.

Just as his Instagram bio says Sanjay Manaktala is trying to retrospect the idea that implies perfectly to his own life, that life begins after engineering, through comedy, podcast, and live shows. From memes to blogs and YouTube, Sanjay is even a hands-on stand-up comedian.

From an IT engineer to a stand-up comedian and now to a content creator, Sanjay takes us through his impeccable journey.

Who am I?

I'm an EX IT engineer who turned to stand up comedian. I started the comedy scene in Bangalore and India in 2010, going door to door to pubs to perform. Now I do shows for the public and corporates/brands, and also am very active on digital with memes and content across social media platforms. I also wrote a book called My Beta Does Computer Things.

My journey

Similar to above, when I started putting up videos on YouTube, people started coming to my shows. But now as the algorithm and things keep changing on social media, I think I spend more time online than offline. But everything I do has been in service of being a comedian, whether live or offline. Even my podcats or life advice vlogs I try to add humor. My goal is to do a million things while trying to make you laugh.

My family

My family is great, but comedy-wise I mainly work alone.

What’s in the name?

In India, you may as well be direct.  We used to have a company called the Polished Bottoms and another comedy night called Snap.  Now it's straight-up Sanjay Comedy and the group I work with is Bangalore Comedy Club.  You need to direct people to the obvious because they may not take the second to think and then click.

My mission statement

Talk about stuff I feel others go through while being funny.  So again, marriage, life advice, IT, tech, dating, whatever…just want to be fun and casual about it.  If I can help people great.  I shy away from politics but NRIs I love to tease. (I am one)

I create content for?

The target audience is 21 to 40, 75% men but now it's getting to about 50/50.

Also Read: I was rejected by all production houses, shares Viraj Ghelani

I work with…

Amazon, Google, Wipro, Infosys, Microsoft, KPGM, Accenture, you name it.

I am proud of

I"m most proud of Anu Auntie, my IT Guy Series, and the Maid Series which I wrote from scratch and Fun fact I write it all in English and then my team (Sumukhi/Vamsi) translate it to Hindi.  I can be funny in Hindi, I just can't speak it lol.

My WTF moment

Lately, I'm being trolled on my IT Industry Jokes stand up clips by a bunch of guys who write "He sounds like a Gay" or "worst comedy bad sense I never like" or some other bad English.  People are telling me I'm a failure because my comedy is in English. So that's been fun to wake up to every morning. 

But I think daily on Social media as a comic it's important to have a thick skin, and also curious how if someone watches 95% of a 9-minute clip, and then leaves a bad comment…what's really going on in that trolls head?  I'm not saying I"m hilarious and the best or that English is better or worse than Hindi - I'm just saying it's hard to please in a language from the beginning if the connection isn't there.Then those same people watch Game of Thrones so sometimes I have no clue lol.

Stay tuned for…

I was in the Sunny Leon Karenjit Kaur Season 2 we filmed last year in Cape Town, and my Birdy Num Num podcast is picking up a lot of viewers.  And my stand up clips.  Oh and my wife is now killing it on my channels with her mimicry.  But the podcast I'm most excited about because it's long-form content and I feel I can finally myself after years.

Are, you hiring?

I'm always looking for people to record my shows and also looking for digital interns who know things like relevance score, quality posting, meaningful social interactions, content multipliers, distribution and much more.  If you know that stuff more than just making memes or scheduling posts yes let's talk! And I need a good web person!