8/12/2004 » Humor, Profiles

Stand-up comic Paul Varghese made it to the semifinals of the TV show Last Comic Standing, i.e. Comic Idol, hosted by Jerry Maguire cad Jay Mohr (via MD).

Varghese’s got a slow, relaxed delivery and some great material. In one of his routines, he mines his Malayalee parents’ thick accents and his ‘super-Christian’ dad’s fascination with crosses. Growing up was a struggle, Varghese had roving gangs of Malayalee doctors and aeronautical engineers brandishing slide rules in da hood. So, to stay off the streets, he kept it real at comedy clubs. He didn’t make the final round:

Paul Varghese was cut as well after exhibiting an acute case of Dat Phanitis-that being a disease in which a stand-up is funny, but only has three minutes of good material, as exhibited by Varghese repeating the exact same routine that got him into the semis.

Varghese started doing stand-up three years ago, beginning with a desi night at an Addison, TX club doing material his Amma would approve of. And he got laughs even without donning wife-beater and lungi. ‘Eh, Varghese...’

My favorite desi stand-up is still the inimitable Russell Peters, a big, chubby Canadian upon whose dewy lashes perches the daemon of unapologetic cruelty. I’m chortlegoggling: from a distance, over a keg, still mordant hilarity.

Check out Varghese’s video clips.

Update: And Russell Peters has a full show online (via Half the Sins).