Shagun Gaur, Stand-up Comedian

I’m a stand up comedian and here's my story.

Shagun Gaur is many things- professor, financial advisor, a chocoholic but most importantly she's a disappointment to her parents. So she does the healthy thing of making inappropriate jokes. Having worked with SnG comedy, Bollywood Gandu and more she has found her so called writing skills too. As a professor of finance she keeps a straight face like Clark Kent during the day and in the night becomes a comedian like Superman. 

Hi I'm Shagun Gaur and I make people laugh. Since childhood I always voiced out my opinion loud and clear. I love the stage. First time I was on stage is when I was 5 and was reciting a poem my mother wrote. And I have never been off stage since then. I was mediocre in studies but excelled in extracurricular activities and I was darn lucky to be in Kendriya Vidyalaya which fosters overall growth amongst students. So every activity they would announce I would participate and do well. But nothing lasts forever so even this didn't. I moved to Delhi Public School where priority was given only to academics. So I soon became a depressed teen who was suicidal. 

Fast forward to me graduating with MBA degree and hating the job I had. I hated every second there because I didn't have any creative outlet. It was a mechanical job which sucked my soul and energy. I quit that in few months. Now I had no job, no future prospects and the anxiety and depression again seeped into my life. My escape was to watch stand-up comedy on YouTube. The more I watched it, the more I wanted to try. So with a lot of courage I wrote 2 mails to certain comedians and both of them replied graciously and generously. I started working with them and learnt so many things from digital marketing to running shoots. It has been the most experiential phase of my life. I made friends who would push me harder. Listen to my sets a billion times. 

My first open mic happened at Hive, Bandra. I got to know about it from a friend's Facebook page. I reached at half time and thought the show is over but lucky for me it wasn't. I went on stage and started talking. I didn't say what I had prepared but simply started connecting with people. It was a different high all together and as we say I killed on stage. I was so good that two of the top comedy collectives approached me for writing gigs. After such a fantastic show I went into over confidence mode. Next open mic was at Canvas Laugh Club and I thought that would wing it like the last time. Alas! I failed. I barely got 4 laughs in the entire 4 minutes. It shattered my confidence. I had fever for four days after this particular show. It showed me why writing is such an integral part of comedy. Like this I learnt from every mistake I made on stage. 

Comedy is my passion and so are all the other things I do be it teaching or PhD. Maintaining a balance is something that I strive for every day. And things do go haywire but as long as passions lights up so will you. My inspiration is the sound of laughter from the audience. On good days I feel good and on days when I don’t make people laugh, I learn and work harder. For a woman to speak her mind is always threat to patriarchy.  A comedian has the power to unleash the wrath while making people laugh. I’m lucky I’ve so many strong females (comedians and otherwise) who always made me stronger.

I don't believe in God but I do believe in spirituality. Every time I'm on stage it brings me spirituality. Laughter is the best medicine indeed. When you laugh you forget about your pain, you forget that there are troubles waiting for you, you forget your company. Only thing you remember is laughing. So my aim whenever I'm on stage is to make people unite with their inner self. In this world there are So many things that create negativity and pull us down. Only laughter has the power to crate positivity and give you strength to fight your battles.