Indian comedy and humor is associated with fun, joy and pleasure, invoking laughter and jubilance, thus entertaining the audiences to their hearts` content. It provides ample scope for all the Indians to share, to the extent to which an individual will personally find something really humorous and amusing. Whether any thing is at all funny or not is quite relative depending on factors like geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, and context etc. Satirical, Parodical, witty presentations through ridiculing certain persons or any issues as such, provide the amusement of people to an extent.
Indian comedy and humor can be traced to the golden era of
Akbar , the great Mughal King and his court jestar
Birbal. He was one of the trusted nine advisors, known as navaratna. Birbal`s wit and humorous exchanges with the King later compiled in the form of Birbal stories and threw a glimpse of the eloquent trends of Indian comedy and humor of the ancient era.
The evolution of Indian comedy and humor as an art form has got an interesting history behind it. In the medieval India, a class of the folk entertainers called Nakkal, Bhands, Baharupi, Bhagatiya had a peculiar style of entertaining people, thereby mingling wonderful performances full of songs and music. The most popular of the medieval India, still prevalent in India are the Bhands. They enact with small skits with extempore humour, jokes , criticizing social evils and practices, adding the flavor of their wit and oration. They perform in various social functions like marriages,
festivals etc. Their enactment is unique as the content of their performances. Interestingly, there is another interesting skit performed by Bhands. The males enacted both in the roles of husband and wife; the wife by her satirical speech and inconsistent behavior irritates the husband who then started beating her, This tussle created between the two people highlights the incongruencies of married life and also add humor to the programs. Another Bhand performance, which is integrated to the Indian humor and comedy, is the dialogue between the master and his faithful servant.

The flamboyant master deputes a servant and provides him strict instructions that he should tell his master by singing and dancing. If he does any mistake he will be penalized. All the performances of Bhand and other entertainers embellish the arena of Indian comedy and humor of the mediaeval period. Infact the status of Indian comedy and humor can be easily compared to any other art form., it also paved the path of the comedians of the later period in the Indian continent. Film Industry too has produced legends like Mahmud, Mukhri, Asrani, Kesto Mukherjee, Bhanu Bandopadhyay etc and still they are popular in the memories of the people and thir works. Johnny Walker (May 15, 1923 - 29 July 2003) is the screen name of a famous Indian comedian, who acted in over 300 movies. Jagdeep, the great comedian is also well remembered for his comic role in Sholay. Moreover the character Soorma Bhopali along with his Bhopal accent helped him to enjoy great success and fame.

In today`s scenario also there is no dearth of Comedians and comedy shows. They all add to the vistas of the jewels of the Indian comedy and humor. Paresh Rawal, Kader Khan, Johnny Lever have provided the audiences the `masti` and laughter in various comedy films like Hera pheri, Hulchul, Hero No 1 etc.
Television too is also productive in ennobling the Indian comedy and humor. Many comedy serials like Dekh Bhai, Flop show, Hum Paanch etc were made just to provide the viewers the enjoyment of pure laughter and entertainment. As recent phenomenan competitions like Great Indian laughter show, Mirrakkel etc are organized thus proving the future of Indian comedy and humor so hopeful and exuberating.
Indian comedy and humor is rich and boisterous and thus becomes an integral part of Indian culture and entertainment.
(Last Updated on : 28/01/2009)