'There is no joke without a victim'

Danish Sait, who has spent nearly a decade in the limelight, says the lines between what’s personal and professional are clearer now

Falah Faisal

Everyone has heard Danish Sait’s hilarious prank calls he made when he worked at Fever 104 FM back in 2013. There was a time when you could go to a family dinner and see uncles guffawing while playing MP3s on their phones and forwarding the clips to each other on WhatsApp. But the man behind those hilarious calls didn’t find the time to enjoy it himself, reports Falah Faisal.

“I really didn’t know what was happening outside because I was so wound up within myself and cocooned within the ecosystem of the organisation. I wasn’t happy personally to be able to enjoy it,” says Danish, who has been creating content on a daily basis for 10 years now, which has ranged from acting to hosting sports events and creating memorable characters like Humble Politician Nograj and Mr Nags who has become an RCB mascot.

“I would say, up until three years ago, I didn’t know who I was. About 7–8 years ago, I realised there was something seriously wrong with my mental health, and that was a turning point. In the last three years, I have had more time to spend at home with myself and being surrounded by someone who I truly love,” says the comedian, who feels he has finally found a sense of maturity and balance, for which he is "extremely grateful".

“Sometimes when people tell me that when they feel low they turn to my films or prank calls to lighten the mood, I just wish for them to be happy even if they don’t watch my work,” he adds. 

On what was the secret to his popularity with prank calls, he says, “There is no comedy without a victim, and in the case of prank calls, the victim is very clear. People who listened to it felt that this could happen to them or someone they know very easily.”

Recently, on a flight, he was seated next to a top cop who had this to say to him. “He told me that the way people would confess things to me over the phone when I played a cop was really fun and thanked me for bringing joy and asked me to continue doing that,” he recounts. He believes that comedy on the internet is still at a very nascent stage, and people are still figuring out how things work.

“I was one of the first people who knew what going viral meant, and it has been about 10 years since then, and I am still learning and growing every single day. When someone new comes in, we need to give them time to understand this space, and they need to have the conviction to know what they are talking about.

With great comedians, it is the personal stories that resonate with people rather than simply taking a dig at someone for the sake of it,” he says, citing Zakir Khan’s recent special Tathastu as an example. Being a comedian, does he get pigeonholed by his persona?

“Sometimes when I am working with brands, I have to tell them that they are speaking to me as a person first, and even though I might have a sense of humour, I am not that funny in conversation. You have to be able to switch off and just be in the moment. Otherwise, it just becomes one big performance and when you’re always performing it gets tiring,” says Sait who believes social media is a tool for work and we should not end up getting used by the tool.

On what we can expect to see from him in the future, he says, “During the last IPL season I was reading this book by Bob Odenkirk called Comedy, Comedy, Comedy, Drama which got me thinking that I started with comedy when I was 21, but now at 34 I want to explore drama.

I am working on a film with Lijo Jose Pellissery, who is one of the most exciting directors in the country, from January to March next year. Then the IPL will t a k e aw ay 5-6 months, and I have a show with Hansal Mehta that should come out any time now.”