Screengrabs taken from YouTube video uploaded by Biswa Kalyan Rath
They've enthralled audiences with their impeccable comic timing and hilarious world view. But can they impress a bunch of school kids?
To support the Teach for India campaign, five comedians, Abhishek Upmanyu, Abish Mathew, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Kanan Gill and Zakir Khan, agreed to face perhaps their toughest crowd yet - a bunch of Class 3 students on not-so-funny turf - a classroom (with teachers present, mind you.)
The comedians learn first-hand that getting a laugh out of the young ones is way harder than getting grown-ups to react. "
Yeh pehli audience
hai jo premise
pe zyada hasti hai, punch line
se," Abhishek Upmanyu notes.
"I didn't expect a lynch mob," chuckled Abish Mathew.
The children even called them out on having notes scribbled on their palms.
Bachchon ke saath cheating
nahi chalegi, boss.
Among the things that worked was slapstick comedy involving a lot of tumbling around and miming. What didn't work - most of their jokes.
You have to watch the video to see these children heckle and rag seasoned comics. Lesson to keep in mind: kids these days are smarter than you think.