An interview with gay desi comic Vidur Kapur
By Elyse Weingarten

Vidur Kapur is the comic laureate of gay desis everywhere! His ground breaking act has shocked global audiences as he creates in-your-face comedy out of his not-so-funny struggles for self-recognition. A man with many different faces, Vidur is/ or has been at one time: an Indian born into a traditional family, a London School of Economics graduate with a PhD, an urban trendsetter in West Hollywood and Manhattan, a drag queen, and a corporate executive in an internationally known firm. Vidur’s memorable, maniacal, hysterical tirades brings a pathos and sincerity not often found in stand up comedy.

Currently based in New York, Vidur performs at clubs, colleges and festivals across the country . He will next be seen in November on MTV DESI's "Maximum Party" and has appeared on MTV's "LOGOTV" ,QTelevision Network, NBC's "Last Comic Standing", and PBS's "Asian America." Vidur has been featured in Time Out New York, The San Francisco, NYC Pride Guide 2004, The Toronto Star and Desiclub.com. He was nominated in the category of "Favorite South Asian Comedian " for the 2005 South Asian Media Awards hosted by Desiclub.com in New York City on June 4th 2005. Here, Vidur takes some time off of his busy one-line dropping schedule to speak with EGO about his life, dirty jokes and the social responsibility of the comic.

	Vidur Kapur Website

You’ve lived a crazy, eclectic life. Can you give us a brief run through (from gay boyhood in India to MTV performer)?
My life has really been more crazy and eclectic than most people could imagine. I was born in Calcutta and moved to Delhi when I was seven. I was a "preemi," 2 months premature, so I was always kind of fragile and vulnerable. Gay boyhood in India... wasn’t much fun!!! I was a total social outcast in Delhi, notorious. I was a shame and scandal to my family. There were people chasing me around school going " homo homo homo." My grandmother was always saying " He’s growing up very abnormal, whose going to marry him?” (But then she would feel relieved that my mom wouldn’t have to part with her jewelry to a daughter-in-law.) Luckily, I got a scholarship at the age of 16 to go to the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, an international high school. I was so petrified of becoming the object of everybody's hatred again that I went into the closet and became paranoid about anyone finding out about my being gay. I went to the London School of Economics and studied economics ( a very respectable and normal major), then moved to the US and entered a Ph.D. program in economics at the University of Chicago, the most right wing school in the entire U.S, where I finally came out. Then, I moved to Los Angeles and I needed to get my Green Card to stay in the US, so I got a job as a market research analyst at Blue Cross of California (the job of my dreams!). After that, I did the corporate thing for several years, moving to New York with a prestigious management consulting firm, flying around the country with limos picking me up, working insane hours and then living recklessly on weekends, sometimes in leather and sometimes in drag. Basically I continued this lifestyle until I was so miserable that I started writing and performing in the evenings.

How did you discover comedy?
I wrote a comedy monologue that I performed at the Public Theater in New York, and then I somehow ended up taking a stand up comedy class and I have never looked back. I’ve always had a sense of humor and a unique ability to do characters. There was plenty of material for me in India with all the eccentric aunties and others, NY school teachers, ect. I had always entertained people and made them laugh, without ever realizing that I actually had a talent. I think my foray into stand up was influenced by seeing the work of people like Margaret Cho who were brave and brutally honest about their experiences. The most [ironic] part is that by talking about my painful, tormented childhood, I have gotten fairly well- known, in the south Asian and mainstream communities. I had a small appearance on NBC's Last Comic Standing, and then appeared on PBS, LOGO TV, MTV and several of the Asian channels. I have also on National Public Radio and WNYC, basically just talking about my life and experiences.

What material do you like to use for your stand up comedy acts?
I talk about my life: "I’m Indian, I’m Gay, I’m Screwed!!" I talk about the misery and torment of growing up as a gay boy in India and how my family and society have reacted to me. I also discuss my experiences as an immigrant in the US and being mistaken for a terrorist. I really go into my struggle to find identity in a world against so many pressures: the pressure to live against my nature, the pressure to pursue education in conservative fields like economics and to enter a career that I had no interest in, the pressure to fit into a society, family and community that had no place for homosexuality or any sort of differences. I talk a lot about these ironies in Indian families and society. I do this in a funny way though, with colorful characters and imitations.

Of all the pieces that you’ve written and performed which is the one that you think is the funniest?
That’s difficult to answer. I think the pieces based on my observations of younger South Asians today being into hip hop and aspiring to be like P Diddy and 50 Cent are funny. Suddenly you have all these South Asian boys with names like Deepak and Prakash doing those annoying moves with their fingers. Next they will be changing their names to something like Gunga Diddy or 50 Paisa.

How have people responded to your being gay and South Asian?
People have really admired the courage it takes to be openly gay and talking about my experiences as a gay South Asian. I sometimes do come across audiences that may be a little shocked, as they have never seen a gay South Asian before, leave aside a gay South Asian comic. But my challenge is to turn people around 180 degrees with my humor and show them that my life and experiences are not that different than their own, that we all have faced similar challenges and had to deal with similar pressures, expectations and hypocrisy. I have performed in pretty conservative settings and have had people come up to me and say that they really appreciated the honesty of my act, and that it has inspired them. I think most people really connect to my comedy and really laugh at my jokes because not only because it is funny, but because [I present] the painful truth and find the humor in it.

What projects are you currently working on?
I’m working on losing some weight (just kidding). I’m working on a one person show which would incorporate stand up comedy but would go much more into depth about some of my life experiences. I also have a tour lined up of all major US cities with an entertainment company that tours other comics and singers.

On a more personal note, who would be your ideal man?
My ideal man would be Gael Garcia Bernal, the guy from Y Tu Mama Tambien, Motorcycle Diaries and Bad Education. I know he’s young, but if he were a little older, he’d be perfect.

What is your favorite sex joke?
My mother is horrified that I like leather daddies, but not because I like big hairy men, it’s because their clothes are made from COW. I tell her "That’s why I get down on my knees and worship them!"

How would you respond to the old cliché that at heart all comics are really serious people?
I think that there is a lot of truth to that. There is a THIN line between comedy and tragedy. I think its the really difficult and tragic experiences that force us to look on the lighter side and to find humor. [Humor] is part of our survival mechanism. If you look at all the really well known comedians today-- Chris Rock, Margaret Cho—they’ve all had some pretty challenging life experiences. I definitely feel I have a social role. It is partly social commentary, but also a role of activism as a minority within a minority. [South Asia] is a pretty invisible minority in the US and [homosexuality] is an invisible minority within that minority. By being myself I can increase the visibility of both these minorities and all issues pertaining to them at the same time.