Men are the new mommies in town

Suman Kumar, who gave up his IT profession in Bengaluru to chase his dream of becoming an author, finished his first book Ranga Half-Pants in 2012, but did not attain significant recognition. Broke to bits, he accidentally stumbled upon stand-up comedy on a dare from a friend.  

Ever since comedy has become a part and parcel of his life.   When we ask Suman to reveal about his debut show in the city, he lights up and says, “Mr Mommy is about my growing up in a highly misogynistic, sexist small town. And about how I ended up as a stay-athome dad, allegedly breaking gender stereotypes (unwittingly, of course). 

Most of my stories are around my experiences as a stay-at-home dad, so I always knew my first solo show will be centered around it.” The artist, who collaborated with city-based comedians Sudarsan aka Soda and gang, has done a bunch of stand-up shows in Bengaluru and Hyderabad which garnered a great response from the audience. 

When we ask him if he is part of Chennai Comedy team, the comedian says, “The short answer is ‘no.’ When I entered the comedy scene, my aim was to stand apart and pursue with the unique concepts churned by me. I was very clear on the fact that I won’t be ‘the gang’ or the ‘and co’ of any group. This collaboration with Sudarsan gave me that platform to perform and get recognised as an individual.” 

On being the audience-favorite in such a short span, he says with a crooked smile, “I personally believe that my story-telling is engaging and intriguing. I talk about stuff that happens to us in our daily life; like trying to appear extra sober when drunk. 

About entitled people who order masala dosa and waste the masala!” The satirist mockingly adds, “When I do this stand-up show in Chennai, my primary goal will be to convince at least three men to become stay-at-home fathers and of course world peace. Well, I change diapers, so I believe that I have the power to change the world.”