Dan Nainan, Indian Comedian

by

Dr George Pollard

Dan Nainan is shrewd. Bowling, he says, is a curious American sport. A black ball gets to knock down ten whities, with red necks.

His comment is ironic: I wonder why George Carlin didn\’t think of this first. The comment is satirical, in the Bill Hicks sense: it makes you think, twice, but Nainan works free of scatology. He also avoids sarcasm, the taunts, sneers or sharp cuts, which punctuate the comedy of Mike MacDonald and Louis CK.

Nainan came to comedy by way of Intel, the computer chip maker. \”I worked with Dr Andy Grove, when he was CEO of Intel. He\’d give a speech. I\’d explain a new technology.

\”Speaking to a live audience scared me.\” To get past his fear, Nainan joined Toastmasters, a club that helps women and men overcome a fear of public speaking. Then he took a comedy class, given by Judy Carter. She wrote \’The Comedy Bible.\’

\”My first jokes were about Andy Grove,\” says Nainan. \”I did impressions of him, too. His wife, Eva, cried with laughter when I performed my material about her husband at a private party.\”

A year or so later Intel gave Nainan new job that meant moving to New York City. \”Corporate America sent me to comedy heaven,\” says Nainan. When he started classes, with Steve Rosenfield, at the American Comedy Institute, his stand-up skills soared.

Jerry Seinfeld advised Nainan to work clean. \”He was right. Seinfeld said, if you work clean, you can work anywhere.\”

His advice \”opened a world of opportunity to me,\” says Nainan. \”There\’s no show I can\’t work, clubs, corporate events or television. You can bring your children, without fear of awkwardness.\”

Judy Carter advised Nainan to avoid comedy clubs. She said, \”Clubs pay you $25 a set and maybe an open bottle of water. If you do corporate events, you make ten thousand dollars a show; fly first class and sleep in a first class hotel room.\”

Ethnicity helps Nainan, too. \”I\’m half Indian and half Japanese,\” he says proudly. \”I get my sushi from 7-11.\” He has a ready audience. He can and does work all over the world.

\”Right now,\” says Nainan, \”my main focus is the Indian audience. I toured, for two years, with Russell Peters, a Canadian comedian of Indian heritage.\” Few, in the mainstream know of Peters, but he\’s an A-list comedian, who sold out the Barclay Center, in Brooklyn, NY, last November. \”The audience was mostly Indian,\” says Nainan.

Fittingly, Nainan shared the cover of the 10 March 2013 issue of \”Parade,\” with Brad Pitt and \”Honey Boo Boo,\” as part of the annual feature, \”What People Earn.\” The editors knew Nainan had learned to listen to the audience, the magic touch for entertainment success, and was on his way to the top of the A-list of comedians.

In this exclusive interview, Dan Nainan talks of comedy, today. How comedy is more business than show. How it calls for vision, hard work and focused determination.

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr George Pollard

Click, now, to read the complete Grub Street Interview with Dan Nainan.

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