Manan Desai

Having grown up in Gujarat, Manan Desai was all too familiar with the quirks of his community. “We have started naming our children Jesus Mehta and Simple Patel in the hope that these western-sounding names will help us secure a visa,” he says with much seriousness. Known for cracking jokes with a poker face, Desai is the face and the mind behind The Comedy Factory, a small group of people who have taken the urban Gujarati comedy scene by storm. Now, he is set to give Mumbai a taste of his wry humour, with A-Shuddh Gujarati, a 75-minute act on Saturday at the Canvas Laugh Club. In the first of its kind Gujarati-cum-English language gig, Desai hopes to deconstruct the Gujju stereotype.