By Willie Gordon Suting
Comedy and magic delight us as we are always filled with a sense of wonder. On June 23, Mikado a restaurant at Hotel Pine Borough brought stand-up comedian Abhineet Mishra and comic illusionist Manas Tayal to Shillong audiences.
Mishra, a Shillongite who completed his B.A from St Edmund’s College, left the audience laughing and giggling with his jokes on marriage and relationships. He satirised arranged marriage and love relationships. There were also jokes on headlines in the media of actor Salman Khan and on parenting where parents often dote their children.
Tayal performed rope tricks as he divided a long rope into many parts of equal length without cutting. He then began joining the ropes and also made them disappear. The audience was enthralled.
The illusionist made a signed card of an audience member appear out of his mouth from a pack of shuffled cards. He also made three rings connect together. Tayal also showed his skill in reading the minds of some members in the audience. With his drawing book, he easily predicted words from pages in books and predicted the type of cards in the hands of the audience.
His last act was of joining eight pieces of a newspaper which he tore.
Mishra made his name with the Kill or Die Stand-up Comedy Competition organised by Canvas Laugh Club of Mumbai in which he won. He had shared the stage with top stand-up comedians like Nishant Tanwar, Abhijeet Ganguly and also performed for corporates and college shows.
“There’s immense joy and satisfaction when I see the audience laugh knowing maybe they went through a rough day,” Mishra says and adds that he would like to perform again in Shillong as the audience was brilliant.
Tayal’s biggest achievement so far was performing in a show for 5,000 people in Australia. He says he worked very hard to perfect his craft in the early years after leaving engineering college.
“The scene in India is growing. It is all about practice and hard work,” is the illusionist’s message for young enthusiasts.
Mikado is an upcoming restaurant that desires to promote performing arts in Shillong. It had hosted the NH7 Weekender Pre Party on October 19, 2016.
Mishra is part of the jury for a comedy hunt in Mikado that started on Saturday. The person who wins the final selection on July 7 will get a chance to perform with acclaimed comedian Nishant Tanwar on July 8 in Guwahati, who is in his Maha Cool Tour, Mikado being the Shillong venue.
