Everybody loves to hate Comedy Nights with Kapil

There are reports that Kapil Sharma whose show Comedy Nights with Kapil was taken off air recently will return with his team to another channel. Sony will host the comedian whose new show will be called Comedy Style.

Last weekend was the first time that Kapil's show was not shown on Colors. Raj Nayak, the CEO of the channel, hinted in an interview that there were insurmountable issues between the channel and the comedian relating to his pay and also, Kapil's displeasure at the opening of another show, Comedy Nights Bachao, on the Saturday prime time slot.

That show, helmed by Kapil's rivals Bharti Singh and Krushna Abhishek, rapidly climbed on the TRP charts, which miffed Kapil and expedited his divorce with Colors. To add insult to injury, Krushna and Bharti were asked to take over the slot left behind by Kapil's exit, and in the first episode telecast last week, they could not hide their schadenfreude.

Also read: No more laughs for Comedy Nights with Kapil

Ekta Kapoor appeared on their first outing with her Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 team and Krushna dressed as one of the endlessly suffering Balaji bahus. (Nearly all Indian television comedy thrives these days on drag. One of the most popular characters on Kapil's show was Gutthi, a rustic Punjabi woman who said the most offensive things innocently. The character was played by Sunil Grover.)

Throughout the first show there was a very obvious mission on Krushna's part to show Kapil down. In the very first scene, he made a snake-hood gesture and then lifted his palms up in the air to indicate disappearance. Viewers immediately noticed his reference to Kapil's trademark Babaji ka thullu, which the comedian used good-naturedly to spite his guest or make them the butt of jokes. (Babaji ka thullu is now a respectable brand in its own right, appearing on t-shirts and coffee mugs. Kapil has used it is some of his advertisements too, indicating how popular it is with sophisticated brand managers too.)

Also read: How Kapil Sharma made comedy a business of mocking women

Not only was Krushna's act in poor taste, the comedy was unexciting. Bharti reprised her role of a giggling child, which has been her stock-in-trade for many years now, but which had been (rightly) retired in her recent performances. Why she chose to bring it back for such a hugely popular primetime show defies logic. But the real downer was Krushna. This talented comedian, who has churned television gold with Sudesh Lahiri on Comedy Circus, was lacklustre. He seemed too sure of himself and it was impossible to escape the sense that he was gloating at the chance to evict Kapil.

It is no one's case that Kapil was perfect. His comedy often grated on the discerning viewer and some of the jokes did not land. But one thing about his show was unmistakable: the striking camaraderie among the cast. From the comedian himself to the other characters like the drunk Dadi and the lusty Bua who came together as a dysfunctional family, to Sidhu, the emcee and focus of attention, lovingly addressed as Paaji, everyone made for an unmissable ingredient in the rib-tickling recipe.

Against this background, the new Comedy Nights has a long way to go before it can fill in the big shoes it is trying to replace. Viewers balked, among other things, at Mika replacing Sidhu as the master of ceremonies. The two personalities are as different as chalk and cheese. Sidhu is a beloved former cricketer who, everyone agrees, laughs too much and often unnecessarily on the show. Mika is a popular singer who has a ribald reputation. The former makes for a natural patriarchal figure, funny if slightly cuckoo. The latter is plain bad taste.

Bharti, on her part, has assured viewers that the team will make greater effort to make audiences laugh. This was occasioned by the poor response to the show, reflected not just in negative feedback but also lower TRP numbers.

Also read: Eight running jokes on Comedy Nights with Kapil that openly mock women

With Kapil returning to Sony with his show, the fight to the finish has truly begun. It will also invariably engulf the respective channels, Sony and Colors, which have been locked in TRP battles in the past. When the makers of Bigg Boss shifted their popular show from Sony to Colors in 2007, the cheek of what was then a young upstart of a channel must have hurt Sony. Now the channel has a chance to revisit that episode and get back at its rival.

Overall, fun times lie ahead in the comedy space. We don't know who wins the final round but for now Kapil seems to have gained the upper hand by migrating his show to Sony. The viewer, as always, is the king as comedians, and channels, make every effort to woo him.