Gajen Nad - Make People Happier & Smarter (Stand-Up Comedian)

A joke simply consists of setup and punchline. In layman's term, setup is the story and punchline is the twist. That's it. Once you go on stage, you will learn the most.

1. How and when did you choose comedy as a career?

I officially started stand-up comedy back in Feb 2012. However, the story goes back to 2009 when I entered Monash Talent Night competition (Monash University). I told some jokes and won 2nd place. Those jokes were horrendous when I recall them now haha. 

Since then, my university kept asking me to perform stand-up comedy on a yearly basis for 1 event. I recorded a few performances and uploaded on youtube, 1 of my friends saw and told me to perform officially in public shows. 

On February 2012, I performed my 1st ever public stand-up comedy show. It was a 5 mins open mic spot and I'm glad I did well. Since then, everything took off.


2. What type of content do you enjoy producing the most and is the most challenging?

Enjoy the most: Definitely roast sessions. I do it on my Insta story where my followers can type stuff into the 'questions function' and I will roast them hahaha. Of course, I put a note: Don't type if you can't take a roast. 

Most challenging: I have an online talk show series called 'What's Going On Lah?' where I talk about the current news. The most challenging one would be topics where I don't have much knowledge on as I'll need to do a lot of research. Then, I'll have to make it educational and funny which is not easy.


3. Do you prefer digital as a medium or do you enjoy doing live gigs more and why?

Live gigs! Because I'm not a fan of editing videos on Premiere Pro. I also hate typing subtitles lol!


4.People, who are interested in taking up stand-up comedy as a profession, do they need a funny bone or they can develop one?

They can develop of course. For starters, they can sign up at a comedy open mic show in their respective cities (if there is) and prepare a 3-5 mins comedy set. A joke simply consists of setup and punchline. In layman's term, setup is the story and punchline is the twist. That's it. Once you go on stage, you will learn the most. Practical>Theory


5. How stable is being a stand-up comedian as a profession in Malaysia? And what is the future of this profession?

Definitely not easy. In Malaysia out of 30mil+ people, there are only 10-20 English performing stand-up comedians who are successful (financially independent & stable). Most of the high paying gigs come from corporate events. 

Stand-up comedy in Malaysia is still at a birth stage. It is growing but not exponentially, maybe linearly. I hope that changes with the help of Netflix churning out more Asian comedy content.


6. What impact do you want to make in this world?

Make people happier & smarter.


7. Which is your favourite book and why?

Unfortunately, I don't read books because I have a short attention span. I enjoy reading short online articles that are related to finance, management, economy, productivity, investment, technology, etc.


- Gajen Nad (Stand-up comedian. Emcee. Content creator Actor. Podcaster. Live Streamer)

Started part-time in 2012 when he was an engineering student at Monash University. Then, he worked as an IT consultant in Accenture. In 2018, he left his job to pursue comedy & emcee full-time. A.K.A Malaysia’s 1st Chindian comedian (Chinese-Indian) & known for clean jokes. He doesn’t use vulgarity, sex & religious contents. His jokes topics: diversity, family, work, news, movies, relationships & travelling.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gajen.nad
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gajen.nad/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GajenComedy
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gajen_nad
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gajen-nad/
Website: https://www.gajennad.com/


Interviewed By Akshaya Rathinavadivel