Krish Mohan brought laughter to Rocky Top when he performed his newest comedy set “Empathy on Sale” Wednesday night.
Every Wednesday, Scruffy City Hall holds an open mic night for standup comedy. This week was different — the Market Square bar brought in Krish Mohan to headline the night’s comedy.
As a self-described “nationally touring, socially conscious, Indian standup comedian and social vigilante,” Krish Mohan takes politics and big social issues seriously — but then he makes jokes about them.
Mohan touched on topics such as immigration, racism and capitalism. After his set, he stated that he does not shy away from controversial topics in his comedy because he hopes to start conversations and jumpstart personal growth.
“[Comedy helps you] learn and figure out what your belief systems are, what you wanna talk about, and who you are as a person,” Mohan said. “I wanna make sure I reach the people that I need to reach … people that care, that are interested in talking about this sort of stuff and can be a little more open-minded.”
He not only hopes that his comedy will start conversation, but that it might help bring people who think differently together
.
“I want people to have these sorts of discussions, but we aren’t going to have these kinds of discussions if we’re at each other’s throats … I want people to realize that we might disagree, but that’s okay. I don’t hate you, you’re not a bad person, we’re just coming from two different places … We should embrace our differences, not deny them,” he said.
Mohan noted that he loves coming to and performing in Knoxville because of its residents.
“Every time that I’ve come here, I’ve met incredible people doing amazing things … I’ve met some incredible people here, and that’s why I wanna come back. People enjoy the show and wanna talk to me afterwards, which helps me improve as a comedian.”
Judging by the laughter in Scruffy City Hall, plenty of audience members really were enjoying the show. Taggart Nadasdi, a freshman cinema studies major at UT, was a huge fan of Mohan.
“His standup was a good combination of comedy and sociopolitical commentary,” Nadasdi said after the show. “What is comedy, after all, if not social commentary?”
Knoxville is the first of five cities in which Krish will be recording his “Empathy on Sale” set. In the next few weeks, Mohan will be taking his unique take on standup to Huntsville, Memphis, Fayetteville, St. Louis, and Indianapolis.
