15 Funniest Indian Comedians   

Comedian Mindy Kaling. Photo By Claire Leahy – Wikimedia

15 Funniest Indian Comedians   

Making people laugh can be an uphill task and comedians are generally brave people for taking up this role. There is no telling if your audience will find your jokes funny or lame. They risk it all by going on stage and hoping their creativity, research and observations pay off by having the audience laugh at their jokes.  

There are many Indian comedians. This list comprises those that were born in India plus those who were born elsewhere but have Indian parents or heritage. Here are the 15 funniest Indian comedians. 

1. Johnny Lever 

John Prakash Rao Janumala commonly known as Johnny Lever is an Indian actor and comedian, who is popular for acting in Bollywood movies. He was born on 14th August 1957in India. He started acting comedy on the streets, mimicking Bollywood stars, before proceeding to do stand-up comedy on the stage. He is very talented and so he moved up the ladder very fast.  

He has acted in over 300 films and has won the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role, twice.

You can read about Indian Influencers here.

2. Vipul Goyal   

Vipul Goyal is an Indian stand-up comedian and actor who is credited as the pioneer of clean comedy in India. He was born on 14th April 1986 in Rajasthan, India. He is a trained Engineer, and his genre is observational comedy.

Vipul is regularly invited to media forums for discussions on the Indian standup scene or his hilarious takes on current affairs. He regularly performs at colleges and companies all over the country and went on his first official tour starting in late 2016 which continued into 2017. 

He has his show with more than 50 million views on online videos. His content is based on topics like Indian dads, Facebook, engineering, Indian trains, dating, management, and politics.

3. Kunal Nayyar 

Kunal Nayyar. Photo By iDominick – Wikimedia Commons

Kunal Nayyar is a comedian and actor, best known for his role as Raj on The Big Bang Theory. He was born on 30th April 1981 in London to a family of Indian immigrants. He is British even though he was raised in Delhi, Indian, and lives in the United States where he moved in 1999 to study. 

He has a Master of Fine Arts in Acting. He is a successful actor and was listed by Forbes among the highest-paid actors in 2015 and 2018. He voices animations too, in projects like trolls and ice age.

4. Aditi Mittal 

Aditi Mittal is a smart and very funny Indian stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She is one of the first women to get into the comedy industry in India and has had performances all over the world since 2009. Aditi was born on 12th November 1985 in Mumbai, India.  

She joined the stand-up comedy scene after quitting her job in New York and moving to India. Her genre is observational comedy, and she speaks fluent English and Hindi. She also speaks French and Spanish but not fluently. She likes watching Tina Fey and Kristen Wiig.

Here is a list of Bollywood Comedy movies to watch.

5. Kal Penn 

Kalpen Suresh Modi is an actor and comedian commonly known as Kal Penn. He is known for his role in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas and as Kevin the therapist in How I Met Your Mother. He worked at the White House Office of Public Engagement when Obama was president. 

He was born on 23rd April 1977 in New Jersey, U.S. to Indian immigrant parents. He is proud of his heritage and says that his grandparents marched with Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian independence movement.  

6. Kanan Gill  

Kanan Singh Gill is an Indian stand-up comedian, actor, and YouTuber. He was born on 24th December 1989 in India and that is where he grew up. He started by writing funny songs in a band while he was still in school. Later when he got into employment, he quit his software engineering job to pursue a career in comedy.  

He made his debut on the big screen with the movie Noor, alongside Sonakshi Sinha. In 2018, he was also a judge on Comicstaan, a comedic reality TV show, on Amazon Prime Video. 

7. Mindy Kaling 

Comedian Mindy Kaling. Photo By Claire Leahy – Wikimedia

Vera Mindy Chokalingam, popularly known as Mindy Kaling, is an actress and comedian. She was born on 24th June 1979 in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Indian parents. She is one of the best and most popular Indian American actors. 

She is the co-creator of the miniseries known as four weddings and a funeral and is also popular for her role as Kelly Kapoor in ‘The Office’. She is also a co-creator of ‘Never Have I Ever’ a romantic comedy-drama series that is loosely based on her childhood experiences. 

8. Aziz Ansari 

Aziz Ismail Ansari is an award-winning American actor and stand-up comedian. He was born on 23rd February 1983 in South Carolina to his parents who were Indian Muslim immigrants. He was raised Muslim but says he is not religious.  

Aziz won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and a Golden Globe for best actor in a TV comedy for Master of None, a Netflix series. Interesting fact, both of his parents appeared in the first two seasons of that show. 

9. Russell Peters 

Comedian Russell Peters. Photo By gdcgraphics – Wikimedia

Russell Dominic Peters is a Canadian of Indian descent who is among the first Indians to achieve international success in the field of comedy. Apart from being a stand-up comedian, Russell is also an actor, producer, Hip hop DJ, MC plus TV, and Radio host. 

Peters was born on 29th September 1970 in Toronto, Canada. His parents had migrated from India, and he had to learn boxing because he was regularly bullied on account of his ethnicity. Russell is an atheist now although he was raised Catholic. 

10. Aishwarya Mohanraj 

Aishwarya Mohanraj is an Indian stand-up comedian, writer, Youtuber, and storyteller. She was born on 26th July 1994 in Mumbai. She first came into the limelight when she took part in a comedy competition and though she didn’t win, her progress and improvement have been significant.

This comedian writes content and scripts for comedy shows and loves singing. Furthermore, the audience loves her work, especially on her YouTube channel. 

11. Zakir Khan 

Zakir Khan. Photo By Panigrahiasmitku – Wikimedia 

Zakir Khan is an Indian comedian, actor, musician, and presenter. He was born on 20th August 1987 in Indore, India. He did not graduate from college He was born into a musical family, and he plays the sitar. Khan became famous when he won India’s comedy central.

He has released three two-hour shows in his career and has an active YouTube channel with more than six million subscribers. 

12. Hasan Minhaj 

Hasan Minhaj is an award-winning American comedian of Indian descent. He was born on 23rd September 1985 in Davis California to Indian Muslim parents who had migrated from India. Hasan is also a writer, producer, actor, and television host. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and works as a political commentator. 

His comedy is influenced by Dave Chappelle, Trevor Noah, Chris Rock, and Stephen Colbert among others.

Here are facts about Trevor Noah.

13.  

Neeti Palta is an award-winning Indian comedian, actor, and scriptwriter. She was born on 11th Feb 1980 in India. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delhi and worked in advertising before she joined the comedy world.  

Eddie Murphy is her role model. Neeti has an active YouTube channel where she posts her jokes. She is one of the most successful female comics in India and has even been on Comicstaan as a judge. 

14. Vir Das   

Vir Das is an Indian standup comedian, actor, and musician. He was born on 31st May 1979 in Dehradun, India. He was raised in both India and Nigeria. He does his jokes in English which makes them more relatable to a wider audience.  

As a musician, his songs are catchy and the lyrics will leave you in serious stitches. Tickets to his shows are always sold out and his live performances are very entertaining. 

15. Aparna Nancherla  

Aparna Nancherla. Photo By LBJ Library – Wikimedia

Aparna Nancherla is an American comedian and actress of Indian descent. Her parents migrated from India to the United States in the 1970s. She was born and brought up in Washington, D.C., on 22nd August 1982. She started her comedy career right after graduating from college and her sense of humor is quite something else. 

Aparna was featured in Laughing Matters, a 30-minute YouTube documentary where comedians discuss mental health.

Check out another list of Comedians here.