Johnny Lever is smiling because comedy is now serious business

Mumbai, July 31 In recent times, one of the renowned Marathi comedian-actor-mimicry artists Madhav Moghe passed away and Bollywood veteran Johnny Lever paid tribute to him. Looking back at this whole transformation of how the presence of comed used to be quite elementary back in the day in cinema to now, as youngsters are making it a full-time profession and counted as 'artists' by society, Johnny tries to analyse the change.

In conversation with , Johnny said, "I remember back in the day, when I was a youngster, doing a full-time job and in the free time looking for platforms to perform as a comedian, all the so-called elite clubs in Colaba wouldn't entertain a comedian. This used to be so 'unsophisticated' for them. I wondered why? Was is it our jokes that weren't relatable for them or were differences in sense of humour that created the barrier? I went to the Radio Club, Colaba and tried to observe people over there. Their coffee-table conversation, their sense of humour and realised it is a combination of both. Every joke has an audience, we have to serve it to the right place."

He went on adding, "But it is also true that for the longest time, the business of comedy was never taken seriously. That is why perhaps we, the stand-up comed, the mimicry artists were neither taken seriously nor given the respect and money we deserved. You see, we would travel with big celebrated artists and would get a small stage time, just for comic relief. Now, when I see all the youngsters, including my daughter Jamie