Q. What's the most important thing about writing something funny?
A. Sensitivity. People, places things. You need to be aware. In my experience, the biggest comedians are some of the most informed people you will meet, especially the ones who write their own material. You need to notice farce absurdities. You also need to take a step back, distance yourself and not be attached, to see the funny side of things. 

Q. Stand-up in India is new a format...
A. Yes. Humour in writing has been around forever. I was researching ancient mathematics and you should see the kind of putdowns one mathematician wrote to the other. Busy Bee was my favourite. His observations of Mumbai were classic. There’s lots of humour in local languages too. I could never do stand-up. The idea of not being able to edit is scary.