மதுரை வீரன் தானே!

Another draft resurrected from April 2021. 

It was a difficult time - Appa had been admitted into hospital. But something made me write about Madurai Muthu. Of all why would I choose to write about this man, one would think. 

He is known to many of us 90s kids and elders, who is a regular viewer of Kalakkapovadhu Yaru in Vijay TV. First of its kind TV show with a determined purpose to make people laugh. The show had an array of men (KPY Nisha et al entered much later in the franchise) performing skit / parody / spoof / mimicry / slapstick / mockery to showcase their talents, each excelling in their own forte. But this man, preferred the long-standing technique of standup comedy. The traditional stand-up where he stands in front of a mic and tells joke after joke after joke.

Dry, you may think. But unlike memorizing some monologue and performing, this is much different. It needs planning - prepare the jokes, rehearse it with good audience, perform in front of people, dynamically change the order based on audience reaction, infuse one or two own tracks and most of all - keep the options open. The branching-off technique can enable you to choose one particular topic and go endless with many plan B's. For eg, you start a train joke, get a good response, suddenly branch off saying - "Ipdithan parunga, innoru naal, vera oru train la,....." and it goes on and on.

This type could be my favourite, and hence I am vouching for Muthu. But the real reason why it became my favourite is my Appa. He has this knack of traditional 'stand-up' comedy. I must say, man has got talent. His timing is impeccable. You give him a stage and time, he's up for the challenge anytime without hesitation. To be honest - the audience can be one or many, He can crack as many jokes as possible, that too flavoured with light Nellai accent. There were instances in my school and family functions where he had to temporarily take up the stage because the original chief guest cancelled last minute. Towards the end of his act, he gives a thought-provoking question or statement which has a feel-good factor. Now you know why Madurai Muthu is my favourite.

Appa is my idol in humor sense and humor science. All my childhood, my interest was getting shaped to enjoy and appreciate good humor, and create good humor. Any tense situation can be made laughable. All I'm saying is some people got it natural, some try to acquire. Whichever the way, as long as you can have a good laugh, medically it is good. Life becomes simpler and even when everything goes wrong, you have the satisfaction of one good laugh.

After a long gap, I was happy to watch Muthu enter as a judge in last KPY season. And that continued when he came in as a contestant / special guest / repeat cameos in the Cook With Comali Season 2. Throughout his journey in CWC 2, amidst all controversies, I was happy to see him fire jokes with whatever limited time and challenging/overpowering newcomers he had. He innovated himself - 'thunukku jokes' Muthu transformed into doing property comedy, body language reactions and what not. It was not his forte, lets be honest. But a creative comedian always has the right spirits. Age difference, experience, sabotaging the comedy, counters and not giving a chance - nothing deterred him. He was unstoppable till the finals. The way Simbu enjoyed the Mambalam joke and the Egmore joke like a kid, is a true testimony.

The way he handled Shivangi's timing counter, and also talked maturely about it in the interviews shows his value. A childhood icon remaining one's true icon even after you grow up, without any controversy, all a fan(boy) could ask for. Amidst all other differences of thoughts with his recent speeches and commentaries, for me - Muthu will continue to be an icon in the comedy business. Appa too!

After all, மதுரை வீரன் தானே!!!