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For some, they got there through podcasting or YouTube.
For Nimesh Patel,it was TikTok.
After joining the app two months into the quarantine, Patel amassed over 1 million followers.
Your rise on this platform has been incredible.
I was thinking,All right, I gotta figure out this unemployment form.
What am I going to do?The first jokes from my special were from quarantine.
Then I realized,Oh, people are just online right now, stuck at home doing stuff.
The first stand-up clip that I put out, I think it was an Indian joke about Indian cops.
It did, like, crazy numbers, like 3- or 400,000 views.
In March 2020, did you ever think,Ill be a theater act real soon?
By May 2021, I was booked for the year.
It was very clear what my trajectory was.
I obviously joke, What if I ruin comedy for you?
Its a fun thing to be peoples first live stand-up comedian that theyve ever seen.
I went to the Comedy Cellar, I walk in, Chappelles onstage.
The first comedian I ever saw live was Dave Chappelle.
He made fun of me while I walked in because I had a backpack on.
Hes like, Your skins a little too … Ill want to check your bag.
And now Im the first comedian some other impressionable 20-year-old is ever going to see.
Do you have to do any hand-holding?No.
I said,Look, anything I ask you, your answer doesnt matter.
Its just the pivot point for whatever I want to talk about.
Im just good at making it seem like a conversation.
But were not really having a conversation.
I know where to go.
I take a stab at do some version of that at the shows just so people know the tone.
This is what comedy is to me.
These are my jokes.
If youre not okay with it, theres no refunds.
But trust me, youll have a good time like this.
Im not here to hurt your feelings or anything like that.
If your feelingsarehurt, again, I already have your money.
So just enjoy it and have a good time.
You laugh at your own jokes a lot.
I love the audience.
Im there for them as much as they are for me.
Like,Oh, Ive said it.
Im up there having a good time.
I just think about how I could have been a lot funnier in my reaction.
I give myself like a C, C-plus on the show itself.
And thats all I think about now.
