Vir Das entertaining the crowd at Provogue Lounge in Mumbai on 8 April

Well, not exactly. But the channel that intends to promote its on-air shows with some parallel ground activity, has already tasted success with a trial show of stand up comedian Vir Das doing his act at the Provogue Lounge at the Phoenix in central Mumbai last week. Next, it plans to take the activity to other metros like Delhi and Bangalore. Says Star India senior vice president, content and communications, Deepak Segal, "The thought was to take this on-air proposition of "Absolutely Comedy" on ground and build a strong association in the minds of our core audiences. In addition we wanted to bring stand-up comedy to these audiences, a concept extremely successful abroad, but alien in India."

Argues Segal, "Many of the stars of Star World comedies got their starts as extremely successful stand-up comedy acts: Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond), Drew Carey (The Drew Carey Show),David Spade (Just Shoot Me), Tim Allen (Home Improvement), et al. We wanted to capture the "Absolutely Comedy" experience on-ground through the medium of stand-up comedy."

Star World has tried the live night concept earlier too. During the launch party for shows like Just Shoot Me and Monk, the channel roped in theatre person Mahbanoo Mody Kotwal for an act to give a flavour of the comedy band. Plans for a "comedy club" / "comedy nights" have been on the anvil for a while now, says Segal. "We were looking for someone who had done lots of stand-up comedy. We had heard about Vir Das and that he had notable success in the genre, both in India and in the States. We went through tapes of his past performance and were convinced that we had found just the talent to kick off the "Absolutely Comedy Nights".

Needless to say, the TG being wooed is the core Star World audience - the highest SEC, affluent, and extremely loyal to Star World . The channel is starting off with the metros, and if the response in all the metros is encouraging, it could move to the smaller cities too, says Segal.

Take away a Mody Kotwal and a Vir Das, and India probably will not have many artistes who can sustain a stand up comedy night series in English. Segal however believes that stand-up comedy is an emerging and growing genre of performance in India. "We have been in touch with a number of artistes who we believe have the potential to be great stand-up comics. We believe strongly that lack of artistes will never be an inhibiting factor for the series," he says.

If and when the concept of 'Absolutely Comedy Nights' takes hold, Star World intends to explore other options and formats, as well as consider other outlets in some other popular hangouts frequented by the core Star World audience.