Sorabh Pant is a famous Indian stand-up comic and writer. Sorabh, along with Vir Das, is considered to be the pioneers of Indian stand-up comedy. He shot to fame when he opened for world-famous comedians Wayne Brady and Rob Schneider during their Indian tours.
Wiki/Biography
Sorabh Pant was born on Monday, 14 September 1981 (age 39 years; as of 2020) in Mumbai. He went to St. Mary’s School (ISC) in Mumbai. He did his B.Com. (1997-2000) and M.Com. (2000-2002) from Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics, Mumbai. [1]LinkedIn
A rare pic of Sorabh’s childhood
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 7″
Hair color: N/A (Bald)
Eye color: Black
Family & Caste
Parents & Siblings
His mother’s name is Sujata Pant and his father’s name is not known. Both are retired Income Tax Commissioners. His sister is renowned author and journalist, Meghna Pant.
Sorabh Pant with his family
Sorabh Pant with his sister
Relationships, Wife & Children
Sorabh married his girlfriend Iva Bagchi (a writer), on 12 February 2011 (Saturday). The couple has two kids. His son’s name is Vikramaditya and his daughter is Tara.
Sorabh Pant marrying his girlfriend
Sorabh with his kids
Signature/Autograph
Career
As a Writer
He started his career as a TV writer. He has written for shows on Pogo, Star World, CNBC, and ET Now. He also worked on the show “News on The Loose” with Vir Das.
Sorabh has also written 3 books. His first book, ‘The Wednesday Soul,’ was published in the year 2012. This book described life after death in a comical way. It was followed by ‘Under Delhi’ in 2014, a story about a girl fighting rapists in Delhi. His third book titled ‘Pawan: The Flying Accountant,’ was about a suicidal superhero. It was published in 2017.
Sorabh Pant’s book launch
As a Comedian
Sorabh started doing stand-up in 2008. In the beginning, he did opening acts for his mentor Vir Das. When asked about his first stand-up comedy experience, he said,
Horrific! I was opening for Vir Das in Delhi and I was thrown into the deep end with 500 people in front of me. I was given an 11-minute slot, I finished it in four minutes and I spoke even faster than I usually do. It was an epic disaster. In fact, the first 11 shows I did were disasters!”
He became famous after he opened for world-famous comedians Wayne Brady and Rob Schneider during their Indian tours. Wayne even described Sorabh as the second brilliant Indian comedian after Russell Peters.
Sorabh released his first special titled ‘Pant on Fire’ in 2009. Since then, he has done 5 more specials titled ‘The Traveling Pants,’ ‘Making Money For My Kids,’ ‘Born on Mars,’ ‘My Dad Thinks He’s Funny,’ and ‘Make India Great Again.’ The last two were premiered on Amazon Prime Video in 2017 and 2018.
Sorabh has done more than 2000 shows all over the world as of 2020. He is the prime choice for corporate shows and headlining at college fests. The Times of India rated him as one of the top 10 Indian stand-up comics. He was also listed no. 1 of the 30 most interesting Twitter users in India, in a poll conducted by IBN Live in March 2012.
He also performs almost all over India at the flagship events of Black Dog Easy Evenings.
Sorabh co-founded the comedy collective East India Comedy (EIC) in 2012 along with India’s top comedians like Sapan Verma, Sahil Shah, Kunal Rao, Azeem Banatwalla, Angad Singh Ranyal, and Atul Khatri. The group is famous for making YouTube videos, performing at corporate events, and comedy shows. The collective is known to be India’s busiest comedy company for making a record of 130 shows in the year 2013. He left EIC in 2017 to focus on his solo career.
Sorabh Pant with other members of EIC
He also has a podcast on his YouTube channel titled ‘Wake Up With Sorabh.’
Controversies
Sorabh attracted a lot of controversies, even received death threats for his contentious views on the beef ban, Narendra Modi, and Salman Khan. [2]Edexlive When he was asked about his controversial content, he said,
I too stay relatively neutral in my Rant of The Pant videos. I do believe in being open minded and discussing an issue. There is no conscious attempt to be fearless, but the idea is to do justice to the content.”
Favorite Things
- Food: Jumbo King’s brown bread vada pao
- Actor: Irrfan Khan
- Comedian(s): Jaspal Bhatti, Johnny Lever, Jon Stewart
- Books: Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy By Douglas Adams, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell By Susanna Clarke
- Sportsperson(s): Rahul Dravid, Saina Nehwal, Sushil Kumar
- Musician(s): Kishore Kumar, Freddie Mercury
Facts/Trivia
- Sorabh is an occasional drinker.
- His hobbies include playing cricket and traveling.
- According to him, he was the class clown during his college days. In an interview, he mentioned,
I’d dress up as a devil, go to juniors’ classes and promote events. I nearly got expelled thrice. Some people loved me, but the others hated me absolutely, exactly like the internet. So when I receive insults online, I am unshaken, because I’ve heard it all.”
Sorabh Pant during his college days
- During an interview, Sorabh mentioned that his first voter’s ID had his name as ‘Sulabh Pani.’ He also shared a funny story about his mother naming him Sorabh. He said,
My mother named me after the Persian legend of Rostam and Sohrab, where Rostam ends up stabbing his son Sohrab to death. Ever since that day, I’m keeping a distance from my father.”
References [ + ]