During his recent US-Canada tour, Indian stand-up comedian Gaurav Gupta sparked both laughter and debate with his witty comments
directed at a Pakistani audience member.
While doing his usual crowd work, Gaurav noticed the Pakistani attendee, following which he remarked, “We thought only artists were
banned, but even the audience is coming,” referring to the ban on Pakistani artists post the Pahalgam terror attack.
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Gaurav didn’t stop there; he went ahead and asked the person his real name and then his code name, followed by asking him to recite the
Hanuman Chalisa, which elicited further cheers and laughter from the audience.
Gaurav quickly clarified this was all in good humor, ensuring the atmosphere remained light-hearted.
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The incident, captured on video, went viral on social media, and while some appreciated the moment for what it was—satire and crowd work—many took offense and accused Gaurav of being insensitive and stoking cross-border tensions.
Social media couldn’t help nitpicking on this heartfelt exchange between two civilized citizens and managed to spin the incident into a
narrative-driven debate.
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Ironically, neither the comedian nor the Pakistani guy felt any outrage about the banter and took the exchange in the spirit of
comedy.
Some social media users pointed out that as border tensions between India and Pakistan persist, perhaps humor is a good tool to defuse the
heaviness on both sides.
