Milestones
| August 1998 | Officially performs stand-up for the first time at Go Bananas Comedy Club in Montgomery, OH |
|---|---|
| August 1999 | Wins the amateur field of the Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest @ Go Bananas Comedy Club |
| March 2000 | Opens for Dave Chappelle at University of Cincinnati (sold-out 900 people) |
| 2000 – 2003 | Stops live performing to write material and develop on-stage persona:) |
| May 2003 | Opens for Kevin James at the Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, OH (sold-out 2400 people) |
| April 2004 | Writes first blog |
| May 2004 | Performs at the M Bar in Hollywood, CA |
| February 2005 | Opens for Russell Peters for the first time at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH |
| July 2005 | Wins the professional field of the Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest @ Go Bananas Comedy Club |
| July 2005 | Opens for Kevin Nealon at the Funny Bone in Newport, KY |
| July 2005 | Lands on front cover of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the city’s most widely-read newspaper |
| July 2005 | Wins voting contest and is named “P&G’s Funniest Employee” by Q102, Cincinnati’s #2 FM radio station |
| August 2005 | Records first podcast, which appears in iTunes |
| September 2005 | Does first TV interview (Fox 19 morning news) |
| August – September 2005 | Appears on four different radio stations around Cincinnati as a result of being the Funniest Person in Cincinnati |
| September 2005 | Performs at Gotham Comedy Club in New York City |
| September 2005 | Opens for Dave Chappelle at the Funny Bone in Newport, KY – his very 1st show after returning from Africa |
| October 2005 | Opens for Russell Peters at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, WA (sold-out 1900 people) |
| October 2005 | Performs first feature week at Wiley’s Comedy Club in Dayton, OH |
| November 2005 | Performs first feature week at Go Bananas Comedy Club in Cincinnati, OH |
| November 2005 | Opens for Dave Chappelle at his home club of Wiley’s in Dayton, OH |
| January 2006 | Opens for Russell Peters on home turf at the Funny Bone in Cincinnati |
| May 2006 | Moves to Los Angeles, CA |
| June 2006 | Appears on The Gary Burbank Show on Cincinnati 700 WLW |
| June – July 2006 | Takes 2nd hiatus of career for acclimation to LA |
| August 2006 | Gets on stage for 1st time after the move |
| September 2006 | Goes full-time |
| September 2006 | Performs at The World-Famous Comedy Store in LA for the first time |
| October 2006 | Performs at The World Famous Laugh Factory in LA for the first time |
| October 2006 | Launches The Funny Indian Newsletter as a monthly occurrence |
| November 2006 | Opens Russell Peters’ LA shows to crowds of 1200 and 1800 |
| November 2006 | Performs for 10,000 people in North Carolina |
| November 2006 | Performs an hour-long set for first time |
| November 2006 | Returns to P&G for first show since leaving this esteemed company |
| December 2006 | Unveils new image as “Your High-Brow, Fun-Size Comedian” |
| February 2007 | Features at the Improv with Kevin Nealon, at his request |
| February 2007 | Lands college representation |
| February 2007 | Passes audition for The Groundlings |
| February 2007 | Crosses 5,000 MySpace Friends |
| March 2007 | Lands commercial representation and goes on first audition |
| April 2007 | “Passes” showcase to feature in Midwest Funny Bones |
| May 2007 | Designs and unveils T-shirts |
| May 2007 | Does 75 minutes of clean material to an audience ranging in age from 10- to 80-years old |
| June 2007 | Performs at the Hermosa Comedy & Magic Club for the first time |
| June 2007 | Performs at the Hollywood Improv for the first time |
| July 2007 | Launches IndianComedians.com, the world’s first Indian booking agency |
| July 2007 | Runs first-of-its-kind user-generated content program with Tremor, P&G’s word-of-mouth agency, for teens to submit & vote on jokes to be performed in LA comedy club |
| July 2007 | Shoots first TV commercials |
| July 2007 | Launches The Funny Indian Fan Club on Facebook |
| August 2007 | Is Interviewed on XM’s National Lampoon Radio channel |
| August 2007 | Has video accepted as submission on Current TV’s website |
| September 2007 | Tapes 30-min set as part of Indian Invasion Comedy DVD |
| October 2007 | Co-headlines Make Chai, Not War, a Hindu-Muslim comedy showcase, in DC, to an audience of 550 |
| November 2007 | Hosts 2007 Bollywood Music & Fashion Awards for an audience of 4500 |
| December 2007 | Returns to home club of Go Bananas Comedy Club in Cincinnati to feature |
| December 2007 | Hosts AVS, a weekly Bollywood TV news show |
| January 2008 | Lands IMDB page |
| January 2008 | Is featured in LA Times |
| February 2008 | Lands the #35 spot on the Top 50 Coolest Desis of 2007 |
| February 2008 | Appears on Sirius Satellite Radio’s Channel Howard 101 – Jackie The Jokeman Martling’s hour-long show |
| February 2008 | Hosts AVS for the 2nd time |
| February 2008 | Passes 1,000 friends on Facebook within a year |
| March 2008 | Records first collaboration with Melanie Kannokada |
| March 2008 | Showcases at the APCA National Conference |
| April 2008 | Gains first mainstream TV credit by taping for Bill Bellamy’s Who’s Got Jokes? |
| April 2008 | Passes 2nd showcase at Laugh Factory |
| May 2008 | Begins taping own talk show for Pan Desi |
| May 2008 | Kicks off motivational speaking career by talking to NFL rookies about personal branding |
| June 2008 | Opens for Jo Koy |
| June 2008 | Does first international shows – in Geneva, Switzerland, for P&G |
| June 2008 | Decides to pursue comedy full-time beyond self-imposed 2-year deadline, given achievement of financial goal for Year 2 (three months early) |
| July 2008 | Receives approval of trademarks for Funny Indian and Your High-Brow, Fun-Size Comedian |
| July 2008 | Releases point-of-view |
| August 2008 | Co-hosts first show with Melanie Kannokada |
| September 2008 | Gets signed by comedy management firm Messina Baker Entertainment |
| October 2008 | Becomes Laugh Factory Regular |
| October 2008 | Becomes Improv Regular |
| November 2008 | Returns to Cincinnati to feature again for Kevin Nealon |
| November 2008 | Hosts 3 shows in 3 weeks at new Long Beach Laugh Factory, billed as world’s largest comedy club |
| December 2008 | Quoted in The Wall Street Journal |
| December 2008 | Hired VP of Marketing for FunnyIndian.com |
| January 2009 | Tied longest set (75 minutes), this time for a majority non-South Asian crowd |
| January 2009 | Began improv classes at Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) |
| March 2009 | Got a good review from Bob Saget after Hollywood Laugh Factory set |
| March 2009 | Auditioned (first time) for the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival |
| March 2009 | Performed in the Main Room at the Comedy Store |
| April 2009 | Finished “Material Document” – every joke written… Times New Roman, Font 12, single-spaced… 130 pages… and counting |
| April 2009 | Did 3rd (sold-out) Make Chai, Not War show with Azhar Usman and Paul Varghese |
| May 2009 | Performed at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd. |
| May 2009 | Opened for Maz Jobrani at the Irvine Improv |
| May 2009 | Hosted Bruin Bhangra, the largest South Asian collegiate event on the West Coast |
| May 2009 | Had best standup financial month ever |
| May 2009 | Surpassed 1,000,000 views on YouTube videos |
| June 2009 | Opened 8 shows for Russell Peters at the DC Improv |
| July 2009 | Announced launch of Funny ‘Cause It’s True, consulting program that uses comedians to generate marketing insights |
| July 2009 | Broke own record for longest show – 80 minutes |
| August 2009 | Booked and shot first network national commercial (Walgreens) |
| August 2009 | Opened for Kathleen Madigan at Hermosa Comedy & Magic Club |
| September 2009 | Toured India for the first time – 2 shows in Bangalore (performing 1-hr sets) and 1 in Kolkata |
| September 2009 | Debuted one-man show (as a two-person show w/ Melanie Kannokada) to a sold-out, standing-room-only crowd in Chicago |
| October 2009 | Opened for Tim Allen multiple times at the Laugh Factory |
| October 2009 | Graduated from Upright Citizens Brigade Improv 201 class |
| November 2009 | Headlined the Cincinnati Funny Bone for the 1st time, doing 50 & 75 minutes |
| November 2009 | Featured for Kevin Nealon at the Cincinnati Funny Bone, appearing w/ him for the 3rd straight year |
| December 2009 | Passes 3,000 friends on Facebook |
| December 2009 | Appeared on Extra, bringing up Tim Allen to the stage at Laugh Factory |
| December 2009 | Prepares to go out for pilot season for the 1st time |
| March 2010 | Made the quarterfinals of Last Comic Standing |
| April 2010 | Debuts “Randomly Selected,” a corporate diversity presentation, at Bayer Pharmaceuticals |
| April 2010 | Books a plethora of schools for 2010/11 at NACA Northern Plains |
| April 2010 | Signed across-the-board (theatrical, hosting) at Innovative Artists |
| May 2010 | Graduates from UCB 401, completing the “undergrad” curriculum at UCB |
| May 2010 | Takes 8-day writing hiatus for one-person show and new ideas |
| June 2010 | Earns first network TV credit as Last Comic Standing episode airs on NBC |
| July 2010 | Re-launches The Funny Indian Show podcast online and on New York radio station |
| July 2010 | Creates Facebook Funny Indian Fan Page |
| July 2010 | Features for Sebastian Maniscalco at Ontario Improv |
| August 2010 | Opens for Orny Adams, the “other guy” in the Jerry Seinfeld documentary, Comedian |