The material on my live shows will be an extension of my material online: Superwoman aka Lilly Singh
Mumbai: She may have started her comic stint on YouTube and garnered a subscriber base of 53,57,119 online, but viral sensation Lilly Singh aka Superwoman is ready to take her act offline in a big way. On March 20, Singh announced an upcoming stand-up comedy world tour that includes four Indian cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — called A Trip to Unicorn Island. It will take place in May and has been organized by Digital video entertainment brand Culture Machine. The visibly excited 26-year-old admits that the feeling is unparalleled. “It’s probably the most nerve-racking thing I’ve done. Even when I was on stage announcing it I was thinking to myself, is this the real thing? Is this happening? It’s overwhelming,” she tells us.
Known for her take on everyday happenings, the Indo-Canadian vlogger isn’t too worried about being offensive or inappropriate on stage. “The material on my vlog is very PG 13 anyway, so I’m not worried about stuff being very offensive. The material on my live shows will be an extension of my material online. Having said that, the audience for stand-up is different everywhere, so you have to culturally aware, to not upset anyone.”
A common question that comes Lilly’s way by wannabe vloggers is, “how do you get famous online” and “how do you make money out of it”.
“I tell them that those are two very wrong reasons to want to start a YouTube channel and with that attitude, you probably won’t get too far. The only rule for making videos is that you do stuff that you like. However good you are, you’ll never beat the cat videos! So just make sure you have fun making them. That way even if people didn’t enjoy watching it, at least you had fun making it,” she says.
What about the hate comments and trolling that are part of the online world? Does it bother Superwoman? “If anyone tells you that it doesn’t, they’re lying. Of course it starts bothering you less over time, but it does. I’ve been told to go die, that I look like a witch or been made fun of for my brown skin. But the key is to focus on the positive comments,” she says.
Speaking of positive comments, Lilly is admittedly, spoilt by them. “The last time I was in Mumbai, a guy proposed to me at McDonalds. I would have agreed if he was holding fries!” she says. But that’s not the only time she was flattered. “It was a very validating experience when Shah Rukh Khan called me to his home because his daughter’s a huge fan. He told me that at times when he can’t sleep at night, he watches my videos. I wanted to record that line and save it as my ring tone! He also gave me a watch and a custom-made blazer that he asked me to wear when I play Manjeet (the dad character Lilly portrays in her comic skits). I haven’t worn it yet, it’s lying in a case at home.”
Any word for her fans? “I have no fans because I am no celebrity. I call them Unicorns, Team Super or Family,” she says. “The message, would be ‘one love’,” signs off the Bob Marley fan.
