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11th annual Desi Comedy Fest returns to Bay Area
The festival was launched in 2015 to address the lack of South Asian representation in American stand-up.
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Staff Reporter - Tue, 15, Jul 2025
- 17:13 EDT
- 25
Desi Comedy Fest / YouTube (Desi Comedy Fest)
The 11th edition of Desi Comedy Fest, America’s largest South Asian comedy festival, is set to commence Aug.15.
The festival will open at the Improv Comedy Club in San Jose and continue at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco on Aug. 17. The San Jose venue seats approximately 450 attendees, with ticket prices ranging from $47 to over $170.
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This year’s lineup includes performers with roots in Bangladesh, India, Haiti, Zambia, Canada, and the United States. Among them are Ali Mehedi, whose solo show Made in Bangladesh sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe; Aurora Singh, a Sacramento-based comedian of Haitian and Indian descent; New York’s Bassam Shawl, named a “Comic to Watch” by the New York Comedy Festival; and Bhavya Shah, a blind comedian and Stanford student who rose to prominence on India’s Got Talent.
Also performing are Nitish Sakhuja, a Canadian-born comic based in Los Angeles, and San Francisco-based Vivek Venugopal, who has performed internationally with improv groups including Speechless Live!.
Started by co-founders Samson Koletkar and Abhay Nadkarni as a response to growing cultural divides, the festival has consistently spotlighted comedians whose stories span the South Asian diaspora. Over the past decade, it has developed into a platform for comics to explore themes of identity, immigration, and life in America.
Desi Comedy Fest / Desi Comedy Fest Poster
"Desi Comedy Fest isn't just about comedy, it's about building community," says co-founder Abhay Nadkarni. "It’s about bridging differences through laughter, breaking stereotypes, and reminding people that humor is a universal language."
“We created Desi Comedy Fest to represent the stories we grew up with funny, awkward, honest, and often unspoken,” says co-founder Samson Koletkar. “It’s more than a show, it’s a celebration of identity, one punchline at a time.”
Koletkar, founder of Comedy Oakland and headliner of the Mahatma Moses Comedy Tour, has been featured on NPR, NBC, CBS, NDTV, and The Times of India.
Nadkarni, raised in Doha and Bangalore, was named a New Face at Just For Laughs Montreal and co-produces The Setup, a speakeasy-style show in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Over the years, Desi Comedy Fest has appeared at SF Sketchfest, Just for Laughs, and toured in Canada and India.
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