By Harjas Singh
Nimesh Patel’s “Fast and Loose” comedy tour made a stop in Saint Louis, Missouri, and Sunday, November 19th at The Pageant. The show started at 8:11 pm and went on until 9:40 p.m.
Nimesh Patel, a 37-year-old award-winning comedian, came to Saint Louis for his current tour, Fast and Loose. Nimesh Patel's show focused on different topics such as Israel and Palestine, Mike Pence, his own vices, and other things.
Nimesh Patel took center stage for an amazing night of laughter and entertainment. Patel's style of jokes, his witty sense of humor, and his unique style were the same in person as he is on Instagram and TikTok.
Before Patel's show, two comedian openers took the stage. The first opener was JB Buchanan, who is a Saint Louis Native. He went from talking about Harriet Tubman on a Uhaul truck, to how to make a proper sandwich, to about his stepkids. The comedian mic was then passed to Aaron Porter, who is also a Missouri native from Pacific, MO. Aaron’s jokes were on his ex-girlfriend, current girlfriend, Pfizer, and Pacific, Missouri where he grew up. After Aaron Porter was done the main show we were waiting for was up next!
If anyone knows or follows Nimesh Patel always knows he has a drink of choice for his shows water anywhere from Acquafina, Dasani, Liquid Death, S.Pellegrino, and sometimes soda. For Nimesh’s show his choice of drink this time seemed to be water (the brand I couldn’t make out where I was sitting). Patel started the show off by first asking about how we all heard about his show. He then continued to start his first joke about Saint Louis which was a dark/edgy joke, our amazing City Museum, and how everyone told him to go there. But, he thinks that's where pedophiles go to see kids run around and run into things, so he isn't going to go there. He then went into talking about one vice he wanted to get rid of which was social media. This makes sense but ironically his fame somewhat grew on TikTok which is a social media platform as well.
He then continued to talk about his love/hate for traveling. In this part, he talks about how he purposely grows out his beard and upgrades his tickets to first class on a plane so that he can sit where everyone boards. Whoever walks into the plane can see him first so that he can tell them “salam alaikum” and that they “will have a safe and quick flight”... which is racist but it is a comedy show so you have to take it with a grain of salt. He also talks about how when he flies he loves taking edibles taking edibles and discusses the use of other drugs during the show to help him focus on writing more jokes, which was pretty funny when he acts out how he is on a plane after taking his edibles like the way he talks, looks around, behvaes in his seat, and the way he talks to other passengers as well.
Patel transitioned into talking about Hindu gods and goddesses, and the story of Ganesh and how Ganesh was born… well, Nimesh Patel's version of how it all went down. The way Patel did this was by taking that story and making it more relatable with slang and casual language and – - not so formal as most religious and historical stories/ text goes. When Patel talked about the time Ganesh guarded the door to not let anyone in while Parvati took her bath in the story, Shiva Parvati’s husband returned to their house. Ganesh who was guarding the house door had a conversation with Shiva in which Nimesh described the two characters talking to each other with Shiva asking Ganesh “Who the hell is you” and Ganesh responding “I’m Ganesh who the hell is you” and the language, style of telling the story, and characters continued as Nimesh told the story. Another funny/ sad part of the story is how Shiva beheads Ganesh and Parvati gets mad and tells him to find him a head. This religious story is more detailed and is explained differently, but the way Nimesh tells this story is enjoyable due to his use of modern language/humor. He had his jokes, put in but also taught others about Hinduism, and those who don’t know about Hindu gods can learn about Ganesh, Shiva, and Parvati and their story.
Nimesh isn’t scared, but is cautious when he jokes about current events that are happening in the world. At this show, he discussed Israel and Palestine. His wife is Jewish, so he made a joke about how he needs to be careful what he says at home or she’ll cut off his food and water supplies. He goes on to discuss what he thinks about what is happening in Israel and Palestine and just how terrible what is happening there. He admits it is hard to talk about something like that at a comedy show, but he is always asked to talk about it and does his best.
As someone who has been watching and following Nimesh Patel on TikTok, I have seen a lot of his content. A cool thing he did was that he brings up one of his previous shows on how he talks about one of his jokes about the Coast Coast and how people reacted to that joke. As someone who knows and follows his content, I knew exactly what show and joke he was talking about (the one in the TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRvyn5ek/). He made jokes about how if he was drowning and the Coast Guard came to save him, they wouldn’t because of the jokes he made, and how he would agree with them if they did that. He joked around here and there about them but ended that segment by saying how he does respect the Coast Guard. Yes, he might hurt some people’s feelings and whatnot but at the end, it is a comedy show. Many people might continue on like nothing but Nimesh has his fun but knows when to stop. Which is something I respect.
My favorite part of Nimesh's show was his part on Indians and also their superstitious beliefs. One example that he gave was that Indian parents tell you to not cut your nails at night. The reason is it is a bad superstition that makes no sense, but you have to follow it. Another one is if you are going out with three people in the car for some reason some Indian parents would give you something (like a coconut is what Nimesh used as an example) to help make it even in the car because having three people is superstitious, which is something relatable to people that I know (luckily not for me). As an Indian, I got superstitious the jokes, which made the show more interesting and enjoyable because of how relatable it was to me. He also discussed Indians and how their careers ranked like Engineer Indians, Medical Indians, Lawyer Indians are at the top, Finance and Business Indians in the middle, and then there are Liquor Store Indians. This made me and other Indians laugh because the structure of how it is set up is true in Indian society. Many Indians think about this structure about other Indians so to have a comedian touch on those points that are relatable was quite funny to experience.
Nimesh is also really knowledgeable with his jokes too. He studies his information and facts and is able to incorporate them into his jokes. "In one joke, he talked about a 1923 case, "United States vs. Bhagat Singh Thind," which if you want, you can search up and learn more about. But the way he was able to incorporate that case and how Indians were sent back to India after that case and came back to the United States to become the richest minority in the United States was quite interesting. I learned about a case that I had never heard about and heard a joke at the same time that was done nicely by Patel.
The night concluded, with Nimesh Patel thanking everyone that came. After being a fan of his comedy and following him for some years, I can gladly say it didn’t disappoint me. Jokes and things he has mentioned in his show I can remember watching his TikTok and relating to what he is mentioning or sitting there and being like “I have heard that joke before,” “That joke never gets old,” “It’s funnier hearing it in person,” etc. He brings some of his previous content that I have seen on his TikTok but it was nice how he had some content that I have never seen or heard before. Which was nice to experience the new jokes as well which some of them he created with the help of his edibles most likely while flying. His comedy shows are lighthearted, draws from cultural and social norms to create jokes, does a great job of storytelling with comedic jokes, does a decent job engaging with the audience, and best of relatable humor. He finds a way to bring all walks of life together with his comedic styling and makes it really enjoyable. Best of all is how he laughs at his own jokes, because for some reason the way he laughs at them after saying them makes it so much better. Overall he is a great comedian and someone I will be going back to watch if he comes back to Saint Louis again.