Political stand-up comedy is slowly but steadily becoming popular in the City of Joy.
It is almost an underground show: Five small tables with waiters buzzing around with coffee and a whole lot of young boys who call themselves 'Comedified', a group trying to inject stand-up into the City of Joy.
There are no girls among them at this venue, located in Mamata Banerjee's constituency ("Please don't name us. We don't want any trouble," they request NDTV).
"There are one or two but that's because we are just starting in the city," said Sourav Goyal who tells us that they do the open-mike sessions for free on weekdays just to spread the word in the city.
The text is all about politics but the laughter rises above political affinities. There are no holy cows. From the Chief Minister to the leaders of the Left, even the recent flyover tragedy is the subject of jokes.
"I was watching TV news and someone said the previous government was responsible. Another said, no, no, this government was responsible. You have to admit that (there are) too many people in Kolkata. You were breathing a little easier after that," said one comic to somewhat nervous laughter from the small audience.
"Elections are here, voters feel like a bride," said another during his performance. "My boss is so pro-blue and white (the colours TMC has painted Kolkata in), he makes his wife wear blue and white lipstick," said another. The audience laughs out louder this time. It is mostly students and the performers' friends. Everyone's just starting out. Even the audience.
For a long time, the image Kolkata presented was of a zone where Facebook jokes about the ruling government would land you in jail like the Jadavpur University professor, who is now fighting the election.
One after the other, the one-liners flowed for 90 minutes:
"If it is a democracy, why do I have to vote? Has the deserving guy ever won- stopped watching Indian idol when Abhijeet Sawant won..."
"Mamata Banerjee said when she came to power, bandhs had to stop.. How can Mamata take credit for doing this when in power? She was the only one doing the bandhs!"
"I think Bengal is a land of opportunities - it's given 34 years to Left, and now to Mamata."
"I heard TMC workers were offended at a woman smoking - that's the first time I heard a Bong be offended by smoking."
Comic Sourav Goyal says political stand-up comes naturally to people of the state. "Bengalis can only make jokes about politics, since Sourav Ganguly has quit cricket," he quips.
Sourav Ghosh says the reason why stand-up comedy hasn't taken off in the city is because Bengalis don't have too much money. "Bengalis don't want to spend to watch comedy," he says, compared to places like Bengaluru where they sell out tickets in short time
Has anyone got into trouble for stand-up comedy in Bengal? Not more than anywhere else, they say, proving Bengalis may be serious Bhadraloks but they do have a funny bone.