Sumukhi Suresh Spills On Improv Comedy, Dating in 30s And Being Hoemonal On The Social Nation Show

Hello Hello! We’re back with an all-new episode of our video podcast series – The Social Nation Show. Produced by the best in the business, Pod.One, this podcast is streaming on Spotify. The Social Nation Show takes you behind the scenes to explore the personal and professional lives that shape the vibrant Indian creator economy. It brings you unfiltered stories behind India’s most popular content creators.

Our guest for this twenty-first episode is the OG comedy queen! She started her journey with improv comedy and quickly became a powerhouse in India’s comedy scene. From viral sketches to her dark yet hilarious web series Pushpavalli, she’s done it all. She has hosted & judged Comicstaan and now runs her own content platform Motormouth Writers Pvt. Ltd. – creating a space for female-led stories. This stand-up comic recently did a LIVE tour for her latest set Hoemonal. Guess who? It’s none other than Sumukhi Suresh!

Also Read: All Hail Sumukhi Suresh: The OG Comedy Queen!

Episode 21

20 episodes into the show, we have dived into the personal and professional lives of some of the top creators in the industry so far. From the wordsmith Amandeep Singh and chulbuli Sakshi Keswani a.k.a. Being Suku, to the relatable Dhiraj Sanap and the Internet sensation Shehzaan Khan, we bring the best of the creator industry to you.

On our 21st episode, Sumukhi Suresh shares her journey from improv roots to founding her content company, Motormouth, and gives us a peek behind her latest live tour, Hoemonal. She also dives into her personal life, creative process, and how she blends humour with meaningful topics. Tune in for big laughs and behind-the-scenes stories of the content you love!

How Did Improv Comedy Happen?

“My whole thing started because I wanted to do theater,” revealed Sumukhi. She was working for a food lab and thought she could do theater along with it so she auditioned for the show called ‘The Improv.’ Sumukhi thought it was a play but it turned out to be an improvisational show. “They said for audition, we’ll give you one word and you to come up with something, then I did a bunch of improv stuff and then they said this is an improv comedy show. So that was how I got into it and I was doing it as a fun hobby,” she said.

When she did a rehearsal for ‘The Improv‘ show, she was told she wasn’t funny. Sumukhi didn’t care initially but was bothered by the comment later. When she went for the show she made sure to destroy in both her sets that day. That’s when she felt that she could take this up full-time. “I did my job for some time then I did stand-up and sketch and I met everyone,” said the comedian.

A Bangalore Girl In Bombay

“I love to be called a Bangalore girl but Bombay’s home. I have personally loved Bombay because it has given me so much validation. It’s exactly where I wanted to be, I met some of the people who I dreamt of meeting and working with at some point, so Bombay has been so satisfying. Bombay is home, wherever I go, I think I’ll come back here,” shared Sumukhi Suresh.

Working With Her Dream Director

Sumukhi has written dialogues for Vikramaditya Motwane a.k.a VM‘s movie CTRL starring Ananya Panday and Vihan Samaat. But did you know that VM was her dream director? Ever since she saw Udaan, she wanted to work with him. She met him in 2018 for the first time and decided that she would work with him in the next five years. And Sumukhi made it happen. How? Hear it from her:

“I saw Udaan and I said one day I’ve to work with this guy, such a cool guy. Then in 2018, I was at iReel Awards and Pushpavalli won 2 awards. We were too happy. I remember VM sitting there. I went and introduced myself saying that I’m Sumukhi Suresh and in the next 5 years I will work with you and I’ll find a way to do that. He was like cool okay thanks and I left.

After that during the pandemic, I did an ‘AMA’ where I was like if you have any writer or writer-based questions why don’t you ask me? Then the first question someone asked that ‘Who do you want to work with?’ Immediately I tagged him on Instagram and then he also followed back he’s so nice.

On Writing CTRL

I was like yes okay I’ve got my entry and told him that I’ve written this show do you want to read it, which he was reading then there was a bunch of back and forth. Later there was an Amazon event that I had hosted and my best friend Sumaira Shaikh saw him, told me he’s here and pushed me to meet him. He went to the loo so I was just waiting outside like one loser and the best part was people passing me said the women’s bathroom is there and I was like I know relax okay! Then he walked out and went ahead. I just screamed “VM!” and then he said, “Hey how are you let’s catch up next week.”

We actually met and in the next 6 months he said I have written CTRL do you want to write dialogues for it? In 2021, I was working with him. This wouldn’t have happened if it was not Bombay and the confidence and hustle of Bombay. I don’t know if it’s manifestation, but I think it is almost there, like simulated manifestation. It’s basically me pushing for work,” shared Sumukhi Suresh.

Dating In Her 30s

Her comedy sets are mostly personal. ‘Hoemonal‘ is Sumukhi’s recent standup solo which is mainly her exploring dating after 30s. She explains, “I think a lot of girls have been raised very conservatively and we have all rebelled but that conservativeness has really stayed in our subconscious. So when I broke up at 30 and I had to explore that side of me. Dude it’s too tough like dating apps and all are there but what about mindset? There’s so much guilt, pressure, and fear that I’ve felt and spoken about in the show. I was like I’m such a bad hoe. It is for the girls who are trying hard to be a hoe, but are failing a little bit, but it’s okay.”

She added, “The 30s is also when most women have hormonal imbalance okay, that’s part of your life. Like you have breakfast and then you have an imbalance that’s what it is. How much I thought that ‘I’m not good at weight loss, I’m not good-looking, I’m not good at this and that’ – all of this sort of came to a standstill when I figured out that I had hormonal imbalance and I needed to work my life around it. So all of these experiences put together is the show.“

What Makes ‘Hoemonal’ A Hit?

We asked her ‘What one joke or set or statement that she made really connected with the audience or got the biggest laugh?’ Sumukhi told us about the two lines she genuinely enjoys and always kills very hard:

“First is, when my doctor told me I cannot have kids. He said, ‘I’m so sorry Sumukhi because I know that deep down every woman wants to be a mother and you can’t be one.’ The line from the show is ‘deep down women don’t want to be mothers, women want to be skinny, okay, then they want to be mothers and then they want to be skinny again. That line kills always.“

“Second is, women have a lot of hormones to test and I was like ‘Oh but men actually have only one hormone in their body right which is ego. So that kills so hard! I’m so sorry boys but by then in the set, I get them on my side so they are also like shut up dude don’t expose us we just started liking you!” revealed the stand-up comic.

Pushpavalli

One of the major turning points in Sumukhi’s career was her web series Pushpavalli – a show she created, wrote, and starred in. Released on Amazon Prime Video, this series follows a girl who moves cities for a guy – relatable? “I remember writing it and Naveen Richards saying ‘no girl does this’ and I said you have no idea how stupid we are as a community. She’s [Pushpavalli] so stupid, but that’s every girl at that age,” said Sumukhi. 

Motormouth Creative Studio

Sumkhi has created a brilliant production, creative and writing studio called Motormouth Writers Pvt. Ltd. “You see a lot of writers coming in and coming out, there are multiple writers’ rooms that are developing different things. Right now a bunch of them are developing three shows and two movies, three of them are for me to take forward. Vir and I are writing a movie together so that writer’s room is on,” said Sumukhi.

She explained what a typical day at Motormouth looks like. “In the first half a bunch of writers come and finish their rooms then they chill for a bit and then they do their work. In the second half, another bunch of writers come and they also interlap. So one writer works on 2-3 projects because writers also don’t get paid a lot, especially in this industry. So we really need to juggle the projects to make sure that everyone makes enough,” she said.

“Also now we need to create our own comedy shows because I don’t think comedies are being made that well dude. You can’t get non-comic actors to play comedy because it’s also so unfair right? There is a reason why there are comedic actors who get punch lines,” added Suresh.

On Netflix’s The Royals

Sumukhi had a blast on the set of Netflix’s ‘The Royals‘. She revealed that a boy was supposed to be playing her role initially but the makers asked her to try once and it all came together very nicely at the end. “The writers of the show really let me improvise as the character and it’s great when writers have that much confidence in an actor and let you go ahead and improv as this character,” she said.

Where Can You Watch The Social Nation Show?

The Social Nation Show will be available on all leading audio and video platforms on Social Nation’s official channels. The video podcasts will be distributed on Social Nation’s Spotify and YouTube handles, whereas the audio podcasts will also be available on Apple Podcast, JioSaavn, Amazon Music, and Gaana platforms. Catch the best moments of each episode on our Instagram and YouTube Shorts too!

Who would you like to see on the show next? Let us know in the comments below. Until then follow us on @socialnationnow for more such exciting content!