Having performed in front of big and small crowds, in India and around the world, stand-up comedian Vir Das no longer finds it tough to make people laugh. He’s “hopeful” that his jokes are now “good enough” and will crack up the audience, but “it still requires work and manoeuvring,” he says.

Das won the International Emmy for Best Comedy for his Netflix show, Vir Das: Landing, which is tied with Derry Girls (Season 3). Ask if this win and the pressure of representing India affects him and he says, “I feel the pressure to be funny. Winning this trophy might add an extra thirty seconds to the applause that my audience will give me at the end of my show. And I am always grateful, but they tell me, ‘I spent money to buy a ticket, got a baby sitter or didn’t party for a month to save up, so make me laugh’. That’s the pressure [I feel], but I’m happy to take it on.”

When his name was announced, Das confesses that he blanked out. He says, “Laughter is laughter. This category allows underdogs to punch above their weight. When they took my name onstage, I was in shock. I don’t remember anything I said. When I walked off stage, I panicked and was asking people, ‘Please tell me I thanked everyone’ (laughs).”