Creeping on You: The Politics of the ‘Messy Woman’ in the Comedy of Sumukhi Suresh

This chapter examines the work of stand-up comedian Sumukhi Suresh, particularly, the comic personas created by her for the sketch comedy series on YouTube Behti Naak (trans. Runny Nose) and her web show Pushpavalli (trans. Creeper of flowers). The chapter demonstrates how the character of an awkward teenager Behti and the 20-something Pushpavalli are cast as outsiders due to their inability to conform to the normative ideals of femininity that necessitate women to be non-threatening, compliant, and always ‘perfect’ in body and mind. Pushpavalli and Behti Naak are situated within the larger paradigm of comedic performances by women comics that use the character type of the unruly, unlikeable woman to interrogate cultural standards that define femininity in narrow terms. Additionally, this chapter analyses the use of ‘cringe comedy’ in Pushpavalli and Behti Naak as a critique of the regulation of women’s minds and bodies under neoliberal discourses of self-regimentation and beliefs about traditional Indian womanhood. The chapter is an interrogation of Suresh’s comedic work, both fictional and stand-up, foregrounding its feminist underpinnings and political commentary on mental health, womanhood, and misogyny.