One of the unexpected highlights of this summer’s Toronto Fringe Festival for me was the discovery of Srutika Sabu and her show 1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go, featuring Sabu and Mahdi Mozafari. The show – which was a last-minute addition to the Fringe schedule, and so was not even listed in its voluminous catalogue –not only introduced curious audiences to Sabu’s comedic prowess. It enabled them to get up close and personal with her inspired drag creation Santosh Santosh aka “Tosh”: software engineer, thought leader, and second-hand Tesla owner.
Tosh, of course, is the unsung hero of his own one-man dramedy. And this weekend, he returns in Santosh Santosh, presented as a part of What The Festival, Toronto’s newest entertainment festival showcasing drag, clown, and puppetry, co-founded by Alicia DiStefano and Byron Laviolette. The first-ever full edition, runs at Youngplace from September 26-29.
From where did Sabu’s Tosh emerge to make such an indelible mark on the comedy scene? The path to becoming an artist is sometimes unconventional, filled with unexpected turns and personal revelations. And such is the case with Sabu’s journey. “The short version? I’m a doctor turned clown,” she explains.
The big shift: from doctor to clown
After completing medical school, Sabu found herself at a crossroads, so she moved to Toronto from the US in November 2019 in search of a new direction. No longer interested in pursuing medicine – and grappling with a mental-health crisis and the personal challenges of “a breakup and lost friends” – she leaped directly into a world she had never explored before: improv. At first, it was a way to meet new people. But it became a life-altering experience. “I literally woke up one day and decided to join a Second City improv class… I desperately needed new friends,” she explains. Through improv, she connected with creatives and performers, marking a significant shift from her previous social circles of doctors and engineers. And “by 2022, I was a different human,” she recalls.
It wasn’t long after that Sabu discovered clowning, a theatrical discipline that would become a central part of her artistic identity. “I went to my first Toronto Fringe and saw the amazing Don Valley Girls and my first clown show, Isaac Kessler’s One-Man-No-Show, directed by Ken Hall. A year later, I took my first clown class, taught by Isaac Kessler, Ken Hall and Gordon Neill.” And less than a year after that, Sabu got her big opportunity to apply everything she had learned in 1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go, her Fringe show, also directed by Ken Hall. “Full circle! Basically I became a theatre kid in my thirties,” she laughs, before explaining that “clown requires vulnerability that goes against a lot of baggage that comes with being a South Asian woman. My intuition was telling me that. despite it being hard, it was important that I continued. And I’m glad I did!”
The birth and expanding universe of Santosh Santosh
The creation of her beloved character Santosh Santosh would be a defining moment in Sabu’s career, but truth be told, he emerged unexpectedly, during a two-day drag king clown workshop with Deanna Fleysher. “My inspiration was very much South Indian software engineer meets man transitioning to Malayali uncle. There are bits of me as well. Santosh shortening his name to Tosh is a self-deprecating joke about how I immediately give up on people mispronouncing Srutika and tell them to call me Tika.” Much to her surprise, Sabu won the class drag king show, and Santosh Santosh took on a life of his own.
Santosh, with his awkward charm, overconfidence and familiar quirks, quickly became a character audiences love. Sabu describes him as a recognizable archetype. For her, the highest compliment is when South Asians come up to her and say they know this man: “Even non-South Asians come up to me and say they know this man! Santosh is at his core an uncle. No matter what type of South Asian you are, you know the archetype.” He dances drunk at weddings, judges mangoes at the grocery store with his hands behind his back, explains the physics of Tesla motors, and forwards Elon Musk memes on WhatsApp. “He wants to be the underdog hero in all the Kollywood action films.”
Reflecting on the widespread affection people feel towards Santosh, Sabu admits, “did I foresee his appeal? Absolutely not. He is awkward and cringe, but also earnest and confident.” And what makes the character so special is the way he captures a culturally specific figure that transcends stereotypes, bringing a deeper and more empathetic portrayal of a misunderstood brown masculinity to the stage.
Since the Toronto fringe, Sabu’s performances have continued to evolve, and the audiences’ responses to Santosh have only grown stronger: “For Fringe, we only had three weeks to devise the show… By the last show, we had this wonderful ease and confidence to go bigger and play with the audience a lot more.” She expects that the performance at WTF will be “the best version of the show” yet. And it is guaranteed to be unique, given that clowning is deeply interactive and responsive to the energy in the room, so no two performances are ever the same.
With the success of Santosh, Sabu also hints that “Team Tosh has been talking about devising other shows, because he is very much like a sitcom character”. Sabu is also working on a podcast that will see Santosh interviewing various eccentric experts, blending humour with insights from the broader Toronto comedy community. And, of course her announcer-cum-interloper Mahdi, as “an integral part of Santosh’s universe,” will continue to be part of these projects as will stage manager Willow Edwards.
The big bridge: from art to knowledge
But larger than life though he is, Santosh is just one facet of Sabu’s creative world. As a multidisciplinary artist, she is simultaneously exploring many avenues: “I’ve been writing plays, sketch comedy, stand-up, co-writing/producing a short film, editing a second draft of my novel, and even producing a music album”. Her work is prolific, and her creativity spans multiple media, ensuring that her voice and perspective reach different audiences in new and exciting ways.
And in addition to her performance work, Sabu has also been reflecting on how art can create enduring impact. In regular posts on platforms like LinkedIn, she shares thoughts on storytelling and the importance of creativity in solving challenges with empathy and sustainability. And “the response has been positive! But making the posts has also been an interesting challenge for me,” she reflects. After all, “I’m explaining what clown is to an audience who think clowning is an aesthetic, rather than a deep performance philosophy on vulnerability and presence!” But people are clearly enjoying her “reflections on the artist’s journey. After all, not many people can say they graduated medical school to become a clown!”
And Toronto audiences have a wonderful opportunity to experience her clowning – and to bask in the presence of the amazing Santosh – when Sabu performs Santosh Santosh on Saturday, September 28, 2024, 7:30 pm ET at Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street, Toronto, Ontario. Visit wtfestival.ca to reserve tickets and to browse the full festival offerings.
© Arpita Ghosal, Sesaya Arts Magazine, 2024
