Interview: Suchandrika Chakrabarti talks “Doomscrolling”

July 2023

Following recent writing credits on “Have I Got News for You” and a host of Radio 4 comedy shows, Suchandrika Chakrabarti is heading back to the stage with a new show. “Doomscrolling” will be at the Camden Comedy Club on the 24th and 26th August and looks at our relationship with headlines and the digital world. Her last stand-up show, “I Miss Amy Winehouse”, met with considerable success in London and Edinburgh and this latest work (currently WIP) looks to be just as promising. So here, Suchandrika chats about the show, the art of merging silliness with real stories, and as a comedian, where she finds her laughs…

It’s great to see you back! Tell me a little bit about the new show.

Doomscrolling is about the speed of the news these days, and what it’s doing to us. I’m a journalist who worked in newsrooms for 15 years before escaping for freelance life, and if I’ve managed to recover from my professional doomscrolling ways, I’m sure I can help others heal too. This is a clinic for phone addicts. I am not a medical professional, I cannot emphasise that enough.

So how did this production come to be?

I was given a deadline in July 2022, so I sat down and wrote out 45 minutes of thoughts about the news, socialism, the gap between Baby Boomers, Millennials and younger generations… 

Sounds like as good an approach as any! What’s the most important thing you want people to know about Doomscrolling and its intentions?

Like everything about the human condition, we’re uniquely addicted to distractions in this digital age and also we’re exactly the same as human beings from all other time periods before us, and after us too, most likely. It’s just that the nature of the distractions and how they’re delivered to us change. We’re alright, really.

And how does this piece relate to your previous work – is this new territory or more of a natural progression?

My 2022 debut I Miss Amy Winehouse tackled the negative and sexist press attention Amy Winehouse received, but it was also very personal, covering real loss and grief that I have experienced. Still, it was focussed on finding solutions, plus seeking humour in the absurdity of death and the life that goes on afterwards. I’d say that Doomscrolling is also about finding solutions to universal problems, absurdity and, of course, how the news gets made. It’s a whole lot more silly.

As a comedy, your show has big laughs to deliver. How would you characterise the brand or style of the comedy in your show?

From ‘Scientists Discover a Virgin Birth in a Crocodile’ to ‘Beyoncé single-handedly increased inflation in Sweden, economist says’, plus of course, my personal favourite and the subject of my new true-crime podcast, ‘500 pounds of pasta mysteriously dumped in the woods of a New Jersey town’, there are a lot of incredible news headlines out there to have fun with. Beyond that, I’m finding that the persona I put on to perform this show is becoming more of a character in her own right, so I’m seeing how far I can push that, and what kind of relationship this character builds with the audience. So it’s very silly comedy, but resting on true stories, some of which are serious. There’s a lot about climate change just below the surface.

Can audiences expect light and dark or is this show intentionally all of one, none of the other?

It’s always both light and dark with me!

No spoilers, obviously, but can you give us a taste of the show – a highlight you find yourself drawn to?

There’s a live doomscrolling diagnosis test which is a lot of fun and not at all medically accurate. 

Sounds promising to me! Is there a specific USP that you think audiences will love when it comes to your show?

I think it helps that I’ve been a journalist for a long time and know how all this news gets made and distributed. 

Now, we all know that bringing a show to audiences is no easy feat, never mind in the current climate. If you had to name the highest high and the most valuable hiccup so far, what would you say?

Highest high: selling out at VAULT Festival 2023.

Most valuable hiccup: realising that I needed to change the title of the show, as the first name only made sense to me.

That’s pretty lovely, as highs go I think. And who are you hoping will see this work and what are you hoping they’ll take away with them?

Extremely online people, news-obsessed people, people who can’t put their phones down… that’s most of us, really. We can really beat ourselves up about screentime, so I hope the audience leaves feeling as though they could be a little kinder on themselves, that the news ecosystem is bigger than all of us.

A quickfire round now. Your first experience of theatre/ live performance?

Pantomime at Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch – my local, growing up.

You are offering audiences big laughs with this show, so tell me: who makes you laugh most?

My 5-year-old niece.

Good answer. Nothing like youngsters to raise laughs! Your route into the arts?

Via an English degree and journalism. 

The one thing you’d like the power to improve in the industry?

Career sustainability.

What would your advice be to up and coming creatives?

We all want to get rid of the day job, but it can be such a great source of material…

And finally, why should audiences come along to see Doomscrolling this August?

I’ll heal you from your doomscrolling addiction… well, I’ll try.

So there you have it! You can catch Suchandrika Chakrabarti’s “Doomscrolling” at the Camden Comedy Club, 6.30pm, 24th and 26th August 2023. More information and tickets can be found here.