Since we last spoke to Rajiv Satyal, the L.A.-based comedian has become a Laugh Factory and Improv regular, performed in front of (and received praise from) Bob Saget, surpassed 1,000,000 YouTube hits and even found his way into a Wall Street Journal article about learning to laugh at President Barack Obama. But for Satyal, 33, also known as the Funny Indian, this is just the beginning. After returning from opening eight shows for Russell Peters at the D.C. Improv, the native of Cincinnati, Ohio, opens up exclusively to DesiClub.com about his goals, inspirations and what it's like to tackle the arduous task of making a room full of diverse people laugh at the same joke.

What are some of your accomplishments since you last spoke with DesiClub.com last year?
Becoming a Laugh Factory regular is one of the larger accomplishments. I've established myself on the LA comedy scene, which is something that takes some time. I'm definitely one of the youngest [comedians] and certainly the least experienced. I'm up on the stage with guys who have been doing this for 10, 15 or 20 years, so that's kind of neat. I'm fortunate enough to be in this position, especially as an Indian. Most desi comics, one of the huge exceptions being Russell Peters, are based out of the East Coast.

Have you found that your Indian ethnicity makes things easier or more difficult in your career?
It's just as easy or just as hard as anyone else. Being Indian, there aren't as many competitors, but there aren't as many slots either. It's unlikely that they will put more than two Indian comedians on the same show; from that point of view, it's less supply but less demand, so that kind of evens out.

You mentioned Russell Peters, and it is hard not to bring up his name when it comes to Indian comedians. What is your relationship like with Russell and what have you learned from him?
Without Russell, there would be no Rajiv. Without Russell there would probably be no Indian comedians in the United States. I like to call him soccer - he's big everywhere but here, and that's starting to change. Desis in general didn't go to comedy clubs; the idea of standup comedy in South Asian culture is completely new. [Russell] is pretty much singly credited with that. He started in 1989. Imagine telling your parents in the 80s that you wanted to be a standup comedian. He's very generous with what he's done. I've opened for him now 20 times across the country. I think we work well together, on stage and off stage. We've gone out after shows, sometimes there's an off-stage camaraderie. He's put in the word for me at some of the clubs in LA, and we're about to be neighbors again. [He is] definitely someone I look up to in the industry.

Through shows such as The Great Laughter Challenge, standup comedy continues to expand in India. Do you follow Indian humor closely?
I would love to go to India and do standup. Russell has done it. He said that Indians in India get it more than NRIs [non-resident Indians] - the way of speaking, the way people talk, the inflexions, the jokes. There's no cultural barrier between East and West when it comes to standup. I think standup is really catching on there. I was the only Indian kid in my class, so I didn't really get to speak Hindi and learn the culture, but watching some of the Indian stuff, you can still get a sense of it if you don't speak the language. It tends to be more mimicry, more funny voices and act-them-outs, very over-the-top. It's like Bollywood where everything is about extremes. In Hollywood it's all subtle acting.

The standup out here is much more subtle, my style is more like British comedy which is very understated. Indian comedy is nothing approaching reality. That's why Russell can do well there; he's very broad and goes over the top himself.

From whom do you draw your inspiration?
Chris Rock to me is still one of the best to ever do it. My influence is probably more Dave Chappelle. I've become a lot more conversational than presentational.People tell meit feels very real, they feel like they know me at the end of it. I feel the same way with Chappelle. He's probably my greatest influence, and I do love Chris Rock's material and presence. It's very punchy. Jerry Seinfeld, of course, was the quintessential comic of the 90s. Ellen DeGeneres is freaking hysterical. Her stream of consciousness, she just seems like somebody you know after she is done talking. Louis C.K. is a guy a lot of comics are talking about now. Similarly, I want to find my own niche and just get up and talk.

What is your ultimate goal as a comedian?
I want to be a host. Hosting the Oscars is the short answer. It's a huge goal, but the fewer words a goal has in it, the clearer it is. Almost every comic who has done it has bombed or not really nailed it. I would love to have my own talk show. Having my ownsitcom has never really appealed to me. I wouldn't know what it would be about, even though you're supposed to say you would want a sitcom. I think hosting in the evening would be ideal. I have a lot of fun doing that, because you are really responsible for people's happiness that night. If you have a good host, you will make someone's night, and if you have a bad host, you can ruin someone's occasion. I have a lot of interest in talking to people and showcasing that talent.

They say comedy is one of the most difficult genres to tackle, because it is perhaps the most subjective. What are your thoughts on this and the idea of failing to entertain a crowd?
I know that every single comic fails often and continues to, especially the greats, because they are the ones who are just willing to dust themselves off and get back up.

It's live and it's comedy - those are two very difficult things when you put them together. Anything live is scary. You get one take, you get one shot. You don't know what's going to work and you don't get to do it again. They say that drama is global, and comedy is local. I think that's very true. If you have an action movie, the dialogue is moderately important, but the explosions are universal whether it's English, Hindi or French. Try to name a comedy that everybody finds funny. I don't know that you really can. I will always hear someone go "hmm, it was just ok". To me, Airplane! is probably the closest to being a universal comedy. I think you have to be humorless to not find that funny, but my best friend said: "it was ok".

I think with comedy people have their tastes, and there are so many different styles of it. You put them together, live comedy, and you are bound to have different reactions.It's a power kick, and you're playing with fire. You have to know what you're doing. But I'm willing to get burnt. Those are the people that grow and go somewhere. I know a lot of guys who write 45 minutes of material and just stick to it. I know some guys who have been doing the same act for years. I'm the kind of guy who has a couple of jokes I write the morning of the show and can't wait to tell people.

How did your family react to your decision to become a comedian?
I have the best parents in the world. They have been unbelievably supportive [and] so have my two brothers. There is a difference between supporters and believers. The people who support you in theory "I've always had that, and I'm very, very lucky, and a subset of that is love from family and friends. The South Asian community in general has been so supportive. I remember I was sitting in a parking lot in my brother's car, and I remember telling my brothers that I was going into comedy full time, and there was this palpable silence. I knew by the look on their faces that they were very skeptical. They said, "oh good for you, great", but it took time before they were finally like, "you are actually going to make it, we actually believe that you will". And I love that, because I don't think people should give you their blind faith, because this is my life. It's not just my life, but I will marry someone and have kids. I think you need that tough love. I have to make something of myself. And I am that guy, the one who will totally say what he thinks, because I'm doing you a service or a favor by telling you what I think is necessary. And if I weren't that honest, maybe I wouldn't be here because people wouldn't be that honest with me. But now to see in your mom's or brother's eyes, that they believe in you, that pushing really makes the difference.

Are there any recent cinematic comedies that you particularly enjoyed?
I think the only two genius comedies to come out this millennium are Borat and Napoleon Dynamite. I think those go down in all-time great categories, and they're not even that recent. There hasn't really been something that funny for me. I think comedies have gotten worse. I think movies have gotten worse, although music has held its own, and TV has gotten a lot better. I do want to see I Love You, Man and The Hangover. In terms of actors, I think Vince Vaughn is the funniest guy in Hollywood, he's a genius.

What are your thoughts on Saturday Night Live?
I'd love to be part of it. It is sketch, not standup, but I'd love to host it, that'd be the best of both worlds. Being a part of the cast would be fantastic. It's an institution. I've watched it for years. I think the early 90s were the best times, even though you often hear of the late 70s for all the big actors who came out of them. But if you go back and see the actual sketches, I don't think they would be as sharp as '91 through '93. There's a camaraderie in sketch that by definition is not a part of standup.

I noticed that you do not do a lot of impersonations, even though it is one of the most accepted and safest forms of comedy?
I don't tend to do too many impersonations, because I try to make people laugh with just my wit. I try to be as real and me as possible. I feel like I have enough versions of myself that I can try and be. I'm a purist, so impressions, hypnosis, singing, etc. are variations of standup, certainly within the genre. But it's like music, pure hip hop and pure rap is the ability to make people think with their minds; it is poetry, like Nas, Mos Def and Common, versus commercial rap for the club which is more about production value. To do [impersonations] as well as Russell does them is hard, but you can get a laugh by doing accents, and I don't think overall it's that hard. To me, I've never found it as much of a challenge to do that kind of stuff. If I want to go to India, I may have to do more mimicry and over-the-top sort of style. I wouldn't mind throwing some of that in but, at the end of the day, I just want to be me.

If you could choose your ideal audience, living or dead, who would it be and why?
I would probably want all the representations of God to see who would laugh the hardest at my jokes - Buddha, Krishna or Jesus. I wonder if I could make God laugh, even if that is existential. I'd want Einstein, some of the greats, like Mark Twain, Bernard Shaw, some of the historians or people who really impacted history, such as Martin Luther King, [Nelson] Mandela, because I wonder if they would think this is funny. That would be so interesting to have a meeting of the minds. Would they look at me like some sort of dumbass or accept it?

Doing a show for Hollywood would be ideal, of course, going to the other extreme, just to do comedy in front of famous people would be unbelievable. And the ideal audience is one of diverse backgrounds. That's why I admire Chapelle. The people who come to his shows are so different. I want to have a niche, but I'm still kind of all over the place. I enjoy being accepted by college kids, little kids at weddings, going to a comedy club and doing a black room, a Latino room, a white room, so I like a room of people that is as diverse as it gets.

Finally, what are you working on at the moment?
At the moment I'm taking more acting classes and a couple of sketch classes. I'm writing a lot more. You can access all my updates at my Web site, FunnyIndian.com.

Sabrina Siddiqui is a Contributing Writer to DesiClub.com. You can access her newsfeed and updates at Twitter via @SabrinaSiddiqui.