Manan Desai

Some Lesser Known Facts About Manan Desai

• At the time of Manan’s birth, his father was 45 and his mother was 40. It was a high-risk pregnancy due to his mother’s age. The doctors had informed his parents that the child might be physically handicapped or intellectually challenged.

  

• Manan was born into a humble family. He was introduced to the Western culture during his school days when he made friends from well-to-do families.

• Then, Manan developed an interest in music. He would listen to English songs by rock bands like Backstreet Boys and Linkin Park.

• In an interview, he said that the first song he ever downloaded from the internet was In the End by Linkin Park.

• Manan says that his passion for music comes from his father, who used to have a large collection of gramophone records.

• Manan secured his first paying job as a cashier at a local cyber cafe during the summer break of Class 10. This gave him an opportunity to download as many songs as he wanted.

• Manan’s father passed away in 2005, two days before Manan’s Class 12 prelims. At that time, Manan’s mother’s eye operation was due in three days. Neither Manan appeared in his prelims exams, nor did his mother go through an eye operation due to the death. As a result, she lost one eye. After that, Manan became determined to set things right for his family.

• He scored 72.5% in his Class 12 board exams.

• Manan actively participated in extracurricular activities at college.

• He was working at a call centre when he auditioned for the job of an RJ at Radio Mirchi.

• He broke up with his first girlfriend on 3 January 2007.

• The next day, he received a call from Radio Mirchi that he was selected.

  

• Manan met Vidya during his one-month training at Radio Mirchi.

• While Vidya was selected for Radio Mirchi Surat, Manam was selected for Vadodara.

• Manan worked at Radio Mirchi in Vadodara from 2007 to 2012. He hosted prime-time shows in the evening, 5 PM to 9 PM.

• Manan is Gujarati, and Vidya is Tamilian. Therefore, there was an argument over whether they should get married in a South Indian or Gujarati wedding ceremony. Luckily, both Manan and Vidya’s mothers were followers of Goddess Gayatri, they got married in a Gayatri wedding ceremony.

• After his father’s death Manan and his mother developed a habit of watching The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, a stand-up comedy TV show. The show allowed Manan and his mother to escape their sadness and laugh for a while. This is when he became interested in pursuing a career in standup.

• On 26 August 2011, he performed standup for the first time. Stand-up comedy did not have much scope in Gujarat back then. Manan organised the show himself with the help of his wife and almost spent his entire salary on it.

• In October 2011, Manan established the YouTube channel The Comedy Factory, which featured comical content like standups, sketches, mashups, and vlogs by various artists.

• In 2012, he joined 94.3 MY FM in Ahmedabad, where he worked till 2014. He hosted the morning show Salaam Ahmedabad on 94.3 MY FM.

  

• In 2014, he gave up his successful radio career to become a full-time standup comedian.

• The Comedy Factory pioneered the Gujarati standup comedy scene. Soon, it gained popularity for its comical Gujarati content, sketches, mashups, vlogs etc. The YouTube channel went on to become an entertainment company, producing shows for popular comedians like Vir Das and Zakir Khan.
  

  

   

• In 2015, he toured extensively with the Gujarati standup show ‘Chaalo Gujarat.’ This was the first show he performed abroad, in New Jersey, USA.

  

• From 2015 to 2016, he had a recurring appearance on the reality TV show Comedy Nights Bachao on Colors TV.

  

• In 2016, he hosted the sixth edition of the annual Ghanta Awards.

• In 2017, he toured extensively with a 75-minute standup show A Shudh Gujarati.

  

• In the same year, he appeared on the TV show Comedy Dangal on &TV.

• He has appeared in various Gujarati films like Chor Bani Thangaat Kare (2017), Ventilator (2018), and Order Order Out Of Order (2019).

• In 2019, he starred in Amazon Prime Video’s Hindi show Jestination Unknown in which he played the role of Gendo.

• In 2020, he hosted the comedy talk show Manan Ni Therapy, where he invited Gujarati film celebrities and talked about their mental health. He was also the director of the show.

  

• Besides Manan Ni Therapy, he has also directed the Gujarati mini-series Havmor Passport (2020) and the English language show Hollywood Unlimited (2021).

• In 2020, he co-founded the Gujarati music label ‘Gunjan Records’ in memory of his father, who ran a music shop called Gunjan – The House of Music.

  

• He did commentary for IPL matches.

• From 2021 to 2022, he played the role of Yamraaj in the Gujarati series Yamraj Calling, streaming on Shemaroo Me.

• In 2023, he toured extensively and performed in countries like Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Netherlands, Spain, France, Czech Republic and Germany.

• He wrote the film Gujarati Bachubhai (2023), along with Chirayu Mistry and Om Bhatt.

• He actively supports the Gujarat Lions in the IPL.

• He Manan co-wrote the Gujarati film Bachubhai with Om Bhatt and Chirayu Mistry.

• He is a dog lover. He used to have a dog named Milo.

  

• He enjoys drinking alcohol occasionally.