Vir Das Details Recording ‘Outside In,’ Connecting With Fans During Zoom Standup Shows (Exclusive)

Standup comedian Vir Das began 2020 by releasing his third special on Netflix, Vir Das: For India. He is now capping off the year with a unique special, Outside In, that takes him from a stage and puts him in a virtual meeting room with his fans. Das asked his fans, “what is the first thing you’re going to do after lockdown ends” and then used their answers to find a balance between intense conversations and lighthearted jokes.

Speaking with PopCulture.com in an exclusive interview ahead of the special’s Wednesday release, Das detailed the recording process. He explained that he initially set out to record 30 virtual shows and entertain his fans while raising money for multiple charities. However, his approach changed due to some technical hiccups, as well as some answers from his fans. He took a step back and decided to use the content as a common ground to unite people around the world.

“Just because Zoom shows are terrible and laggy and everybody’s uncomfortable, I found myself having to do crowd work in just the first six minutes of it, right?” Das told PopCulture. “Almost just to disarm people and be like, ‘hey, what do you want to do when the lockdown opens really as sort of a casual question.’ Then suddenly, people will be like, ‘I haven’t seen my parents in a year’ or ‘I’m afraid I’m going to get sick.’ Just these really real, vulnerable answers.

“I think about five shows in, as an artist, I sat back and said, ‘I’m never going to go through this again, in my lifetime as an artist, where there’ll never be a time in my life where everybody in the world is having the exact same experience at the exact same time.’ If comedy’s all about finding common ground, global common ground may never happen at the same instant in time. So I kind of have to capture this.”

To create Outside In, Das took footage from 30 separate shows that all lasted 90 minutes. Answers from each segment were then taken and put together to form the new Netflix special. Some of the answers prompted jokes and teasing, such as when Das asked couples when they were going to get married. Others, however, caught him slightly off-guard and caused him to take a moment before responding.

“There was a kid who had a visa to America, and I can resonate with that feeling at a deep level,” Das explained. “Where you get the admission letter and you assume your life is going to change based on every movie you’ve ever seen and every pop culture reference that you have. This kid just wanted ice cream in that moment, which I thought was incredibly brave.”

These serious answers from Das’ fans also prompted him to join in with moments of vulnerability. He told stories about a neighbor sneezing on him and how they actually became friends after the incident. He also took time between the Zoom shows to look at the camera and detail some of the intense moments he experienced during lockdown.

“When you’ve suddenly decided, ‘OK, I’m going to put my audience front and center, and I’m going to tell their story,’” Das continued. “Then all of a sudden, when you started pushing people to express themselves and you find such honesty and vulnerability from them, it felt disingenuous to say I’m not going to share anything myself. That felt dishonest in that sense. I think by about show seven or eight, I was like, ‘okay, I need to start sharing if I’m asking the entire world to share themselves.’”

Das ultimately raised more than $47,000 for various charitable organizations while recording Outside In and connecting with his fans. Now, viewers can watch the final product when it releases on Netflix. Outside In will be available on Dec. 16.