The pandemic is testing Nepal’s stand-up comedy scene

With no in-person comedy shows, Nepal’s stand-up comics find themselves in unchartered territory.

On last year’s Valentine’s Day, stand-up comic Prasiddha Dawadi performed a 20-minute set to an audience of mostly young couples at a venue in Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur. On that day, Nepal had only one known covid-19 case but the fear over the novel infection was already causing people to adopt caution and avoid crowded places.