''The Great Indian Laughter Challenge'' is an Indian

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, re ...

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

series produced by

Endemol India Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...

. The first four seasons aired on

STAR One Star One was an Indian pay television network based in Mumbai. It was launched on 1 November 2004 and was it owned by Star TV and distributed worldwide by Fox International Channels. In November 2006, Star One was launched in the UK on Sky. ...

from 15 June 2005 to 26 September 2008. The show's fifth season premiered on 30 September 2017 on

STAR Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedi ...

and was judged by

Akshay Kumar Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian Quote: "(Former prime minister Stephen) Harper campaigned in 2011 alongside one of Modi's biggest celebrity backer ...

. The show is based on a format where stand-up comedians perform and entertain judges and the studio audience with their comedy skills. The first three seasons of the show saw Shekhar Suman, an eminent TV personality and

Navjot Singh Sidhu Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian National Congress politician, television personality and retired international cricketer. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of T ...

, former cricketer, cricket

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

and Punjab politician." The show's initial episodes were hosted by Parizaad Kolah Marshall and later she was replaced by Shonali Nagrani. The fifth season is being hosted by Elli Avram. The set was designed by noted Bollywood production designer

Nitin Chandrakant Desai Nitin Chandrakant Desai is a noted Indian art director and production designer of Indian cinema turned film and television producer, most known for his work in Marathi and Hindi Films, World Cultural Festival 2016 at Delhi and films like, ''Hum ...

. In the fourth season

Shatrughan Sinha Shatrughan Prasad Sinha (born 9 December 1945) is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he was elected as Member of Parliam ...

replaced Navjot Singh Sidhu as judge.as per season .

Seasons

In the first season,

Sunil Pal Sunil Pal is an Indian comedian, actor and voice actor. He was the winner of the series ''The Great Indian Laughter Challenge''. He has played comic roles in various Bollywood films. In 2010, he wrote and directed a comedy film, ''Bhavnao Ko S ...

was the winner, Ahsaan Qureshi was runner up and Raju Srivastava was second runner up. In the second season contestants from Pakistan were present and the winner

Rauf Lala Rauf Lala (Urdu: رؤف لالہ; born 1970 in Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan) is a Pakistani comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Working in Pakistani media for over three decades, he is well known for his comedic talent and stage work. Lala has also ...

was from Pakistan. The third season was won by Kapil Sharma and the first runner up was Chandan Prabhakar both from Amritsar. Many other talented comedians like Siraj Khan, Sudesh Lehari, Rajiv Thakur, Bharti Singh,

Navin Prabhakar Navin Prabhakar is an Indian comedian, singer, actor and a mimicry artist. He is most known for his ''Pehchan Kaun'' (Mumbai bar girl) act on ''The Great Indian Laughter Challenge'' (2005). Subsequently, he hosted a mimicry and stand-up show ...

, Jassi Kochar, Khayaali, Dipoo Srivastava,

Ahsaan Qureshi Ahsaan Qureshi, also known as Ehsaan Qureshi, is an Indian stand-up comedian. He was born in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh. He is the 2005 runner-up of ''The Great Indian Laughter Challenge'', a stand-up comedy competition on Star One. Qureshi has be ...

have appeared in the show. The first two seasons were followed by another show, ''The Great Indian Laughter Champions'', which included top performers of the previous shows. Here also the judges were Sidhu and Shekar including some celebrity guests as well. Recently the first woman to participate was Aarti Kandpal. The fourth season's finalists were Rasbihari Gaur, Bharti Singh, Suresh Albela, and a duo Sikander Sanam-Wali Sheikh (veteran stage comedians from Pakistan). The winner for the fourth season after a tough laughter war was Suresh Albela. Season 5 had 3 mentors Zakir Khan, Hussain Dalal and

Mallika Dua Mallika Dua (born 18 July 1989) is an Indian comedian, actress and writer. The comedian shot to fame with the viral video of ''Shit People Say: Sarojini Nagar Edition'', which was written, styled and enacted by Dua herself. She is the daughter o ...

later replaced by

Sajid Khan Sajjad Khan (born 28 December 1951) is an Indian actor and singer. Born into poverty in the Bombay slums, he became the adopted son of Bollywood filmmaker Mehboob Khan, founder of Mehboob Studios. He worked in a handful of Indian films, debutin ...

and

Shreyas Talpade Shreyas Talpade (born 27 January 1976) is an Indian actor, film director and producer who appears in Hindi and Marathi films. He has appeared in several critically and commercially successful films. He is better known for his role as Shah Ruk ...

who along with Akshay Kumar, will select 12 finalists who will compete for the title.

Season I 2005

* Ahsaan Qureshi (First Runner-up) * Raju Srivastava (Second Runner-up) * Naveen Prabhakar *

Bhagwant Mann Bhagwant Singh Mann (born 17 October 1973) is an Indian politician and current Chief Minister of Punjab. He leads the cabinet ministry of Punjab and is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party. He is a former actor, comedian and satirist. He previou ...

* Parag Kansara

Season II 2006

(Pakistan) * Rajeev Nigam (Runner-up) * Khayali * Pratap Faujdar * Irfan Malik and Ali Hassan (Pakistan) * Amanullah (Guest Appearance) * Dr. Tushar Shah * Rajkumar Javkar * Saransh Bhardwaj (guest appearance) * Gaurav K. Jha

Season III 2007

* Kapil Sharma * Chandan Prabhakar (Runner-up) * Sudesh Lehri (Second Runner-up) *Deepak Saini *Rajeev Thakur * Parvez Siddiqui (Pakistan)

Season IV 2008

*Suresh Albela * Sikandar Sanam (First Runner-up) (Pakistan) * Bharti Singh (Second runner-up) * Rasbihari Gaur (Third runner-up) * Sunil Thakkar (Houston, TX) * Wali Sheikh (Pakistan) * Jaswant Singh * Srikant Maski * Ramdas Yeole * Rehan Jamal (Pakistan) *

Sugandha Mishra Sugandha Santosh Mishra (born 23 May 1988) is an Indian actress, playback singer, television presenter, comedian and radio jockey in the Indian film and television industry. She is known for her character in The Kapil Sharma Show. She was also ...

* Vinod Rathore * Anirudh Madesia

Season V - 2017

* Abhishek Walia * Nitesh Shetty''(Runner up) '' * Vighnesh Pande * Mohd Anas * Parvindar Singh *

Vishwash Chauhan Vishwash Chauhan (born 13 January 1995) is a stage artist who displays theater, acting and stand-up comedy skills. He belongs to Charkhi Dadri, Haryana. Vishwash Chauhan is the finalist for ''The Great Indian Laughter Challenge'', 2017. Born in H ...

* Shyam Rangeela * Abhay Kumar * Naman Jain * Sumit Sourav * Shikha Singh * Vidushi Swaroop * Ajay Singh Chauhan *Gaurav Gupta *Jayvijay Sachan

References

External links

The Great Indian Laughter Challenge
on

Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar (also known as Hotstar) is an Indian brand of subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Novi Digital Entertainment of Disney Star and operated by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, both d ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Indian Laughter Challenge Star One (Indian TV channel) original programming StarPlus original programming Indian stand-up comedy television series 2005 Indian television series debuts 2010s Indian television series Hindi-language television shows