Comedian Tarang Hardikar in his Neurodiverse Review Award-winning show ‘If I’m Not Wrong’ at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Comedian Tarang Hardikar’s show If I’m not Wrong started out as a compilation of interesting observations about lines. The special was even called Line is not a Line when it first ran. However, as the show and Tarang developed, the comedian began to draw parallels between his life and the material, reflecting on his past after being diagnosed with autism.

“The theme of the lines fits perfectly with my childhood story, which in its current form is strange,” says Tarang of his special, which won the Actually Autistic Award at the fifth Neurodiverse Review Awards, announced during the final week of the ongoing month-long Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world. The special was shortlisted for the award with Rohan Ashar’s Other, Jonathan Brace’s That’s Ace and Out of Fashion Theater Co’s Disciples of Anatomy.

The awards are given to neurodivergent and differently abled performers at the Fringe. Other award categories include the ADHD Comedy Award, the Deaf Action Deaf Excellence Award and the Visually Impaired Excellence Award, among others.

“In a way, it’s like doing regular open mic spots, where you tend to play the same material over and over with little changes. But when you’re playing an hour-long show, you’re not just thinking about the jokes, you’re thinking about the overall story.”

The Pune-born comedian also points out that the long festival run allows him to establish a routine. “You do a show, you think about it, and you go to sleep. And you wake up the next day, think about the next show, and try to watch something that can inspire you before the next show. The goal is to improve your show by the end of the month. You can have great days and not-so-great days in the process.”

Asked about his neurodivergence, Tarang believes that humor has been therapeutic for him. Although he was diagnosed as a teenager, he didn’t understand autism more until he was an adult, a few years into comedy. “Consciously or unknowingly, I used comedy as a way to cope because it was the only time I could really be myself. I could connect with people in a way I hadn’t before,” says the 29-year-old comedian.

“I’m a very shy person off stage. I didn’t talk to many people in college. But when I got on stage for the first time, that inhibition disappeared and I could be whoever I wanted to be,” he says. “I also didn’t realize that people could relate to the topics I was talking about. I have a handshake joke, and when I performed it, the audience could find it relatable. It was cathartic and made me realize that everyone has their own set of issues.”

Tarang Hardikar | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Known for his deadpan delivery and wordplay, the artist says his interest in comedy comes from theatre. “In college, I did silent one-man sketches for the theater club. I really liked physical comedy and was a big fan of the English actor Rowan Atkinson. Stand-up comedy was starting to emerge in India then, and I consumed a lot of it online. I soon ended up shooting a set about my college at the institute. While the students loved it, the faculty members were also excited.”

In 2018, Tarang did his first open mic at a cafe in Pune. “It went well because I couldn’t wait to get on stage. I don’t remember being worried about the audience laughing. I told a joke about ordering from Subway, which was the first joke I ever wrote. I was so involved in performing that I didn’t realize how well I did until I got off the stage.”

The artist also believes in staying true to himself when performing, which allows him to experiment with comedy. In his current show, Tarang carries a sketchbook on stage. “I’ve always had different interests of varying intensity. I love drawing, creating visuals and playing games. Since I’ve been talking about my childhood and schooling, sketchbook fits perfectly.”

The comedian believes his approach to comedy has changed drastically since his first open mic. “When you start out, you feel like every open mic is a situation where something needs to be done. But later you realize that it’s a long shot; the mic is there to improve your material, and that it’s not the final test. This approach has also helped me record my material,” says Tarang.

“At this point, if you want to be a comedian, you have to put yourself out there on social media. It’s not something that a lot of people like, but it’s something you need. I once went through the grind of recording three clips a week. But it finally got to me. So now I’ve decided to take my time with it and record reels when I can.”

When asked about one piece of advice he would give aspiring comedians, he says: “Everything in comedy is externally focused – you never know when your first joke is going to work, when you’re going to shoot your first hour or when your first video is going to work. So it’s important to have an internal staircase so you know where you stand. It helps ground you and you have to constantly lean on yourself.”

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs until 31 August.

Published – 24 Aug 2026 17:00 IST