Kumar Varun | Success story of the stand-up comedian and actor

Kumar Varun is an Indian stand-up comedian and actor. He is a member of the YouTube channel ‘ Random Chikibum.’ Before entering the entertainment industry, Varun worked in the corporate sector at TCS, Mahindra, and DBS Bank for over six years. He is an engineer and MBA who aced the CAT exams. Despite having a stable 9-to-5 job, Varun quit his job and gradually moved toward stand-up comedy. He won India’s first-ever YouTube Comedy Hunt, which brought him to the limelight. Here’s his success story.

Early life and career

While growing up, Kumar Varun’s grandfather wanted him to become an engineer. Belonging to a middle-class family, he was expected to get a job and provide for the family. Varun was not interested in engineering but did as they said so. After graduating with a GPA of 9, Varun joined TCS. Varun was quite content while working at TCS in Delhi. He worked with the Ministry of Defence, Home Affairs, External Affairs, and various other clients. After some time, Varun appeared for CAT (Common Admission Test) and got into FMS Delhi, one of the leading business schools in India. He never dreamt of or wanted to become a stand-up comedian or enter the comedy field.

After attending FMS, Varun shifted to Mumbai and worked at Mahindra in 2013. At Mahindra, the HR manager asked Varun to host a B-school competition. One day, Rahul Subramanium, a fellow comedian who worked at Mahindra, talked to Varun about writing and shooting a script. Unfortunately, the plan did not go through, and Varun left the company. After leaving Mahindra, Varun joined DBS bank. 

Kumar Varun’s comedy career

While working at DBS, Varun came across a competition by Comedy Hunt. He got a call from Rahul, who convinced him to participate in the contest with him. Both of them did not know how to convert their random thoughts into a proper sketch. With the help of some friends, they directed and shot a sketch. Unfortunately, their video was 6 minutes long while the time limit was 3 minutes 30 seconds. They decided to discard the video and not take part in the competition. After some time, Rahul called Varun again. They shot another sketch and submitted it to the competition. They were selected among the top 40 contestants and did not expect this to happen.

Varun and Rahul shot videos for the competition while working at their full-time jobs with a hectic schedule. Every week, they got shortlisted and entered the final round. Varun and Rahul won the match. After winning the competition, Rahul and Varun started getting work. Varun did a web series, a few TVCs, and moved to stand-up. Finally, he quit his job and decided to do comedy full-time. Today, Varun is a well-known comedian for the characters of ‘Kranti’ from Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare, ‘Anirban’ from Better Life Foundation, and ‘Failure’ from Honest Campus Placements, and many more. 

Journey through TV Shows

Being successful in many comedy shows, he started with Tv shows. The Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare with Zakir khan hit two seasons on television. And also played a role in Mr.Das, What’s your Status and AIB: Honest Engineering Campus Placements, a web series with around 8.9 IMDB ratings. Later, he worked in other shows like Cheesecake, Better Life Foundation, Laakhon mei Ek, and Pariwar. Recently Varun has been a part of the “KVizzing with the comedians”, from the first season to four seasons, around 14 episodes per season. And he hosted all the season another milestone in his life towards growth.

Lessons we can learn

Kumar Varun never planned to become a stand-up comedian. He went with the flow and was very confident over what he was doing and his skillset. Initially, Varun was conflicted about quitting his well-paying job to focus on comedy. Soon, he decided to follow his true passion. When you are passionate about what you do, you feel unstoppable, and nothing can get in the way of your success. You need to work hard and keep believing in yourself. It is only through hard work that we can achieve the goals of our life.

Recent Update:

In 2022, Kumar Varun joined Man Matters, a digital health platform for men to promote the importance of mental and emotional health. In an advertisement campaign for Man Matters, Varun talks about how there’s no urgency in life. The campaign initially started on the occasion of International Men’s Day in 2021. In the ad, Varun talks about the harsh reality of the workforce ecosystems while working from home during the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. He plays the protagonist talking about the struggles an employee has to go through to meet the expectations of work while being Covid positive. Through the campaign, Varun and Man Matters aim to make the workforce ecosystems employee-friendly.

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