Welcome to... Gruntled: A Comedian's Take on Happiness
Philosophical Musings and Practical Tips for Maximizing Satisfaction in Your Life
Origin Story
When I was 17, I did what people told me.
Oh, wait. That was Janet Jackson.
When I was 15, I was selected as the sole representative from my class of 500 students to represent Fairfield High School at something called the HOBY Leadership Foundation.
I sat in the front row as I saw my first motivational speaker ever: Harvey Alston. Thirty years later, I still remember his punchlines… this was 1992, three years after the Robin Williams film, Dead Poets Society. Picture a Black man in a tuxedo preaching to a hall full of hundreds of high school sophomores. We were already laughing really hard from the rest of his talk when he dropped this bomb on us, at which point we almost fell into the aisles:
“What happened to the work ethic in this country??
We started with T.G.I.F.: Thank Goodness It’s Friday!
Then it started creeping earlier. Suddenly, it was…
S.H.I.T.: Sure Happy It’s Thursday!
And finally, T.G.I.F. became more aggressive…
Everyone joined the P.O.E.T.S. Society:
PISS ON EVERYTHING, TOMORROW’S SATURDAY!”
Since I was the first one to leap to my feet as soon as his mesmerizing and hilarious speech concluded, he came down from the stage and shook my hand.
The TanGent Show
If you’ve seen my act, you’ve probably heard me do the joke:
“I went to school to become a doctor, because obviously.”
Medicine was the default answer for any good Indian American student. Much like you have a default printer. When I saw Harvey, it was the first time I knew what I was born to do. I knew I had a long way to go, but I knew all it took was humor, insight, and poignancy.
Every few years, I call Harvey just to touch base. During one of those first calls, sometime around the time I graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in Materials Engineering, Alston recommended I speak with someone named Kelley Rarey, with whom I’d attended HOBY. She was working in Entertainment, and after reconnecting with her, I was bitten by the bug. I went into standup comedy and the rest is history.
Rarely known (Rarey known?) is the fact that my objective all along was to become a motivational speaker. My entire career as a comedian has been icing on the cake… a diversion… a tangent… which would become the name of the podcast I launched in 2011.
So there’s never been a way for me to lose. Never have I ever written those words down before. I wouldn’t be surprised if this comes as a shock to you, my most loyal friends, fans, and family members.
Why Now?
Don’t worry. I’ll continue to do standup. I have two specials coming out next year, I’m developing a pilot, and I’m still dropping podcasts.
When the pandemic hit, many of us wondered how to use the time to our advantage. Naturally, some of the closest people in my life encouraged me to write a book. My Mom has been on my tail for years to do so. After all, one of my brothers is both a prominent queer author as well as a world-class editor. Moreover, his husband works in the nonfiction book space. What more did I need?
A son.
No matter my audience, I knew I’d mostly be speaking primarily to parents. And without the parental experience, I didn’t feel I could impart the same kind of wisdom I can now. I’m not suggesting that someone without kids isn’t knowledgeable or that someone much younger has nothing to teach. Of course not. But despite the quote in Harvey’s picture above, and despite the line many on Saturday Night Live recite right before they go on-air…
We’re not ready. It’s just time.
…I personally felt that I needed to be a Dad for me to take my own advice seriously.
One of my P&G friends, Dave Knox, hooked me up with his speaking agent, who signed me on the spot. She asked me what I’d spoken about in the past, and I said I’d given talks on a range of topics but I felt that it all laddered up to Happiness.
I sent her my 40 pages of notes and asked her to be brutal about how much of it was fresh and how much was stale. She said 80-90% of it was stuff she’d never heard before in her 30+ years of agenting. “I hope you get into this game. Not only because you want to do it, but also — and more importantly — people need to hear it.”
She asked me for a title. How ’bout…?
You Can’t Spell Happiness Without Penis
And you can’t. But she said that might not fly at a corporate event. Bummer.
So, I hit her with this…
As I read about all of the disgruntled workers out there, I wondered whether you could be… gruntled.
It turns out… you can be. It is indeed a word. It means “pleased or satisfied.”
And isn’t that what we all want? So, it became…
GRUNTLED
A Comedian’s Take on Happiness
Comedian Rajiv Satyal isn't disgruntled. He's gruntled. Personally and professionally.
How'd he do it? In his hilarious, poignant, and insightful 45-min talk, Satyal lays out how he found happiness as an older single person before finding even more happiness as a husband and a father.
To make a living, Satyal has worked in an office, in a lab, on a stage, on a TV set, on a tennis court, at an amusement park... and in Antarctica. Seriously. He's the only human in history to perform standup comedy on all 7 continents.
He's carved out quite a career — 100 million views... sharing a stage with Dave Chappelle and Jerry Seinfeld... and credits like Netflix, Amazon, NPR, and The New York Times — but it hasn't come easy.
At the age of 30, Satyal left his office at P&G to pursue his passion for laughter. And now, he's returning to your office to provide some philosophical wisdom and practical tips on everyone's ultimate goal: happiness.
And so it came to pass. In September, I went home to P&G and gave a 45-min talk to all 1,000 IT employees in North America. On my first one, I got a 98%.
I could go on and on about how amazing I am, but trust me: that’s not what the speech was about or I doubt it would’ve gone over very well. As a comic, I can talk about myself the entire time. That’s not news to many of you who’ve seen me do standup. But as a speaker, I quickly have to get to what I can do for you.
‘Tis the Season
Monthly, y’all receive my FunnyIndian Newsletter, which is indeed all about me.
And now, the Gruntled monthly newsletter will provide YOU with tips and tricks to build satisfaction in your own life.
I am truly hoping I can pull together a January one. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t send this to you now as you might be making plans for self-improvement in 2024.
The only system I’ve ever found that works for me to keep my New Year’s resolutions is the one I developed. More significantly, it’s also working for others, whose stories I’ll share in the coming editions. Next week, I’ll send this out as a separate newsletter as I’m a firm believer in it. But here it is…
How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions
“So let me take you by the hand and lead you on this dance
Control is what I've got, because I took a chance
I don't wanna rule the world, just wanna run my life
So make your life a little easier
When you get the chance, just take Control.”
- Janet Jackson, 1986
Community
I would love to build a community here. It is my hope that you’ll send me your own great ideas that we can share with each other. And of course, you can always count on some laughs. That’s our point-of-difference here at Gruntled: I love what a lot of people have to say, but too many of the practitioners in this space are too earnest. If we’re talking about Happiness, we should laugh a little, right?
Over time, there’ll be a podcast. A book. A tour. A social media feed. I grabbed Go Get Gruntled on FB, on IG, and on YT. (There’s nothing much to see yet.)
This is my very first newsletter. I’m not gonna get it right the first time. It’s a journey, not a destination — exactly like Happiness. I’d love to hear your feedback, whether good, bad, or indifferent.
Thank you for reading… or for at least scrolling to the bottom.
Happy Holidays and Here’s to a Gruntled 2024!
Love,
- Rajiv