By News18
Some jokes don’t just make us laugh; they become timeless. Whether born from iconic movie moments or unforgettable TV dialogues, a well-timed punchline can outlive its original scene. These lines slip into everyday conversations, fuel countless memes, and often turn the characters who delivered them into pop culture legends.
This International Jokes Day, two of Indian television’s most beloved actors, Aasif Sheikh (Vibhuti Narayan Mishra from Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain) and Yogesh Tripathi (Daroga Happu Singh from Happu Ki Ultan Paltan), take us down memory lane. In a candid chat, they reflected on the iconic comic moments and dialogues from their shows that continue to tickle funny bones across the country.
“Thand Rakh!”—Happu Singh’s Everyday Sass
In conversation with The Times of India, Yogesh Tripathi marvelled at how a simple expression of exasperation—“Arrey Dada, thand rakh!”—took on a life of its own. “The mix of sass and satire just cracked people up,” he said, adding that fans still shout the line when they spot him in public.
Another favourite is his emphatic self‑introduction—“Naam hai Daroga Happu Singh!”—punctuated by that now‑famous hair flip. “It quickly became a meme template; people started recreating it with their twist,” Tripathi noted. And no Happu retrospective is complete without his boastful refrain, “Main 9 bacche ka baap hoon!”—a line he says “never gets old” for audiences who relish the running gag. “When comedy clicks,” he reflected, “it travels far beyond the screen.”
Vibhuti’s Irresistible Charm and “I Am Sarry”
For Aasif Sheikh, playing the breezily flirtatious Vibhuti Narayan Mishra has meant delivering lines that linger well past prime time. One standout, he says, is the cheeky compliment to Angoori: “I like it when you call me nalla!” The line still floods his inbox with memes and reels.
There’s also Vibhuti’s signature greeting, “Hello, Bhabiji?”—delivered with a cocktail of charm and mischief that fans relish quoting in everyday chats. Yet it might be his exaggerated apology, “I am sarry,” that has found the broadest afterlife. The actor shared, “It’s been turned into a punchline for everything from relationship to work memes! The dry delivery and comic timing made it unforgettable. As an actor, there’s no bigger reward than watching your dialogue live on, being shared, laughed at and quoted across generations. It means the performance is connected and that’s the true magic of comedy.”
From Bollywood catchphrases to sitcom riffs, India’s meme timeline is stacked with lines people repeat until they become cultural fixtures. International Jokes Day underscores their staying power: proof that good writing, perfect timing, and a dash of relatability can unite audiences in a shared chuckle, whether they first heard the joke on television or on a timeline scroll.