Culture ShawQ is Pakistan’s first ever stand up comedy club that focuses primarily on the artform of stand up, all the while being inclusive and open to all performing arts formats. Culture ShawQ focuses singularly on stand up.

It aim’s to be an institution that produces, discovers, scouts, and creates Lahore’s comedic talent, ranging from writers, poets, stand up comedians etc.

CS aims to be a creative sanctuary, where comedic talent can practice their craft in front of a live audience, without;
1. the apprehension of getting cancelled,
2. fear of taking risk or 3. just getting ostracized in society.

The word “Culture ShawQ” is a Bilingual Double Entendre, which has meaning both, in the English and Urdu Language.
It just refers to the longing of different and diverse cultures, in Urdu. That is the type of environment Culture ShawQ aims to harbor. We aim to build a cohesive, collaborative, environment.

In English it means Culture Shock, which is a phenomenon a person feels when they move to a new culture or country. In our case, it was reverse culture shock, as that is what the president of the club felt when he moved back to his home country.

Culture ShawQ is nothing but an effort to curate, refine and present Lahore’s diverse comedic talent, encapsulating Punjab’s tradition of performing art, with the new format of stand up comedy.
It is an effort to curate and shine a light on Lahore’s linguistic and cultural identity through the lens of this artform.

It’s a place where comedians from all linguistic, socio-economic or cultural backgrounds can share the stage with each other all because of this beautiful craft.

Shows are usually 70-90 minutes with up to 5-7 different comedians.