Comedy has to have a tinge of pain, wit and wisdom underlying the humour to last long in the minds of the people, leading comedian Paresh Rawal said.

The roles of the comedian duo - Paresh Rawal and Johnny Lever in ''Phir Hera Pheri'' were highly appreciated in the rave reviews on the film that appeared in the print media recently.

In a tete-a-tete with reporters yesterday about their roles as actors and comedians in the industry, Johnny Lever said,''Comedy is serious business and it is even more difficult because it is a very delicate subject. Going even a little overboard can spoil the fun.

Also, simple humour gets more response than hard core cheap-stakes,'' he added.

With the changing scenario of villians enacting comedy and heroes doing the same, when questioned about the scope of growth as comedians, he said, ''Even if we comedians just come and stand up, people start laughing. It's their perception or something in our face that they associate us automatically with laughter.''

While Paresh Rawal said, ''When doing tragedy, a moment seems eternal but in comedy, eternity is a moment. If you miss the point, you have lost the result.''

He said maintaining the innocence of a character was very important, only then could the comedy get the audiences tickling. He gave an example of Kishore Kumar, his personal favourite, and said that the sweetness of Kishorda came across despite whatever characters he played.

People loved him not only for his acting talent and the sensitivity he brought to the character but also for his innocence and humour.

Comedy had its place and was going to last, they both believed, across all genres.