Kaneez Surka

Last updated

Kaneez Surka
Born Mthatha, South Africa
Nationality South African
Alma mater Rhodes University
Years active2006–present
Genres Improvisational comedy
Notable works and roles The Week That Wasn't
The General Fun Game Show
All India Bakchod
Comicstaan
Website Kaneez Surka on Twitter

Kaneez Surka is a South African improv artist, actress, comedian and a YouTuber of an Indian descent, who works mainly in India. She started her career with the show The Week That Wasn't . [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] She has performed on various stand up platforms. [6] She was a judge on the first two seasons of the Amazon Prime Video stand-up comedy reality show Comicstaan. [7] [8] [9] She also hosts an online comedy game show, The General Fun Game Show on YouTube. [10] [11]

Contents

Personal life

Kaneez Surka was born and raised in the Mthatha, South Africa. She studied in DSG, Graham School and attended Rhodes University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in law and psychology. [12]

Ethnically a Gujarati, Kaneez Surka was born into a Muslim family originally from Kapadvanj, which allowed her to have a deep understanding of different cultures and religions. [13]

Career

Surka was part of the Mumbai improv scene since 2009. [12] [14] Her initial work in Mumbai was with Divya Palat's Imps troupe. [12] Surka was co-director of a Mumbai-based story-telling club "Tall Tales" [15] in 2013.

She achieved mainstream popularity on the satirical news show The Week That Wasn't [16] on CNN-News18 (formerly CNN-IBN). She also worked with Weirdass Comedy, a Vir Das venture and then began collaborating with [17] and making appearances in several All India Bakchod videos including roles such as Clitika from 'A woman's besties', 'Honest wedding', 'Honest Bars' and the Instagram character from 'If Apps were people'. She was also a judge for shows such as Comicstaan [18] and 'Improv All Stars' for Amazon Prime and Queens of Comedy [19] for TLC. Surka is part of an improv group called "The Improvisers" [20] along with Abish Mathew, Kanan Gill, and Kenny Sebastian, and has an Improv special titled 'Something From Nothing' on Amazon Prime Video. She also teaches the art of improv comedy, proving her comedic skills by being a judge in Amazon Prime's stand-up comedy reality show Comicstaan. [12]

Filmography

Web

2021 Netflix Comedy Premium League Stand-up comedy
2020 Netflix Ladies up Stand-up comedy
2018 Amazon Prime Video Improv All Stars: Games Night Show conceptualiser, producer and host
2005Film Dosti: Friends Forever Debut Film (Kareena Kapoor's Date.Time stamp from 01:49:30 to 01:51:25)
2014TV seriesThe Living Room
2016TV mini-seriesHow Insensitive! By Kanan GillPlays various side-characters
2015-2016YouTubeAIB Honest SeriesAIB: Honest Bars & Restaurants Part 1, 2, 3

AIB: Honest Indian Weddings Part 1, 2

2016TV seriesBetter Life FoundationPlays Vashma Chandi (1 episode)
2017YouTube SeriesSon of AbishSeason 3 with Swara Bhaskar (Episode 7) [21]
2018 Amazon Prime The Improvisers: Something from NothingHerself
Comicstaan Season 1Herself - Judge
2019 Amazon Prime Comicstaan Season 2Herself - Judge

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archana Kavi</span> Indian actress

Archana Jose Kavi is an Indian actress, YouTuber and a television host. She made her acting debut in film Neelathaamara (2009) scripted by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by Lal Jose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saad Khan</span>

Saad Khan is an Indian director, screenwriter and acting teacher and Improv comedian who works in films and web series. He is the founder and creative head of FirstAction Studios that recently merged with Mumbai-based media conglomerate Rainshine Entertainment. Khan is known for his Kannada-English feature film Humble Politician Nograj (2018), which became a hit and the first Kannada film to achieve world-wide digital audience presence on Amazon's PrimeVideo platform.

Aditi Mittal is an Indian stand-up comedian, actress and writer. One of the first women to do stand-up comedy in India, Mittal has been rated amongst India's top 10 stand-up comedians by The Times of India. CNNIBN.com named her as one of the top 30 "witty, intelligent and incredibly fun" Indian women to follow on Twitter. Mittal has written columns and articles in Grazia Men magazine, DNA, Firstpost and Financial Times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anuvab Pal</span> Indian stand up comedian

Anuvab Pal is an Indian stand up comedian, screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He is occasionally featured as a rotating co-host on Season 4 of the podcast The Bugle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All India Bakchod</span> Indian creative agency

All India Bakchod was a Mumbai-based comedy company which created the eponymous podcast, YouTube channel and production company. The name is a parody of All India Radio. It began in 2012 as a humour/pop-culture podcast co-started by comedians Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba. Their friends and contemporary comedians, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya were frequent guests and the four co-founded the YouTube channel in 2013 and began making sketches. They subsequently formed a digital agency and produced sketches, live comedy and TV shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanan Gill</span> Indian stand-up comedian, actor and YouTuber

Kanan Singh Gill is an Indian stand-up comedian, actor and YouTuber. He won the Punch Line Bangalore Competition. He is known for the YouTube series Pretentious Movie Reviews where he reviews campy Bollywood films along with fellow stand-up comedian Biswa Kalyan Rath. He was one of the main personalities behind the YouTube Comedy Hunt and also co-hosted the YouTube FanFest India. In 2017, he released his own one-hour comedy special, Keep It Real on Amazon Prime Video. He made his debut on the big screen with the movie Noor, alongside Sonakshi Sinha. In 2018, he was also a judge on Comicstaan, a comedic reality TV show, on Amazon Prime Video. He released his new special Is this it? on YouTube in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanmay Bhat</span> Indian stand-up Comedian (born 1987)

Tanmay Bhat is an Indian YouTuber, comedian, scriptwriter, Actor, performer and producer. He was the co-founder and former CEO of the creative agency All India Bakchod (AIB) along with Gursimranjet Singh Khamba. In 2018, he was a judge on Season 1 of Comicstaan, a stand-up comedy competition broadcast on Amazon Prime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joke Singh</span>

Nishant Tanwar, also known as 'Joke Singh' and more recently as 'Rider OP' is an Indian comedian and actor. He started off his professional career working at NDTV as a Producer, and began doing stand-up in 2009 when he found his passion for the same at an open mic event.

Daniel Fernandes is an Indian stand-up comedian. Based in Mumbai, Fernandes is known for his dark and surreal style of comedy, with references to social issues in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zakir Khan (comedian)</span> Indian Comedian and Actor (born 1987)

Zakir Khan is an Indian comedian, poet and actor. In 2012, he rose to popularity by winning Comedy Central. Khan has also been a part of a news comedy show, On Air with AIB. He has released four hour-length standup specials: Haq Se Single (2017), Kaksha Gyarvi (2018), Tathastu (2022) and Mannpasand (2023) on Amazon Prime Video.

Abish Mathew is an Indian stand-up comedian and YouTuber. He is known for his work with All India Bakchod, as the creator and host of a late night show Son of Abish and Journey Of A Joke, He is also referred to as GM Abish Mathew in Comedians on Board and as the host of Comicstaan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sumukhi Suresh</span> Indian actor, comedian, writer and director

Sumukhi Suresh is an actor, stand-up comedian, writer and director from India. She is popularly known for her humorous sketches which she writes and stars in for live performances as well as online platforms. In an online article, Hindustan Times referred to Sumukhi Suresh as "India's Tina Fey." She has been a part of stand-up comedy shows like Comicstaan, Go Straight Take Left, Comedy premier League and her solo special, Don't Tell Amma. But she is best known for her funny yet twisted web series, 'Pushpavalli'. The stand-up comedian and actor turned entrepreneur by launching a content platform called 'Motormouth' which is especially for writers who are passionate about pitching stories for movies, web shows and more. She launched this company since she there is no time to complain and expect other people to create better characters or develop out of the box ideas. In a chat with 'Telangana Today', she concluded that one should attend many zoom shows and live shows to know if they are actually funny.

<i>Comicstaan</i> Indian television series

Comicstaan is an Indian stand-up comedy competition television series created by Only Much Louder for Amazon Prime Video. The show brings together budding Indian comedians to find the next big name in stand-up comedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenny Sebastian</span> Indian stand-up comedian

Kenneth Mathew Sebastian is an Indian stand-up comedian. He first rose to prominence through a YouTube channel that broadcasts clips of his stand-up shows, devotional song covers, in addition to original skits, garnering 152 million views since 2008. He has toured the United States, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Australia. In 2017, he produced an hour-long comedy special for Amazon Prime. He performs primarily in English, switching to Hindi for comic effect. He was also a judge in Comicstaan, a comedy reality show. He released his special The Most Interesting Person In The Room on Netflix in 2020.

Rohan Joshi is a YouTuber. He was one of founding members of the creative agency All India Bakchod. Joshi scripted and starred in several YouTube sketches for All India Bakchod, and was one of the co-creators of the satirical news comedy show On Air with AIB. Now, he runs his own YouTube channel and makes reaction videos with Tanmay Bhat and Nishant Tanwar.

Danish Sait is an Indian comedian, television host, and film actor who prominantly works in Kannada cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samay Raina</span> Indian stand-up comedian

Samay Raina is an Indian stand-up comedian, printing engineer, YouTuber, and chess enthusiast. He was the co-winner of the second season of the stand-up comedy contest Comicstaan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he began streaming chess games along with multiple comedians and chess masters. He has raised substantial amounts of money for various causes through his YouTube channel, including help for waste pickers, and relief for West Bengal and Assam flood victims.

One Mic Stand is an Indian standup comedy television show series created by Only Much Louder for Amazon Video. It is not like a typical standup comedy show in that it hosts India's famous actors, politicians, influencers, writers and musicians who are trained by Comedians to perform standup comedy for first time. This series has 2 seasons on Amazon Prime Video and both seasons are hosted by comedian Sapan Verma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aakash Gupta</span> Indian stand-up comedian

Aakash Gupta is an Indian comedian, actor, YouTuber and theatre artist. He was the losser of the second season of the stand-up comedy competition television series Comicstaan along with Samay Raina. He is trained in performing arts and sketch comedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kusha Kapila</span> Indian social media personality

Kusha Kapila is an Indian fashion editor, social media personality, comedian, actress, and YouTuber. She is from New Delhi.

References

  1. "People find it easily digestible when guys are a little crude: Comedian Kaneez Surka". Hindustan Times. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  2. "Kaneez Surka on stand-up, multiculturalism and political humour". The Indian Express. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  3. "Kaneez Surka: I m scared to do stand-up comedy". mid-day. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  4. "From #MeToo to Bolly humour: Kaneez Surka takes our really random rapid fire". t2online.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  5. "Watch: Mallika Dua, Kaneez Surka reprise roles in AIB's If Apps Were People 2". Firstpost. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  6. "Comedienne Kaneez Surka hosts Sapan Verma, Sahil Shah and RJ Malishka in her game show". mid-day. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  7. "Comicstaan's Latest Episode Focuses On Kaneez Surka's Improv Round!". Businessofcinema.com. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  8. "Comicstaan's latest episode focuses on Kaneez Surka's improve round!". Glamsham. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  9. "'Comicstaan' Review: The Future Looks Pretty Funny". The Quint. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  10. "Comedians talk about books they read in new YouTube series". mid-day. 14 March 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  11. "Things to do in Mumbai today". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Kale, Arun (26 August 2014). "Kaneez Surka". Astray. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  13. Vadgama, Arpita (19 November 2016). "I want to explore story-telling: Kaneez Surka". Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 July 2021.
  14. "Laughter Therapy With The Rising Stars of Comedy". NDTV. 18 May 2015.
  15. Gianani, Kareena (19 May 2013). "Tell stories at Tall Tales, Mumbai's newest storytelling club". Mid Day.
  16. "Small talk: The improv lady". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  17. Singh, Jasmine (26 July 2015). "Nothing half-baked about it". The Tribune.
  18. "Comictaan". firstpost. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  19. "Queens Of Comedy". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  20. Singh, Anvita (13 May 2018). "Kaneez Surka on stand-up, multiculturalism and political humour". The Indian Express. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  21. Abish Mathew (24 November 2017), Son Of Abish feat. Kaneez Surka & Swara Bhaskar , retrieved 17 October 2018