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British comedian (born 1991)
Bilal Zafar (born 16 October 1991) is a British comedian who won the
New Act of The Year Award (NATY) in 2016
[1] and was nominated for Best Newcomer at the
Edinburgh Comedy Awards in the same year.
[2] He has written for
The Independent
[3] and
The Guardian .
[4]
Personal life
Zafar is from
Wanstead ,
London , and he studied at
Wanstead High School before moving to
Manchester to study
screenwriting at The
University of Bolton .
[5]
[6] He worked part-time as a concierge and a care assistant while living in Manchester.
[7] Zafar moved back to London in January 2016.
[5]
Career
Zafar began performing
stand-up comedy in his final year of university in 2013 and is best known for performing material about
racism and
islamophobia . He cites
Simon Amstell and
Chris Morris as influences.
[5]
In 2015, Zafar was runner-up in the New Comedian of the Year competition run by
Leicester Square Theatre .
[8]
[9] The following year he won first prize at the
NATYS Awards in London at the same venue.
[10]
[11]
Described as a "wry storyteller",
[10] Zafar appeared on the
BBC Asian Network 's Comedy Show in 2016 and 2017.
[12] He has also appeared on
BBC Radio Four 's
Loose Ends
[13] and presented one of the station's Stand-Up Specials .
[14]
Since 2020 Zafar has attracted a large regular audience and gained the status of Partner for his channel on live-streaming platform Twitch, where he portrays the manager of a football team within the videogame
Pro Evolution Soccer 5 . The manager character frequently engages his audience of “assistant managers” whose participation in the stream’s chat room and enthusiasm for in-jokes Zafar encourages.
[15]
External links
References
^ Venables, Ben (1 February 2016).
"Londoners Take The Cake At New Acts Of The Year Showcase" . London:
Londonist . Retrieved 2 February 2016 .
^
"Bilal Zafar: Cakes" . Edinburgh Comedy Awards . Retrieved 3 June 2018 .
^
"Bilal Zafar articles" .
The Independent . Retrieved 3 February 2016 .
^ Zafar, Bilal (29 July 2017).
"Bilal Zafar: An Asian Don't Tell The Bride? Don't get me started" .
The Guardian . Retrieved 3 June 2018 .
^
a
b
c Enfield, Laura (28 January 2016).
"The Wanstead comedian tackling Islamaphobia one joke at a time" . London:
Newsquest . Retrieved 2 February 2016 .
^ Nair, Ajay (12 February 2016).
"Prize win icing on cake for Wanstead comedian combatting Islamophobia" . Ilford Recorder. Retrieved 12 February 2016 .
^ Maguire, Samar (31 July 2014).
"Interview with Bilal Zafar" . Edinburgh: Samar Maguire. Archived from
the original on 6 July 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016 .
^
"New Comedian of the Year" . London:
Leicester Square Theatre . 29 November 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2016 .
^ Bennett, Steve (30 November 2015).
"Leicester Square New Comedian Of The Year 2015" .
Chortle . Retrieved 2 February 2016 .
^
a
b Bennett, Steve (1 February 2016).
"Naty New Act Of The Year final 2016" .
Chortle . Retrieved 2 February 2016 .
^ Dessau, Bruce (31 January 2016).
"News: New Acts of the Year 2016 Results" . London: Beyond The Joke. Retrieved 2 February 2016 .
^
"Asian Network Comedy - 5 hilarious moments from Asian Network Comedy in Wolverhampton - BBC Asian Network" . BBC . Retrieved 27 December 2017 .
^ Presenter:
Clive Anderson ; Participant: Bilal Zafar; Producer: Producer: Sukey Firth (28 January 2017).
"Loose Ends: Mark Thomas, Vicky McClure, Ken Hom, Bilal Zafar, Sampha, Loyle Carner, Scottee, Clive Anderson" .
Loose Ends . 29:40 minutes in. BBC.
BBC Radio Four . Retrieved 3 June 2018 .
^ Writer and Performer: Bilal Zafar; Additional Material: Glenn Moore; Producer: Daisy Knight (6 May 2018).
"Stand-Up Specials: Bilal Zafar's British Muslim Love" . Stand-Up Specials . BBC.
BBC Radio Four . Retrieved 3 June 2018 .
^ Zafar, Bilal (30 June 2020).
"As a kid I loved Pro Evolution Soccer 5 – now it's won me a new comedy audience | Bilal Zafar" . The Guardian .
ISSN
0261-3077 . Retrieved 1 July 2020 .