Ahir Shah (born 28 December 1990) is a British comedian. He was nominated for the

Edinburgh Comedy Award The Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Establ ...

at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

in 2017 and 2018, and won the award in 2023. Before that he was a finalist in the 2008 '' So You Think You're Funny?'' competition for new acts. Shah has been called "one of his generation's most eloquent comic voices".

Early life

Shah was born and raised in London. His parents, Vikram and Alka, are originally from India. Shah's mother is a state primary school teacher. His grandmother, who had been living with the family in the UK, was deported to India when Shah was five years old. He attended Preston Manor

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

and went on to the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He graduated in 2012 with a degree in Politics, Psychology and Sociology (PPS) from

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

Career

When he was 15, Shah started doing comedy at

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, often taking place at night (an open mic night), in which audience members may perform on ...

nights. His father had encouraged him to try different extracurricular activities, and stand-up comedy "struck a passion". He performed all through his school and university years, taking his debut show ''Astrology'' to Edinburgh in 2011. In 2019, he toured the UK with his show ''Dots''. His previous shows are ''Astrology'' (2011), ''Anatomy'' (2013), ''Texture'' (2014), ''Distant'' (2015), ''Machines'' (2016), ''Control'' (2017), and ''Duffer'' (2018). Shah is a writer and performer on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

's satirical news show ''

The Mash Report ''The Mash Report'' is a British satirical comedy show originally broadcast on BBC Two and hosted by Nish Kumar. It features an array of comedians satirising the week's news. The show later continued on Dave as ''Late Night Mash'', hosted by Kuma ...

''. He has appeared on TV

panel shows A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on '' ...

including ''

Frankie Boyle's New World Order ''Frankie Boyle's New World Order'' is a British comedy television programme created, written and presented by Frankie Boyle. Premiering in 2017 on BBC Two, it followed his BBC iPlayer-exclusive "Autopsy" shows. After a few minutes of stand-up, h ...

'', ''

Have I Got News For You ''Have I Got News for You'' (''HIGNFY'') is a British television panel show, produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC, which premiered on 28 September 1990. The programme focuses on two teams, one usually captained by Ian Hislop and one ...

'' and ''

Mock the Week ''Mock the Week'' is a topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. Presenter Dara Ó Briain and pan ...

'', on BBC Radio 4's ''

The News Quiz ''The News Quiz'' is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 1977. The show, created by John Lloyd from an idea by Nicholas Parsons, has seen several hosts, including Barry Norman, Barry Took, Simon Hogg ...

'', and has performed on '' Live at The Apollo''. His acting credits include roles in ''

Campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

'', ''

Brotherhood Brotherhood or The Brotherhood may refer to: Family, relationships, and organizations * Fraternity (philosophy) or brotherhood, an ethical relationship between people, which is based on love and solidarity * Fraternity or brotherhood, a male ...

'', and ''

Catastrophe Catastrophe or catastrophic comes from the Greek κατά (''kata'') = down; στροφή (''strophē'') = turning (). It may refer to the following: A general or specific event * Disaster, a devastating event * The Asia Minor Catastrophe, a Greek ...

''. In December 2019, it was announced that Shah would be joining fellow comedian Suzi Ruffell on her new radio panel show entitled ''Explicable Me'' on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

. In 2021, Shah had an HBO special called Dots. In 2023, Shah won the Best Comedy Show award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for his show ''Ends''. The show will be streaming as a

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

special from September 2024. In 2024, he appeared as a co-host of ''

The Bugle ''The Bugle'' is a satirical news podcast, created by John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman in 2007. It is currently hosted by Zaltzman and a rotating cast of co-hosts including Alice Fraser, Nish Kumar, Anuvab Pal, Hari Kondabolu, Tom Ballard, Tif ...

'' podcast. In 2025, he made a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

series, ''Ahir Shah's 7 Blunders of the World'', based on the

Seven Social Sins Seven Social Sins is a list by Frederic Donaldson that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi published in his weekly newspaper '' Young India'' on 22 October 1925. Later he gave this same list written on a piece of paper to his grandson, Arun Gandhi, on t ...

Personal life

Shah has suffered from depression, and has discussed coming off medication for it during his stand-up routine. He has spoken about his reluctance to be a "nodding dog" (an unthinking advocate) for

white guilt White guilt is a belief that white people bear a responsibility for the harm which has resulted from historical or current racist treatment of people belonging to other ethnic groups, as for example in the context of the Atlantic slave trade, Euro ...

in relation to European colonialism. During the

November 2015 Paris attacks A series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 21:16, three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-De ...

, Shah was performing at Le Paname Art Café in the Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, only a few doors down from the Café Bonne Biere that was one of the attack sites. The experience formed part of Shah's 2016 show ''Machines''.

References

External links

Official website

Twitter

Agent's website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Ahir English male comedians English people of Indian descent Living people British atheists 1990 births Comedians from the London Borough of Brent English stand-up comedians Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge People from Wembley