Bazil Ashmawy, commonly known as Baz Ashmawy, is an Irish radio and television personality, whose TV show ''50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy'' won the International Emmy Award for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment award. In 2024, Baz created, wrote and starred a TV Series ''Faithless'' for Virgin Media Television. Baz hosts ''The Money List'' and '' Best Place To Be'' for RTE One and both shows have been renewed for a second seasons. Baz also is the host of ''DIYSOS The Big Build Ireland''. In summer 2017, he hosted ''That Baz Thing'' on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...

. Ashmawy co-hosted ''Weekend Breakfast with Baz & Lucy'' on

RTÉ 2fm RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is an Irish radio station operated by RTÉ. The station specialises in current popular music and chart hits and is the second national radio station in Ireland. History The station commenc ...

in 2010, and co-presented the 2008 reality show '' Fáilte Towers'' on

RTÉ One RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

, as well as the popular travel show ''How Low Can You Go'' on

RTÉ Two (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, television, RT� ...

. In 2018 he began presenting ITV's new singing show – Change Your Tune.

Early life

According to an article in ''The Nationalist'' (Carlow), Ashmawy's mother Nancy is from Ballycoog, Ballycoog, Avoca, County Wicklow although Ashmawy was born in

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

and is part-

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

. He moved to Ireland at age eight and grew up in the Dublin suburb of Churchtown and attended CUS Leeson Street for a period of time.

Career

Ashmawy is best known for ''50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy'' which was first broadcast on Sky 1. The show is based on Baz inserting his 71-year-old mother Nancy into various dare-devil situations, and documenting her typical " Irish mammy" reactions to the situations. In November 2015 ''50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy'' won the Best Non-Scripted Entertainment award at the 2015 International Emmy Awards. Prior to that, Ashmawy was on the popular

travel show, ''How Low Can You Go?'' where he appeared with co-presenters Mark O'Neill and Michael Hayes. In remarking on his experiences with that show, Ashmawy said that he loved

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

where he received a

lap dance A lap dance (or contact dance) is a type of erotic dance performance offered in many strip clubs in which the dancer typically has body contact with a seated patron. Lap dancing is different from table dancing, in which the dancer is close to ...

from (as he describes) 'a former hooker who looked like she was in her late 50s' and said of his experiences on the

set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

of a porn movie in California that 'We saw things there that will be in our minds for a very long time.' Ashmawy is also a

sports fan A fan or fanatic, sometimes also termed an aficionado or enthusiast, is a person who exhibits strong interest or admiration for something or somebody, such as a celebrity, a sport, a sports team, a genre, a politician, a book, a movie, a video ...

who tried his skill at

GAA Gaa may refer to: * Gaa language, a language of Nigeria * gaa, the ISO 639 code for the Ga language of Ghana GAA may stand for: Compounds * Glacial (water-free), acetic acid * Acid alpha-glucosidase, also known as glucosidase, alpha; acid, an e ...

management on the RTÉ show '' Celebrity Bainisteoir''.
''

An Phoblacht ''An Phoblacht'' (Irish pronunciation: ; ) is a Sinn Féin-affiliated online Irish republicanism, Irish republican news platform which also publishes a quarterly print magazine format. Editorially the paper takes a Left-wing politics, left-wing ...

'' (17 April 2008) According to ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'', Ashmawy managed managing his team while wearing 'nicely polished footwear'.
''The Irish Times'' (Saturday, 5 April 2008) Back to a familiar future When asked in an

RTÉ Sport RTÉ Sport is a department of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ. The department provides sporting coverage through a number of platforms including RTÉ Radio, RTÉ Television, RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Player, RTÉ Player Sport and RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Mobile. RTÉ h ...

interview who he would like to see win the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

, Ashmawy joked that he was 'not going for the patriotic 'Go Ireland' I'd have to say

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

...typical. How boring is that. Think I've made myself feel a little sick there saying that. I'm going back....'GO IRELAND!' He appeared in Jason Byrne's award-winning prank series ''

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

''. He later appeared numerous times on RTÉ One's flagship travel show ''No Frontiers'' before venturing into his own solo project ''Baz's Culture Clash'' on RTÉ Two, which he began filming in September 2008 and finished the following April, travelling the world to film it. It was aired during September and October 2009. It had initially been expected to air in March 2009. For the series Ashmawy visited a

coven A coven () is a group or gathering of Witchcraft, witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English lan ...

witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

es in Kells,

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

and underwent hypnosis to allow him to meet his Egyptian ancestors. Ashmaway also visited a

haunted house A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the property ...

with a group called "

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

Paranormal". He also teamed up with a group of ghostbusters to visit the haunted

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

Shopping Centre where a little girl and some former prisoners from the old county gaol were among the ghosts which were said to haunt the building. The episode in the shopping centre was filmed at night and in one incident a member of Ashmawy's film crew collapsed without explanation when his body was invaded. In another episode Ashmawy met a man whose diet consisted of

roadkill Roadkill is a wild animal that has been killed by collision with motor vehicles. Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) have increasingly been the topic of academic research to understand the causes, and how they can be mitigated. History Essenti ...

, including

badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...

s and cats. The series was poorly received. ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' critic John Boland wrote of the first episode that it "gives a new meaning to the notion of meaninglessness", and questioned the purpose of a show where Ashmawy "grinned and grimaced his way through southern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in an unserious search of alternative therapies". Hilary Fannin wrote in ''

'' that a later episode "investigated (well, that might be too strong a word for it – let's say glossed over) the world of the paranormal". Paul Whitington wrote in the ''

'' that the subjects covered in the series were "new-age nonsense". His next project ''Baz's Extreme Worlds'' aired on 10 May 2010. In addition to appearing on as television host, Ashmawy is an actor who has appeared in television dramas and other programmes.
IMDb: Bazil Ashawmy He has also appeared in a plays and short films. Although he says that comedy comes naturally to him, his Dramaturgy, dramaturgical background has led him to productions of classical theatre and the works of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

. In April 2015, Ashmawy hosted the

Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

quiz show "Fanatics" where fanatics of various things (e.g. ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'') are tested on their knowledge of these things

''50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy''

The series was born after Ashmawy's mum and co-star Nancy, 72, announced that she wanted to do a skydive. The first series was one of the most watched programmes on Sky 1 in Ireland in 2014; season 2 was considered as delightful as the first. The show has been licensed by Sky Vision into over 150 territories worldwide, including Canada, Australia, China, and the Middle-East. Local versions of the show have been produced in a number of key territories, including Denmark (two series), Holland and Belgium with several countries picking up the ''50 Way to Kill your Mammy'' format, making this Sky Vision's most successful factual entertainment property to date. In November 2015 ''50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy'' won the Best Non-Scripted Entertainment award at the 2015 International Emmy Awards. In 2016, Sky 1 aired the 3rd season of the show in a new twist to the show's format, where four new Mammies joined Baz and Nancy on their travels, changing the show to be known as ''50 Ways to Kill Your Mammies''. On 12 October 2017, Ashmawy announced on Twitter that he and Nancy would be filming a one off Christmas special broadcast exclusively on

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

Ireland. This was followed, on 12 November, by a series of

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia social media and instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of the app are that pictures and messages, known as "snaps", are usually availa ...

videos of Nancy, Baz and the production crew at Dublin airport waiting to fly out to Rome for filming.

Radio

In July 2017, Ashmawy hosted his radio show ''That Baz Thing'' on

. On his show he interviewed different 3 guests every week as he explores a broad range of issues, including parenting, health, happiness and relationships. Ashmawy co-hosted ''Weekend Breakfast with Baz & Lucy'' on

with ''Lucy Kennedy'' for 2 years.

Personal life

He has two daughters Hanna and Mahy. He is also stepfather to four other kids from a previous relationship (Charlotte, Harry, Jake and Amelia). One of his lungs collapsed on a transatlantic flight and he underwent double-lung surgery.
''

Evening Herald ''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Ev ...

'' (Wednesday 12 January 2012)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashmawy, Basil 1975 births 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Living people Irish people of Egyptian descent RTÉ 2fm presenters RTÉ television presenters People educated at Catholic University School People from Churchtown, Dublin Broadcasters from County Dublin Irish people of Libyan descent