Imran Yusuf (born 26 November 1979) is a

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

n-born

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

stand-up Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories ...

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience dir ...

of Indian

Konkani Muslim Konkani Muslims (or ''Kokani'' Muslims) are an ethnoreligious subgroup of the Konkani people of the Konkani region along the west coast of India, who practice Islam. ''Nawayath'' Muslims from the North Canara district of Karnataka have similar ...

descent, who has appeared on various British radio and TV comedy shows.

Early life and career

Yusuf was born in

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

to ethnic Indian parents of

origin, and grew up in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. His family became refugees following the

expulsion of Asians from Uganda In early August 1972, the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of his country's Indian minority, giving them 90 days to leave the country. At the time of the expulsion, there were about 80,000 individuals of Indian descent in Ugand ...

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

in 1972. He initially worked in the

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the Video game development, development, marketing, and Video game monetization, monetization of video games. The industry (economics), industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs wor ...

. He worked on the development for several

Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included '' Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage'', '' Spy Hunter'' ...

titles such as ''Spy Hunter''. He also worked on ''Championship Manager''.

Comedy career

Imran Yusuf first performed in 2000 at a comedy show hosted by comedian Jeff Mirza. He started his full-time career in comedy in 2003 after quitting the video game industry. He won a stand-up competition at Newbury Comedy Festival in 2004. In 2010, he appeared at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in 2010 with his first solo show ''An Audience with Imran Yusuf'' receiving positive reviews and a nomination from the Foster's

Edinburgh Comedy Awards The Dave's 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. ...

for the best newcomer. 2010 saw Yusuf appearing on ''

Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow ''Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow'' is a British stand-up comedy television series hosted by comedian Michael McIntyre from different venues around the United Kingdom and Ireland. The first series was broadcast with six episodes in 2009. Each ...

'' as well as debuting on the

BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the pr ...

's satirical news comments ''The Now Show'' on Boxing Day of that year. In February 2011, he appeared on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

's ''

The News Quiz ''The News Quiz'' is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4. History ''The News Quiz'' was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently, it was chaired by Barry Took from 1979 to 1981, Simon Hoggart ...

'' and also on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

's '' How TV Ruined Your Life'', together with

Charlie Brooker Charlton Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English television presenter, writer, producer and satirist. He is the creator and co-showrunner of the sci-fi drama anthology series ''Black Mirror'', and has written for comedy series such as ''Bras ...

. His UK tour ''An Audience with Imran Yusuf'' started in February 2011 as well at London's

Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...

. Later that year, he made a debut on '' Arthur Smith's Balham Bash'' on

. In 2011,

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ...

Yusuf's stand-up was a part of ''Funny As Hell'', a stand-up series presenting British comedy in the United States. Also in 2011, Yusuf performed with a show called ''Bring The Thunder'' at the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2012, ''The Imran Yusuf Show'' was broadcast on the BBC. In 2015, Yusuf starred as Ed in the series '' Fried''; two years later, he appeared as Sid in the romantic comedy film '' Finding Fatimah''. His comedy was accused of being sexist.

Television credits

* ''Yuk Yuk's Great Canadian Laugh Off'' (2009) * ''Laughtershock'' (2010) * ''Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live'' (2010) * ''Edinburgh Comedy Gala'' (2010) * ''

'' - series 2 (2010) * ''BBC Comedy Presents: Free@TheFringe'' (2011) * ''Edinburgh Comedy Gala'' (2011) * '' How TV Ruined Your Life'' (2011) * ''The Imran Yusuf Show'' (2012) * ''Ultimate Brain'' (2014–2016) * '' Fried'' (2015)

Filmography

* '' Finding Fatimah'' (2017) - Sid

References

External links

* *
An interview at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yusuf, Imran 1979 births Living people British Muslims British people of Indian descent Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom British male comedians British stand-up comedians Muslim male comedians Kenyan people of Indian descent Edinburgh Comedy Festival People from Mombasa People from Hackney Central People from Harrow, London