Kaneez Surka is a South African

improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...

artist, actress, comedian and a

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

, based in India. She started her career with the show ''

The Week That Wasn't ''The Week That Wasn't'' was an Indian News satire, satirical late night television programme hosted by Cyrus Broacha and shown on the ''CNN-IBN'' (now CNN News18) channel. Started in 2006, the cast included Kaneez Surka, Gopal Datt, Mohit Maha ...

''. She has performed on various stand up platforms. She was a judge on the first two seasons of the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

stand-up comedy reality show

Comicstaan ''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. The series premiere ...

. She also hosts an online comedy game show, ''The General Fun Game Show'' on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Personal life

Kaneez Surka was born and raised in the

Mthatha Mthatha ( , ), alternatively rendered Umtata, is the main city of the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in Eastern Cape province of South Africa and the capital of OR Tambo District Municipality. The city has an airport, previously known ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. She studied in DSG, Graham School and attended

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in law and psychology. Ethnically a

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

, Kaneez Surka was born into a Muslim family originally from

Kapadvanj Kapadvanj (Karpat – Vanjiyam or "The Land of Textile") is a town as well as one of the Taluka of the Kheda district in the Gujarat, India. It is located on bank of river Mohar. It is 65 km away from Ahmedabad and 93 km away from Vado ...

, which allowed her to have a deep understanding of different cultures and religions.

Career

Surka was part of the Mumbai improv scene since 2009. Her initial work in Mumbai was with Divya Palat's Imps troupe. Surka was co-director of a Mumbai-based story-telling club "Tall Tales" in 2013. She achieved mainstream popularity on the satirical news show ''

'' on

CNN-News18 CNN News18 is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides international coverage for the ...

(formerly CNN-IBN). She also worked with Weirdass Comedy, a

Vir Das Vir Das (born 31 May 1979) is an Indian comedian, actor and musician. After beginning a career in standup comedy, Das moved to Hindi cinema starring in films like '' Badmaash Company'' (2010), '' Delhi Belly'' (2011), and '' Go Goa Gone'' (201 ...

venture and then began collaborating with and making appearances in several

All India Bakchod All India Bakchod (abbreviated as AIB) was a Mumbai-based comedy company which created an eponymous podcast, YouTube channel and ran a production company. The name is a parody of All India Radio. It began in 2012 as a humour/pop-culture podcast ...

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

and 'Improv All Stars' for

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

and Queens of Comedy for

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

. Surka is part of an improv group called "The Improvisers" along with Abish Mathew,

Kanan Gill Kanan Singh Gill is an Indian stand-up comedian, actor, author 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 s ...

, and Kenny Sebastian, and has an Improv special titled 'Something From Nothing' on

. 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

Filmography

Web

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Surka, Kaneez Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Mthatha South African women comedians South African stand-up comedians South African YouTubers South African film actresses South African television actresses South African people of Gujarati descent South African people of Indian descent South African Muslims Actresses of Indian descent South African emigrants to India South African expatriate actresses in India Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Hindi television Rhodes University alumni South African women humorists 21st-century South African actresses South African comedians