Neel Kolhatkar
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Neel Kolhatkar (born 30 March 1994) is an Australian
comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...
,
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 ...
and
actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
. As of October 2024, Kolhatkar has received 91.1 million views on his YouTube channel.


Early life

Neel Kolhatkar was born on 30 March 1994 in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Australia, and grew up in the suburbs of
Hurstville Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is south of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD and is part of the St George, New South Wales, St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of ...
and
Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...
in the city's
St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...
area. His parents are of Indian ancestry, both from
Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
state; his mother's family migrated to Sydney in 1962 as part of a collective diaspora of first-generation Indian migrant professionals. His father migrated in 1988. He studied at
Caringbah High School Caringbah High School is a government-funded co-educational academically selective secondary day school, located in Caringbah, in the Sutherland Shire of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school was opened in 1960 as a co-educational h ...
and graduated in 2011, performing well in his Drama, Economics, English, and Mathematics courses. After a gap year spent performing stand-up comedy, developing characters, and exploring the comedy scenes of
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
,
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, Kolhatkar enrolled in the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
. He studied an undergraduate course in Economics before leaving Sydney University after one year to pursue a career in entertainment.


Career


Early career and YouTube success

While in high school, Kolhatkar recognised that
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 ...
was a place where original comedy could be posted to an audience. He would post unedited, independently produced material under the username neel30394. He began uploading monthly videos at the age of fourteen, which his has described as him simply "doing idiotic things". His third upload, ''Shadows'', was shortlisted for the
Trop Jr Trop Jr is a short film festival featuring films produced by Australians aged 15 years and younger. Trop Jr has been part of the Tropfest film festival since 2008 and is held in Sydney, Australia each year. Trop Jr is billed as "The Worlds Largest ...
film festival in 2009. He first received attention for his video ''Teenage Girls'', which earned them 1,000 subscribers, and then for his ''Australia in 2 Minutes'' video. The latter, a video parodying different Australian personalities, increased his subscriber count to 10,000 users and received national media coverage. Since ''Australia in 2 Minutes'', Kolhatkar has collaborated with
Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
Fragrances in the production of a commercial for their
Eau de toilette Eau de toilette (, meaning "grooming water") is a lightly scented perfume. It is also referred to as aromatic waters and has a high alcohol content. It is usually applied directly to the skin after bathing or shaving. It is traditionally composed ...
Playboy Generation. The video, featuring influencer and model Hannah Perera, was posted on their YouTube channel and featured on Playboy Australia's Facebook page. As of July 2020, the video has over 587,000 views. He has also received funding from
Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...
and
Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
to produce ''Crossing the Line,'' an eight-part YouTube series ‘investigating perspectives on offensive comedy’. The series became available in full on Kolhatkar's main YouTube channel on December 31, 2019. Throughout his career, Kolhatkar has continued to regularly post new content and in June 2016 launched his secondary channel Neel TV. As of July 2020, it currently has 38,500 subscribers and 3,500,000 total video views in addition to his primary channel's 601,000 subscribers and 76,400,000 total video views.


Stand-up comedy career

In 2009, Kolhatkar performed his first stand-up comedy routine when he entered the
Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starti ...
's Class Clowns Competition. He won this competition while still in high school. he was later invited to perform in the Festival's Teenage Gala, a showcase of Australia's best comedians 20 years old or younger, in 2010 and 2011. Appearing in a similar showcase in the 2012
Sydney Fringe Festival The Sydney Fringe Festival is the largest independent arts festival in New South Wales with over 450 events presented in over 70 venues across Greater Sydney each year during September. It encompasses genres such as stand-up comedy, music, theat ...
show ''Barely Legal'', Kolhatkar also began his theatre career at the festival. He developed a one-man musical based on a wannabe gangster from the
Southern Sydney Southern Sydney, also commonly referred to as the Southern suburbs, is the southern metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Southern Sydney is a title for the regions and neighbourhoods which fall dire ...
suburb of
Kogarah Kogarah () is a suburb of Southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kogarah is located 14 kilometres (9 miles) south-west of the Sydney central business district and is considered to be the centre of the St George area. Loc ...
, titled ''The KogDog!'' At age 18, he was the youngest solo performer at the Sydney Fringe Festival that year. Kolhatkar continued to experience success as a stand-up comic when he was hand-picked to perform in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's Comedy Zone in 2013, a show at the Comedy Festival featuring the strongest emerging Australian comedians of the time. Later that year, he made his debut at the
New York Comedy Festival The New York Comedy Festival is an annual comedy festival founded by Caroline Hirsch and launched in November 2004. The week-long festival is produced by Carolines and held each year in November. It features more than 200 comedians performing in m ...
in a show titled ''The Aussie Invasion''. Performing at the
Comic Strip Live The Comic Strip Live is the oldest stand-up comedy showcase club in New York City, located at 1568 Second Avenue (between 81st and 82nd Streets). History The Comic Strip was opened in 1976. Richard Tienken and Robert Wachs were two of the club ...
alongside other Australian comedians
Joel Creasey Joel Creasey (born 11 August 1990) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, television and radio presenter. Creasey has performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, as well as performing at the New York International Fringe Festiv ...
and Khaled Kalafalla, the show was recommended by Time Out magazine. His next stand-up show, ''GENeration ComedY'', debuted in 2014. Kolhatkar first performed the solo show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in the Trades Hall before taking it to 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 ...
. Performing at the Assembly Hall, the show received poor reviews, including three two-star ratings by
Chortle Chortle is a British comedy website launched in 2000 by Steve Bennett. The site is a major source of comedy news in the UK. It also reviews comedy shows nationwide, including extensively at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and presents the C ...
, WOW247 and The List and two three-star ratings by ''Fresh Air'' and
Broadway Baby ''Broadway Baby'' is a British online review guide and arts news website which launched in 2004. It is the most prolific reviewing publication at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 2012 onward. It contains reviews of music, comedy, theatre and ...
. Kolhatkar then followed ''GENeration ComedY'' with his second solo show ''Truth Be Told''. It premiered at the 2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival before featuring at the
Sydney Comedy Festival The Sydney Comedy Festival is held annually in Sydney, Australia. Launched in 2005 as The Cracker Sydney Comedy Festival at a number of inner city venues, the Festival has grown quickly and now attracts 111,000 patrons every year at venues all ...
,
New Zealand International Comedy Festival The New Zealand International Comedy Festival (NZICF; sometimes the NZ Intl Comedy Fest) is a comedy festival in both Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand. The festival is run by the New Zealand Comedy Trust, and is held across three weeks duri ...
, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Perth's
Fringe World Fringe World, or Fringe World Festival, is an annual multi-arts fringe festival held in Perth, Western Australia during the city's summer festival season of January/February. The annual program of events features artists and acts from a range ...
Festival that same year. Unlike his first show, ''Truth Be Told'''s run earned acclaim from a number of critics worldwide, including Australian-based theatre magazines ''Weekend Notes'' and
The Music The Music was an English alternative rock band, formed in Kippax, Leeds in 1999. Comprising Robert Harvey (vocals, guitar), Adam Nutter (lead guitar), Stuart Coleman (bass) and Phil Jordan (drums), the band came to prominence with the releas ...
as well as a four star rating from the United Kingdom-based The Skinny. In 2016 he presented ''Neel Before Me'', his third solo show. The show debuted at the Perth's Fringe World Festival before featuring at the
Adelaide Fringe Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...
, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and Sydney Comedy Festival. He then took the show to comedy festivals across the world to mixed reviews; its New Zealand International Comedy Festival run received mixed opinions from comedy critic Lord Sutch of The Ruminator in contrast to its ensuing Edinburgh Festival Fringe run, which
Broadway Baby ''Broadway Baby'' is a British online review guide and arts news website which launched in 2004. It is the most prolific reviewing publication at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 2012 onward. It contains reviews of music, comedy, theatre and ...
gave 5 stars. A full recording of the show, performed at Sydney's Metro Theatre, was released on his main YouTube channel in September 2017. His second comedy special, it has over 670,000 views as of May 2020. Kolhatkar began 2017 by performing at the Mardi Gras Comedy Festival Gala in February. The gala, held at Sydney's
Enmore Theatre The Enmore Theatre is a theatre and entertainment venue in Enmore, New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1908. It is located at 118–132 Enmore Road in Newtown, in the inner west of Sydney's suburbs. It was first opened in 1912 as a ph ...
as part of the annual
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest LGBT festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the ...
, featured him alongside internationally recognised comedians
Hannah Gadsby Hannah Gadsby (born 12 January 1978) is an Australian comedian, writer, author and actor. They began their career in Australia after winning the national final of the Raw Comedy competition for new comedians in 2006. In 2018, their show '' Nanet ...
, Stephen K. Amos, and
Tom Ballard Thomas Ballard (1630–1689) was a colonial Virginia landowner and politician. Thomas or Tom Ballard may also refer to: * Thomas Ballard Jr. (1654–1710), member of the Virginia House of Burgesses * Thomas Ballard (MP for Coventry), member of P ...
. After this, he presented his fourth solo stand-up comedy show ''#ObjectifyNeel''. Performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the Sydney Comedy Festival, Perth's Fringe World Festival and in a number of regional Australian locations, the show received positive reviews from comedy critic Desiree Walsh of ''WeekendNotes'' and ''The Plus Ones'', but only two out of five stars from
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
critic Dan Harrison. Kolhatkar ended 2017 by headlining The Comedy Store's ''Christmas Spectacular'', performed in Sydney. His fifth stand-up comedy show, ''Live'', played at the 2018 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Perth Comedy Festival, Sydney Comedy Festival, and Adelaide Fringe. The material from the show later formed part of his third stand-up special of the same name, filmed at The Comedy Store in Sydney in November 2018. He again performed ''Live'' at these same events in 2019 as well as at the Canberra Comedy Festival and Newcastle Comedy Festival. The show's 2019 run at the Adelaide Fringe received a four out of five star rating from Silvana Weyerhauser-Maher of ''The Iconic Blonde''. His sixth stand-up comedy show, ''Harder. Bigger. Better. Stronger.'', was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. He was due to perform at the 2020 season of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival at the
Australian Institute of Music The Australian Institute of Music (AIM) is an Australian private tertiary education provider, with campuses in Sydney, New South Wales and Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1968, AIM delivers education for careers in the Australian music, enter ...
's Melbourne campus.


Film and television career

Kolhatkar's television debut was in the No Laughing Matter Comedy Gala, a live comedy special aimed towards raising funds for Suicide Prevention Australia and the National Coalition for Suicide Prevention. The special was broadcast on
The Comedy Channel The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) was an Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020. History A joint venture between Artist Services ( ...
in November 2013. He followed this by playing a variety of small roles in the show ''#7DaysLater'' and appearances in SBS's ''Stand-Up at Bella Union'' as well as the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
's ''Mediacrity'' program. His first major acting role was in the 2015 short film ''Modern Educayshun'', which he also wrote and directed. Available online, it has 19,8 million views on YouTube. The video has drawn mixed responses; Mike Byrne of
The Fordham Ram Fordham University is a private Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located. Fordham is the oldest Catholic a ...
labelled it ‘nothing more than a stale and shallow condemnation of culture’ but Jim Weaver of Texas radio station KKYR-FM described it as ‘brilliant’. Later in 2015, he appeared in SBS's ''Comedy Runway'' pilot episode ''Tip Rats''. After small roles in the short film ''Snare'' and feature-length film ''Dark Web'', Kolhatkar had another starring role in ''Head Above Water'', a feature-length made-for-TV
mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...
that focused on a rivalry between surfers played by Kolhatkar and co-star Elliot Loney. ''Head Above Water'' premiered on
9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anima ...
and was available on streaming service Stan until 5 January 2020. He appeared in one episode of the 2016 television show Soul Mates before presenting the five-part documentary series ''Virgin Bush'' in 2017, produced by
ABC Comedy ABC Family is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of family and teen entertainment programming. The channel oper ...
. Later in 2017, Kolhatkar featured in an episode of Just for Laughs Australia alongside fellow Australian comedians
Alice Fraser Alice Fraser is an Australian comedian, writer, podcaster, and actor. Early life and education Fraser studied law at the University of Sydney before going on to earn a master's degree in English literature (Rhetoric) in Cambridge, England. Fra ...
and
Dave Hughes David William Hughes is an Australian stand-up comedian, television and radio presenter. He is known for his larrikin personality, drawling Australian accent, and deadpan comedic delivery. Hughes has previously been co-host of '' Hughesy & K ...
. The episode aired on The Comedy Channel on 18 November that year. In 2018, Kolhatkar received prominent attention for his role in the
Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...
series '' Street Smart'', where he played
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...
driver Raj. Alongside the rest of the ''Street Smart'' cast, which included notable Australian entertainment figures
Tahir Bilgiç Tahir Bilgiç (born 12 December 1968) is an Australian comedian, film and television actor of Turkish descent. He is primarily an actor and comedian. He has written, directed and starred in live shows including "Lord of The Kebabs", "From Leb ...
,
Maria Tran Maria Tran (Vietnamese: Maria Trần) (born 30 January 1985) is a Vietnamese-Australian actress, martial artist, producer, and director based in between Sydney, Australia & Las Vegas, Nevada. She is known as a trailblazer in developing the mart ...
, and Casey Donovan, he was nominated for 'Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series' as part of the 2019 Equity Foundation Awards. The ''Street Smart'' cast eventually lost to the cast of the SBS series ''Homecoming Queens''. Receiving poor ratings for its premiere, the show was moved to a different time slot after one episode and later cancelled after one season. Following ''Street Smart'', Kolhatkar had small roles in the television programs ''Little Sista'', ''Pilot Week'', and ''Sistas''. He has also appeared as a principal character in ''Cursed'', playing the role of Charles. It is yet to be released on television, but made its world premiere at the 2019 South by Southwest Film Festival.


Other endeavours

Kolhatkar, along with comedian Jordan Shanks of YouTube account
FriendlyJordies Jordan Shanks-Markovina (born 18 August 1989), also known online as friendlyjordies, is an Australian political commentator, journalist, stand-up comedian and YouTuber. His content often discusses contemporary Australian cultural and politica ...
, co-hosts ''Neel + Jordan'', a weekly
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
where they discuss different topics and themes from Byzantine history to modern comedy and Harry Styles' fashion. He has also founded a small business that teaches improvisational and drama skills to children and teenagers, developed from a similar practice he would engage in as a high school student during lunch and after-school hours. This business operates in the South-east Sydney area. Neel also hosts another podcast, ''Sex Cells'', with sexologist and relationship therapist Eliza Joy Wilson. He has also featured on Queen Victoria's single ''Give Us Ya Money'' and released a song titled ''Netflix and Chill'', featuring Australian musicians
Allday Tomas Henry Gaynor (born 21 February 1991), known professionally as Allday, is an Australian rapper, singer and songwriter from Adelaide. Gaynor became active in 2011, when he began uploading his music for free online. Following his works becom ...
and KYA. The music video for the latter, uploaded to his YouTube channel, has over 195,000 views as of May 2020. In May 2020 he released ''Bounce for Me'', a single released under his alias 'The KogDog'. It is available on
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
. In 2017, Kolhatkar spoke at NSW Youth Council's annual conference addressing the role of technology in driving social change and released excerpts of his stand-up comedy material to
ITunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
as a comedy album. The album takes its name from his third solo show, ''Neel Before Me''. He later released a second set of excerpts of his stand-up comedy material to iTunes in July 2019, titled ''Half Hour Happy Ending''. In 2018, he was engaged by the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
as part of their campaign to re-popularise the annual State of Origin rugby league series between
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
. Alongside influencer Michael Beveridge, Kolhatkar participated in the campaign ''#BetterStateDebate'', producing a number of videos released throughout the three match series debating various topics. The videos were featured on the National Rugby League's YouTube channel. Campaign agency We Are Social also developed GIFs of him for online use.


Style

Kolhatkar is known as an observational comic. He regularly uses anecdotes to "critique the normative picture of society people experience". He also employs
character comedy Character comedy is a genre in which a stand-up comedian performs as a character they have created. Examples include Al Murray's crotchety Pub Landlord and Rich Hall's musician "uncle" Otis Lee Crenshaw; both of these won the Perrier Award at the ...
, using tropes like cross-cultural "speech, dress or mannerisms, a high degree of irony, and blending stereotype and archetype" when depicting different cultures of Australian society. Comedian Isaac Butterfield has described his comedy as "articulate, smart, and educated", and Kolhatkar has stated he avoids aggressive expression of his opinions in his material. Due to the satirical nature of Kolhatkar's work, his use of impressions, and political humour, some of his race-based stand-up and video content has drawn criticism. Such criticism is in accordance with the issue of using race as a comedic tool. Addressing this issue with Beat Magazine, Kolhatkar has commented that he has learnt to "revel" in that response the longer he has been performing. stating his willingness to take comedic risks because "the best comedy pushes the boundary just enough to tread the fine line between tension and hilarity".


Influences

Speaking to ''The Partae'' and ''The Creative Issue'', Kolhatkar has stated his influences include American comedians
Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...
,
Bill Burr {{Infobox comedian , image = Bill Burr by Gage Skidmore.jpg , alt = , caption = Burr in 2018 , birth_name = William Frederic Burr , birth_date = {{birth date and age, 1968, 6, 10 , bi ...
,
George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercultur ...
,
Russell Peters Russell Dominic Peters (born 29 September 1970) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and won a Gemini Award in 2008. In 2013, he was number three on ''Forbes'' Forbes Celebrity 100, list o ...
and
Chris Rock Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He first gained prominence for his stand-up routines in the 1980s in which he tackled subjects including race relations, human sexuality, and obse ...
. He has called Rock his “all time favourite” for his “style, energy and scathing commentary”. He has expressed an interest to work with
Kevin Hart Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. The accolades he has received include the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and nominations for two Grammy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. After winning se ...
and admires comedians who are individual and truthful.


Personal life

Kolhatkar supports the
St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...
, a professional
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
team that plays in the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
. He has cited
Jordan Peterson Jordan Bernt Peterson (born 12 June 1962) is a Canadian psychologist, author, and media commentator. He received widespread attention in the late 2010s for his views on cultural and political issues. Often described as Conservatism, conservativ ...
's '' 12 Rules for Life'' as a highly influential book in his life.


Filmography


Film


Television


See also

*
FriendlyJordies Jordan Shanks-Markovina (born 18 August 1989), also known online as friendlyjordies, is an Australian political commentator, journalist, stand-up comedian and YouTuber. His content often discusses contemporary Australian cultural and politica ...


References


External links


Neel Kolhatkar
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 ...

Neel Kolhatkar
on
IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolhatkar, Neel Australian male comedians Australian people of Indian descent Australian stand-up comedians Australian YouTubers Comedians from Sydney Living people 1994 births 21st-century Australian comedians YouTubers from Sydney