Bilal Zafar (born 16 October 1991) is a British comedian who won the New Act of The Year Award (NATY) in 2016[1] and was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in the same year.[2] He has written for The Independent[3] and The Guardian.[4]
Zafar is from Wanstead, London, and he studied at Wanstead High School before moving to Manchester to study screenwriting at The University of Bolton.[5][6] He worked part-time as a concierge and a care assistant while living in Manchester.[7] Zafar moved back to London in January 2016.[5]
Zafar began performing stand-up comedy in his final year of university in 2013 and is best known for performing material about racism and islamophobia. He cites Simon Amstell and Chris Morris as influences.[5]
In 2015, Zafar was runner-up in the New Comedian of the Year competition run by Leicester Square Theatre.[8][9] The following year he won first prize at the NATYS Awards in London at the same venue.[10][11]
Described as a "wry storyteller",[10] Zafar appeared on the BBC Asian Network's Comedy Show in 2016 and 2017.[12] He has also appeared on BBC Radio Four's Loose Ends[13] and presented one of the station's Stand-Up Specials.[14]
Since 2020 Zafar has attracted a small regular audience and gained the status of Partner for his channel on live-streaming platform Twitch, where he portrays the manager of a football team within the videogame Pro Evolution Soccer 5. The manager character frequently engages his audience of “assistant managers” whose participation in the stream’s chat room and enthusiasm for in-jokes Zafar encourages.[15]
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