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Nazeem Hussain

Nazeem HUSSAIN (Aust)

Fast becoming one of Aussies biggest comedy exports.

Nazeem Hussain has fast become one of the most in-demand TV and Radio personalities in Australia. He is the star and creator of the critically acclaimed TV show, ‘Legally Brown’, airing for two seasons on SBS in 2013 & 2014The show broke ground with its boundary-pushing content, received wide spread critical acclaim and was nominated for Most Outstanding Comedy at the 2015 Logie Awards.

‘Reinventing Australian Comedy’ 
- Herald Sun (Australia) 

Prior to ‘Legally Brown’Hussain was a regular on the Comedy Channel’s hugely successful, ASTRA award-winning ‘Balls of Steel Australia’. His self-created character, Calvin Khan – the Very Foreign Correspondent, saw his episodes achieve the highest ratings of the season and he returned in season 2. Hussain also starred on the cult-hit Salam Café on SBS, which was nominated for a Logie Award in 2009.

In 2014 Nazeem filmed ‘The Full Brazilian’, covering the World Cup for SBS. Other TV appearances include Network Ten’s ‘The Project’ and on leading news and politics panel show ‘Q and A’, alongside Malcolm Turnbull and Lindsay Tanner. He is also a regular panellist on ABC News Breakfast’s “Friday Confab” with Virginia Trioli and Michael Rowland. Nazeem will return to SBS in July 2016 to host The Feed.

A familiar voice on the airwaves, Nazeem, recently guest presented the coveted Breakfast time slot for Matt & Alex onTriple J and was a regular on NOVA’s Meshel & Tommy.

“Hussain’s cheerful manner belies the acuity of his observation”
-The Guardian (UK)

Nazeem is also well known as a stand-up comedian and until 2014 was one half of cult political comedy duo Fear of a Brown Planet (FOABP) with Aamer Rahman. FOABP first appeared on the Australian comedy scene in 2008, with a sell-out run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. They were awarded the prestigious ‘Best Newcomer Award’ that year and won over critics and fans alike.

Nazeem has also performed stand-up on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival All Stars Gala 2011 and Oxfam Gala2015 & 2016 (Network 10) and the Sydney Comedy Festival Gala (Comedy Channel). He hosted the 2016 National Raw Final (ABC), took part in the MICF Great Debate (Network 10) and appeared on the Comedy Up Late series (ABC). He has performed several times at the annual Falls and Southbound festivals across Australia, to crowds of over 10,000 people and toured Australia and Asia as part of the Melbourne international Comedy Festival Roadshow.

In 2011 Nazeem performed with Fear of a Brown Planet at the largest arts festival in the world – the Edinburgh Fringe – and received the highest review from the esteemed Guardian newspaper given that year. That same year FOABP was the focus of an episode of Australian Story. The episode documented Aamer and Nazeem’s lives in Australia as well as their debut performances in Edinburgh and London.

Other career highlights include performing a support slot for renowned US comic Dave Chappelle in February of 2014. And launching his first Comedy Podcast, Burn Your Passport earlier this year. It was one of the first round of Podcasts to be commissioned by ABC Radio and is now ranked in the Top 20 most listened to Podcasts in Australia, after only a few weeks.

In 2015 Nazeem’s first ever solo stand-up tour was one of the most successful shows to come out of the 2015 Melbourne & Sydney International Comedy Festivals and was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best Comedy.

His 2016 follow up show, matched this success and he has since toured around Australia, Antwerp, Paris and sold out London’s prestigious Soho Theatre. Nazeem will be returning to Edinburgh with his debut solo show in August 2016.

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