Eshaan Akbar (; born 14 August 1984) is an English comedian, writer and actor.

Early life

Akbar is a Briton of Pakistani and

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

ancestry. Born in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

, east London, he moved with his family to

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

where he attended

Forest School Forest School or Forrest School may refer to: Educational philosophy * Forest school (learning style), a learner centred outdoor learning approach. Religious philosophy * Thai Forest Tradition, a Theravada school of Buddhism in Thailand. * Sri La ...

, a private

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

school in Snaresbrook. Akbar studied Economics, Finance and Management at

Queen Mary University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

and worked in

wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high- ...

until the 2008 crash. He then completed a master's degree in Global Governance and Public Policy at

Birkbeck College, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £109 ...

, where his dissertation focused on UK aid provision in the 21st century. He also worked at the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton ...

Council and

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

. He also had stints at the

British Heart Foundation The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is a cardiovascular research charity in the United Kingdom. It funds medical research related to heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors, and runs influencing work aimed at shaping public policy ...

and

Anthony Nolan Anthony Nolan is a UK charity that works in the areas of leukaemia and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. It manages and recruits donors to the Anthony Nolan Register, which is part of an aligned registry that also includes the ''Welsh Bon ...

. Akbar has also worked as a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

dance choreographer and journalist.

Career

Eshaan Akbar began performing stand-up in 2014 doing five-minute spots at open mic nights like We Are Funny Project and the Comedy Cafe. He made the final of the

So You Think You're Funny So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom. The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past wi ...

competition and

Laughing Horse Laughing Horse is a British comedy promotion company and venue operator. The company was established in the UK in 1998, and now operates venues in Aldershot, Brighton, Cirencester, Hitchin, London (Brixton, Covent Garden, Lancaster Gate, Padding ...

in that same year. In 2016, he supported

Micky Flanagan Michael John Flanagan (born 7 October 1962) is an English comedian. Flanagan has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and toured Britain with stand-up shows. He presented ''Micky Flanagan: What Chance Change?'' for Radio 4 and has appeared on vario ...

on his warm up tour. He has gone on to support

Dane Baptiste Dane Baptiste (born 3 September 1984) is a British stand-up comedian, writer and presenter. He was the first Black British act to be nominated for the "Best Newcomer" award at 2014's Edinburgh Comedy Awards and his comedy series ''Sunny D'' premie ...

Hal Cruttenden Hal Dominic Bart Cruttenden (born 9 September 1969) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. Early life Hal Dominic Bart Cruttenden was born in the Ealing district of London on 9 September 1969. He is the younger brother o ...

Rory Bremner Roderick Keith Ogilvy "Rory" Bremner,"Rory Bremner". '' Who Do You Think You Are?''. Wall to Wall for BBC One. 2 February 2009. No. 1, series 6. (born 6 April 1961) is a Scottish impressionist and comedian, noted for his work in political sati ...

Jan Ravens Janet "Jan" Ravens (born 14 May 1958) is an English actress and impressionist, known for her voice work on ''Spitting Image'' and '' Dead Ringers''. Early life Ravens grew up in Hoylake, then in Cheshire, on the west side of the Wirral with he ...

Sindhu Vee Sindhu Venkatanarayanan (born 19 June 1969) is an Indian actress and stand-up comedian who lives and performs in the United Kingdom under the name of Sindhu Vee. She starred as Mrs Phelps in the 2022 Netflix adaptation of ''Matilda the Musical' ...

, and

Jason Manford Jason John Manford (born 26 May 1981) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and singer. Manford was a team captain on the Channel 4 panel show ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' from 2007 until 2010 and has presented numerous television shows for the BBC an ...

. On TV, he has appeared on '' Live At The Apollo'', ''The Big Asian Stand-Up'', ''

Frankie Boyle's New World Order ''Frankie Boyle's New World Order'' is a British comedy television programme created, written and presented by Frankie Boyle. Premiering in 2017 on BBC Two, it followed his BBC iPlayer-exclusive "Autopsy" shows. After a few minutes of stand-up, h ...

'', ''

Mock the Week ''Mock the Week'' is a British topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. The programme was present ...

'', '' QI, The Big Asian Stand-Up Night'', ''Sunday Morning Live'' and has written for ''Rob Rinder's Good Year, Bad Year''. On radio, he hosted a regular Saturday afternoon show on the ''

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...

'', including stints covering The Breakfast Show and Drivetime. He is also the host for the award-winning ''Nine Twenty Nine'' podcast for Fiverr and the ''But Where Are You Really From?'' podcast for the BBC. He created ''Panic Room'', an

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or rush ...

podcast, presenting alongside John Robins and

Olga Koch Olga Alfredovna Koch (; born 1 September 1992) is a Russian-British stand-up comedian, writer, and actress. Early life Koch is the daughter of Alfred Koch, head of the State Committee for State Property Management of the Russian Federation from ...

. He co-hosts the podcast ''Shame is Delicious'' with

Darren Harriott Darren Harriott (born 1 September 1988) is a British stand-up comedian from Oldbury, West Midlands. He was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award and Best Show Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017 and 2019 respectively. Early life Har ...

. He is a celebrity Ambassador for the

Action on Hearing Loss The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), known as Action on Hearing Loss from 2011 to 2020, is a charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million people who are deaf or have hearing loss. History The Royal National I ...

charity. Akbar starred as Principal Lakhani in season four of the Netflix series ''

Sex Education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akbar, Eshaan English male comedians Living people 1984 births Alumni of Queen Mary University of London English people of Pakistani descent English people of Bangladeshi descent Actors from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Comedians from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Muslim male comedians Male actors from London Male actors from Essex Comedians from Essex People from Whitechapel