Kaneez Surka is a

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

improv artist, actress, comedian and a YouTuber of an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent, who works mainly in India. She started her career with the show ''

The Week That Wasn't ''The Week That Wasn't'' is an Indian satirical late night television programme hosted by Cyrus Broacha and shown on the ''CNN-IBN'' (now CNN News18) channel. Started in 2006, cast includes Kaneez Surka, Gopal Datt, Ambika Vas and Kunal Vijayk ...

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

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

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 premier ...

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

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Personal life

Kaneez Surka was born and raised in the

Mthatha Mthatha , formerly 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 as the K. D. Matanzi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. She studied in DSG, Graham School and attended Rhodes University, 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 ...

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

CNN-News18 CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) 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 internationa ...

(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'' (2013) ...

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 the eponymous podcast, YouTube channel and production company. The name is a parody of All India Radio. It began in 2012 as a humour/pop-culture podcast co- ...

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 is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

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 As ...

. 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 and YouTuber. He won the Punch Line Bangalore Competition. He is known for hosting the YouTube series ''Pretentious Movie Reviews'' where he reviews campy Bollywood films along with fellow st ...

, 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 1983 births 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 Women humorists 21st-century South African actresses Female YouTubers