Paul Anthony Williams (born 7 August 1992) is a New Zealand comedian and musician. Williams plays the role of Taskmaster's assistant on the New Zealand version of the international television series ''Taskmaster'', and is one of the show's principal writers. He was nominated for the 2017

Billy T Award The Billy T Award is a New Zealand comedy award recognizing up-and-coming New Zealand comedians with outstanding potential. It has been presented annually since its inception in 1997 when Cal Wilson and Ewen Gilmour shared the award. The Billy T ...

for up-and-coming New Zealand comedians for his stand-up comedy.

Early life

Williams grew up in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, New Zealand, with his parents Gary and Roseanne, and his two siblings, including comedian brother Guy. He was educated at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

. He performed leading roles in musical theatre with The Nelson Youth Theatre Company, and published comedy raps with music videos on YouTube. Williams studied musical theatre at Whitireia Performance Centre in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, and at the end of 2013 moved to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Career

Comedy

Williams' comedy show “Summertime Love”, presented as a mock dating seminar, went on tour through New Zealand and to the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

and

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

. He was nominated for the Billy T. Award for the country's best newcomer in 2017. Since 2017, he has co-hosted the basketball-themed Advanced Analytics NBA Podcast with his brother Guy.

TV

Williams is a presenter of ''Taskmaster NZ'' (with

Jeremy Wells Jeremy Wells (born 7 June 1977) is a New Zealand media personality who hosts the Radio Hauraki breakfast show with Matt Heath, '' Seven Sharp'' alongside Hilary Barry, and the NZ version of '' Taskmaster''. Career Wells first appeared on tel ...

) and one of the three writers of the tasks and script for the show. He was reviewed as the programme's "most valuable player", and has returned for the second season, with praise for his "underplayed comedy" in the role. His brother Guy, who is also a comedian, was a contestant on

the first season ''The First Season'' is a Canadian drama film, released in 1989. The film stars Kate Trotter as Alex Cauldwell, a woman in British Columbia who, following the death of her fisherman husband Frank (Dwight Koss), tries to support herself and her dau ...

. He stars in the

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

comedy series ''Kid Sister'' along with ''

Our Flag Means Death ''Our Flag Means Death'' is an American period comedy television series created by David Jenkins. Set in the early 18th century during the Golden Age of Piracy, the series follows the misadventures of gentleman-turned-pirate Stede Bonnet (Rhys ...

'' writer Simone Nathan. In 2023, Williams appeared on the panel show ''

Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee ''Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee'' is a New Zealand television comedy panel show on Three created and presented by Guy Montgomery and co-hosted by Sanjay Patel. The show is loosely based on a spelling bee: each episode, four comedians parti ...

''.

Music

As a musician, Williams released some early albums of comedy and parody, before moving on to writing and performing original songs. In a 2014 radio interview with The Edge, New Zealand singer

Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. Taking inspiration from aristocracy for her stage name, she is known for her unconventional musical styles and i ...

said that Williams was her favourite performer. Williams has released several albums of his own songs, including the EPs Songs about Girls (2014) and Jungle River Adventure (2015). His full-length album Surf Music (2018) was described as "an excellent, earnest piece of pop music that feels individual and unique ..funny because Williams is funny, not because it needs to be". 'Euroleague', the 7th track on the album, was featured as soundtrack for

James Acaster James William Acaster (; born 9 January 1985) is an English comedian, writer, presenter and musician. As well as appearances on panel shows, he is known for the stand-up specials ''Repertoire'', co-hosting the food podcast '' Off Menu'' and co- ...

's stand up tour and comedy special Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Paul 1992 births Living people People from Nelson, New Zealand People educated at Nelson College New Zealand male comedians New Zealand stand-up comedians New Zealand musicians New Zealand podcasters