Urzila Carlson (born 15 February 1976) is a South African born New Zealand comedian and actress, known for her stand-up performances as well as her appearances on television programs in both New Zealand and Australia. Carlson is a regular panellist on ''

7 Days Seven Days or 7 Days may refer to: * Week, an amount of time Film * ''7 Days'' (2010 film) (''Les 7 jours du talion''), Canadian thriller film * ''7 Days'' (2021 film), American romantic comedy film * ''Seven Days'' (1925 film), American silent ...

''.Du Chateau, Carroll (24 July 2012
Urzila Carlson: The comedian standing up for herself
''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'',

New Zealand Media and Entertainment New Zealand Media and Entertainment (abbreviated NZME) is a New Zealand newspaper, radio and digital media business. It was launched in 2014 as the formal merger of the New Zealand division of APN News & Media, APN New Zealand; The Radio Netw ...

. Retrieved 27 April 2018.'''' Carlson is a regular panelist on both the Australian and New Zealand version of ''

Have You Been Paying Attention? ''Have You Been Paying Attention?'' (abbreviated on social media as HYBPA? and stylised on-screen as Have you been paying attention? in sentence case) is an Australian panel game television quiz show on Network 10. The series, which is produced ...

'' and was a panelist on ''

The Masked Singer Australia ''The Masked Singer Australia'' is an Australian reality television Reality competition, singing competition show hosted that premiered on Network Ten, Network 10 on 23 September 2019. Hosted by Osher Günsberg, the show is based on the intern ...

'' for the show’s second and third seasons. In 2021, she was a contestant on the second season of '' Taskmaster NZ''.

Biography

Carlson was born in 1976 at the

Queen Victoria Hospital The Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH), located in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England is the specialist reconstructive surgery centre for the south east of England, and also provides services at clinics across the region. It has become world-fam ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. She grew up on the Ingwelala nature reserve, next to

Kruger National Park Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends from north to south and from ea ...

COMEDIAN URZILA CARLSON IS NEW SOUTH AFRICAN TOURISM AMBASSADOR
Travel Monitor. 2 October 2018 and has a brother and a sister. Her parents separated when she was 6 or 7 years old. Carlson is a lesbian and came out to her mother when she was 24. She emigrated to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

from

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 ...

in 2006 after being subjected to a series of thefts including her car being stolen, an armed robbery at work, and a break-in at her home, in which she and her neighbours confronted the intruder with cricket bats. She became a New Zealand citizen in 2012. As of 2019 she lives in

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 ...

. She married her partner Julie in 2014, and they have a son and a daughter together. Her 2016 memoir is called ''Rolling With The Punchlines.'' Carlson speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

. In 2018, she was named Australasian Ambassador of South African Tourism, representing the country as part of an ongoing campaign to encourage Australians, New Zealanders and South African expats to visit. She refers to herself as a "lesbytarian," a portmanteau of lesbian and Presbyterian.

Career

Carlson's first job was as a

typesetter Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing ''characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random Ho ...

for a newspaper, which she did for 12 years. By the age of 24 she was production manager for the largest newspaper in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and won awards for graphic design and photo re-touching. Carlson moved into comedy in 2008, when she was 32. She has appeared on the Australian shows '' The Project'', ''

Studio 10 ''Studio 10'' is an Australian morning talk show on Network 10. The show airs between 8:30am and noon on weekdays and a highlights show airs between 9:30am and noon on weekends. ''Studio 10'' is broadcast live from Network 10 Studios in Pyrm ...

'', '' Spicks and Specks'', '' Orange Is the New Brown'', ''

'', ''

Hughesy, We Have a Problem ''Hughesy, We Have a Problem'' was an Australian comedy panel television series which premiered on Network 10 on 30 January 2018. The program was hosted by Dave Hughes, who along with a panel of comedians, attempted to solve problems of viewers ...

'', and two seasons of ''

The Masked Singer ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. She has also appeared on New Zealand shows ''

'' and '' Super City.'' Stand-up routines include ''The Long Flight To Freedom.'' Carlson performed at the

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 ...

Gala from 2016 to 2018 and received ‘Best Female Comedian’ at the New Zealand Comedy Guild Awards. She was nominated for the

Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer The Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer is an award, presented by Live Performance Australia (LPA) at the annual Helpmann Awards The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by indu ...

in 2018. In 2019, she appeared in Netflix's ''Comedians of the World''. In October 2019 she was presented with the Rielly Comedy Award from the

Variety Artists Club of New Zealand The Variety Artists Club of New Zealand Inc (VAC) is a non-for-profit organisation and show business club. It was founded in 1966 and became an incorporated society in 1972. The VAC was formed to promote goodwill within the New Zealand enterta ...

for her contribution to New Zealand entertainment. In 2021, she was a contestant on the second series of '' Taskmaster NZ''. In 2022, she was a guest judge on ''

RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under ''RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under'' is a reality competition streaming television series based on the American television series of the same name produced by World of Wonder and Warner Bros. International Television Production New Zealand. The s ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlson, Urzila 1976 births Living people South African stand-up comedians South African women comedians South African lesbian actresses New Zealand women comedians New Zealand lesbian actresses Helpmann Award winners People from Johannesburg Lesbian comedians South African emigrants to New Zealand South African people of New Zealand descent LGBT actors from South Africa LGBT actors from New Zealand Typesetters Naturalised citizens of New Zealand