Vir Das

Vir Das
Vir Das
	Vir Das in 2012
Born	Vir Das; Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Occupation	Comedian, Actor, Comedy musician
Years active	2005–present
Spouse(s)	Shivani Mathur (m. 2014)
Website	http://www.weirdasscomedy.com http://virdas.in

Vir Das is an Indian comedian, actor and comedy musician. After beginning a career in standup comedy, Das moved to Hindi cinema starring in films like Delhi Belly, Badmaash Company and Go Goa Gone. In 2017, he entered the international stage with his Netflix special Abroad Understanding. Das has performed in approximately 35 plays, over 100 stand-up comedy shows, 18 films, eight TV shows and six comedy specials. He has written comedic columns for Femina, Maxim, Exotica, DNA and Tehelka. In 2019, he made his debut in American television with the television series, Whiskey Cavalier.

Personal life

Vir Das was born in Dehradun. He was raised in Nigeria[1] and studied at the Indian Language School in Lagos, Nigeria, as well as at The Lawrence School, Sanawar and Delhi. He obtained a bachelor's degree from Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois in Economics and Theatre with a concentration in performance. After graduating from Knox, Das was accepted into the Stanislavsky Program of the Moscow Arts Theatre.

He married his girlfriend of 5 years, Shivani Mathur, in October 2014.[2][3]

Career

It was at Knox that Das first explored stand-up comedy with his first (1-1/2 hour) special, Brown Men Can't Hump, which debuted in Knox's Harbach Theatre. He received a Richter Scholarship for Theatre and later went on to win the Colton Performance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting from Knox. He was a teaching assistant for Beginning Acting at Knox. At Harvard, Das trained as a method actor for six months and performed eight plays with the Moscow Arts Theatre.

Das returned to India in April 2003 and since then has performed over 100 comedy shows in all the major cities. He debuted six comedy specials written, directed by and starring him at the India Habitat Center. These include Brown Men Can't Hump, Not for Members Only, Bored of The Things!, Who Let the Das Out?, Son of a Switch! and VIRagra.

Das started his career on TV when he hosted two TV shows on Zoom. The first one was Is Route Ki Sabhin Linein Maast Hain where he was an agony uncle. The second was his own stand-up comedy late night show Ek Rahin Vir. Das also hosted Top Drive - Getaway for Star World.

Das has appeared on a variety of comedic television programs. He hosted Cricket Firsts, a sports comedy show on Zee Sports (now TEN Action+). He did improvisational comedy on SAB TV's Lo Kar Lo Baat. He was an addition to the cast of The Great Indian Comedy Show on STAR One. He can be seen anchoring Now Not Showing on CNN-IBN.

Das is the host of News on the Loose, his own news comedy show on CNBC-TV18. News on the Loose was given its own weekly half-hour special News On The Loose — Weekend on CNBC-TV18.

Das was cast as the comic relief in The Curse of King Tut's Tomb, a Hallmark mini-series filmed in India. He began filming for his first two Bollywood roles in early 2006. He played a small role Vipul Shah's 2007 movie Namastey London.

Das has performed in approximately 35 plays, over 100 stand-up comedy shows, eight TV shows, two movies and six comedy specials. He has written comedic columns for Femina, Maxim, Exotica, DNA and Tehelka.

Vir Das has also worked with Ashvin Gidwani Productions-AGP on stand up shows like Walking on Broken Das, Battle of Da Sexes, and History of India: VIRitten, which he wrote and directed.[4]

Vir Das performed at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2011.[5]

In 2012, Das released his first music album with his comedy rock band Alien Chutney. Das serves as vocalist on the album, entitled Mauritian Chutney. "Manboob", a track from the album, was later used in the 2018 Losing It Netflix special.

On 25 April 2017, Das' Netflix special Abroad Understanding was released, in the process becoming the first Indian comedian with a comedy special on the platform.[6]

In June 2017 Das was named one of Variety's "10 Comics to Watch for 2017."[7]

In December 2018, Das released his second Netflix comedy special, entitled Losing It.[8] In 2019, Vir plays the role of Jai Datta in American action comedy-drama series Whiskey Cavalier on ABC.

In 2019, Das released his travel cum comedy show Jestination Unknown where he explores how Indians see humour along with a couple of other stand up comedians and celebrities.[9]

He starred opposite Priety Zinta in a Fresh Off the Boat episode titled "The Magic Motor Inn."[10] He plays the patriarch of an Indian family. Das' onscreen family will be at the center of the plot of the official spin-off of the same show.[10]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2007	Namastey London	Prospective Groom No. 1	Guest appearance
2007	Mumbai Salsa	Rajeev
2008–09	Mumbai Calling	Call center attendant	Seven episodes
2009	Love Aaj Kal	Shonty
2010	Badmaash Company	Chandu
2011	Delhi Belly	Arup
2013	Go Goa Gone	Luv
2013	Sooper Se Ooper	Ranvir
2014	Shaadi Ke Side Effects	Manav
	Revolver Rani	Rohan Kapoor
	Amit Sahni Ki List	Amit Sahni
2016	Mastizaade	Aditya Chotia
	Santa Banta	Banta
	31st October	Devender Singh
	Raakh	Protagonist
	Shivaay	Wahab
2017	Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi	Monty Tondon
2019	Sabaash Naidu	Indian Embassy receptionist

TV

Year	Show	Role	Notes
2017	Conan (talk show)	Guest
2019	Whiskey Cavalier	Jai Datta	Main Cast
2019	Koffee with Karan	Himself	Episode: Koffee Awards 2019
2020	Fresh Off the Boat	DC	Episode: "The Magic Motor Inn"[11]

Web

Year	Platform	Name	Notes
2014	YouTube	Canvas Laugh Factory
2017	Netflix	A Broad Understanding[12]	Stand-up special
2018	Netflix	Losing It	Stand-up special
2019	Prime Video	Jestination Unknown	Comedy series
2020	Netflix	Hasmukh	Writer and an actor
2020	Netflix	For India	Stand-up special

gollark: You could say it about lots of things. Dealing with dangerous dangers is sensible as long as the cost isn't more than, er, chance of bad thing times badness of bad thing.

gollark: Probably.

gollark: Oh, and, additionally (I thought of and/or remembered this now), knowing your actions are monitored is likely to change your behavior too, and make you less likely to do controversial things, which is not very good.

gollark: i.e. demonstrate that they can actually function well, enforce the law reasonably, have reasonable laws *to* enforce in the first place, with available resources/data, **before** invading everyone's privacy with the insistence that they will totally make everyone safer.

gollark: Reduced privacy in return for more safety and stuff might be better if governments had a track record of, well, actually doing that sort of thing effectively.

References

"My mother tells me not to say 'penis' on stage: Vir Das". The Times of India. 12 February 2014. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
"I'm called an actor, not a comic: Vir Das". The Hindustan Times. 21 January 2015. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
"Review: Vir Das' 'Abroad Understanding' Is A Hit-And-Miss Affair". The Quint. Archived from the original on 26 August 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
"Ashvin Gidwani Productions and Vir Das take the audience on a laughter ride". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
"Vir Das at Edinburgh Festival Fringe". The List. 9 August 2011. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
Nijhawan, Meghna (27 April 2017). "Comedian Vir Das Compares Donald Trump To Arranged Marriage On US TV Show". NDTV. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
Riley, Jenelle (13 June 2017). "Variety Announces 10 Comics to Watch for 2017". Variety. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
Singh, Deepali (10 December 2018). "'I have worked very hard to be this exhausted': Vir Das". Daily News and Analysis. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
Arora, Akhil (18 October 2019). "'Jestination Unknown: Vir Das, Shruti Seth & Co. Tour India and Make Jokes': Vir Das". NDTV. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
Choudhury, Bedatri (29 October 2019). "A Potential "Fresh Off The Boat"Spinoff With Preity Zinta And Vir Das". Forbes. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
IANS (23 January 2020). "Preity Zinta, Vir Das' 'Fresh Off The Boat' Episode to Premiere on Jan. 24". India West. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
"Vir Das's Abroad Understanding: The comedian tackles religion, racism and more in his Netflix special show- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. 26 April 2017. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.

External links

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[1] "My mother tells me not to say 'penis' on stage: Vir Das". The Times of India. 12 February 2014. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2014.

[2] "I'm called an actor, not a comic: Vir Das". The Hindustan Times. 21 January 2015. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2015.

[3] "Review: Vir Das' 'Abroad Understanding' Is A Hit-And-Miss Affair". The Quint. Archived from the original on 26 August 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.

[4] "Ashvin Gidwani Productions and Vir Das take the audience on a laughter ride". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.

[5] "Vir Das at Edinburgh Festival Fringe". The List. 9 August 2011. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.

[6] Nijhawan, Meghna (27 April 2017). "Comedian Vir Das Compares Donald Trump To Arranged Marriage On US TV Show". NDTV. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2017.

[7] Riley, Jenelle (13 June 2017). "Variety Announces 10 Comics to Watch for 2017". Variety. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2017.

[8] Singh, Deepali (10 December 2018). "'I have worked very hard to be this exhausted': Vir Das". Daily News and Analysis. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.

[9] Arora, Akhil (18 October 2019). "'Jestination Unknown: Vir Das, Shruti Seth & Co. Tour India and Make Jokes': Vir Das". NDTV. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.

[auto-10] Choudhury, Bedatri (29 October 2019). "A Potential "Fresh Off The Boat"Spinoff With Preity Zinta And Vir Das". Forbes. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.

[11] IANS (23 January 2020). "Preity Zinta, Vir Das' 'Fresh Off The Boat' Episode to Premiere on Jan. 24". India West. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.

[12] "Vir Das's Abroad Understanding: The comedian tackles religion, racism and more in his Netflix special show- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. 26 April 2017. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.