The Biggest South Asian Comedy Festival in America comes to Mill Valley! Now in it’s 5th year, the Desi Comedy Fest showcases over 30 South Asian comedians in venues across 9 different cities. Desi Comedy Fest creates a unique live comedy experience for the South Asian diaspora. The talent is top notch and the comics are raw and downright hilarious. Tonight’s comic to watch: Adam Mamawala – his comedy album “One of the Good Ones” hit #1 on the iTunes comedy charts earlier this year.
DESI COMEDY FEST COMEDIANS
Adam Mamawala
Adam Mamawala is a stand-up comedian and actor based out of New York City. His debut album One of the Good Ones, released through Comedy Dynamics, debuted at #1 on the iTunes Comedy Charts in December of 2017. Named one of Funny or Die’s “Top 30 Under 30: Comedians to Watch”, Adam has appeared on MTV, BET and SeeSo and has headlined over 200 colleges across more than 35 states. Adam’s festival appearances include the Laughing Skull Comedy Festival, Boston Comedy Festival, and New York Comedy Festival. He has been featured as Time Out New York’s “Joke of the Week”, has been a Freelance Contributor to Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update and Someecards, and recently headlined Carolines on Broadway, one of NYC’s preeminent comedy clubs!
Ellis Rodriguez
Ellis Rodriguez is one of the fastest rising comedians today. Winner of the 2017 San Francisco International Comedy Competition, Ellis was also a Finalist in both the Las Vegas World Series of Comedy, ‘Comedy Central’s Up Next’, and ‘Stand Up NBC’ comedy showcases. He’s a clear favorite on the comedy circuit and regularly headlines at major comedy clubs in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Ellis has also performed in filmed showcases including Shaq’s All Star Jam, Laugh’s On FOX, and Comedy Central & Kevin Hart’s Hart of the City. Born in Boston to immigrant parents from Panama, Ellis is one of nine children which gives him a unique perspective on life. He spent his early twenties serving in the United States Marine Corps, but found his calling when he picked up a mic, entertaining anyone who would listen. Now, countless are listening and laughing.
DJ Sandhu
Buried deep within the most luxuriant beard in comedy lives DJ Sandhu’s silver tongue just aching to get out and spread its diabolical thoughts. From Sacramento, CA, Sandhu decided to break his parents’ hearts by sharing his absurd opinions with strangers rather than going to med school like a responsible, well-adjusted adult. From the World Series of Comedy to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and everywhere in between, Sandhu has worked with some of the industry’s legends including Bret Ernst, Dat Phan, Carl LaBove, Tommy Davidson, and Godfrey…all of which leave his mother incredibly disappointed that he didn’t choose a better life path.
Zara Mizrahi
Zara Mizrahi is a stand-up comedian, writer, musician and actor born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She has performed stand-up all over the country and gets on stage almost every night. She also co-wrote and produced The Preposterous Sessions, a sketch comedy podcast, where she created, wrote and voiced original characters in strange new worlds every week. She also regularly appears in other sketches and podcasts, and has written everything from commercials to promotional sketches to screenplays. A UCB improv student and storytelling graduate, she also performs on several storytelling shows.
Abhay Nadkarni
Abhay moved from South-India to South Central Los Angeles for grad school. “But Why?” would be an obvious reaction. Maybe he had a death wish or maybe he wanted to see if Training Day was legit or maybe USC was the only school willing to give him an education. Dodging bullets en-route to grad school armed him with plenty of stories and stand up was his only catharsis for combating culture shock. His act is an eclectic mix of his experience as an immigrant in the US.
Shawn Felipe
Samson Koletkar
Samson Koletkar (aka Mahatma Moses) was born in Mumbai and raised Jewish. Growing up in the world’s most crowded city, he spent most of his childhood years burning the midnight candles for earning a Masters Degree in Computer Software, thereby fulfilling his parent’s dreams. He then moved half-way across the world, to the technology headquarters and a hotbed for emerging comics – San Francisco. Samson brings a refreshingly new approach to cerebral, witty, thought-provoking, clean humor with a first-generation immigrant perspective. Driven by personal trials and tribulations, his subtle satire addresses religious and political hypocrisies, social issues, and day-to-day absurdities of human nature.
