Sody
Singh Kahlon
Sody
is a all-round performer and writer. He is the only practising Sikh
'practising comedy' in the UK and has worked in various theatre, TV
and radio projects through his involvement with the Funjabis, his own
stand-up comedy and his writing projects for theatre and radio.
THE
FUNJABIS (ASIAN COMEDY GROUP)
w Artistic Director and
co-founder of The Funjabis Asian Comedy Group (the only live Asian Comedy
group in the UK).
w
Writing, administering, promoting and performing with The Funjabis.
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Arranging and performing in the tour of all the four Funjabi shows ("The
Funjabi Show", "This Is Your Life, Mr Funjabi", "Don't
Worry Be Funjabi" and "Lovin A Sorna Gora"). The tour
has included venues such as The Leicester Haymarket, Bloomsbury Theatre
(London), Shermon Theatre (Cardiff), Hackney Empire (London), Wembley
Conference Centre (London), Derby Playhouse, Lawrence Batley Theatre
(Huddersfield), The Alhambra (Bradford) and many others.
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Performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2002, 2000 and 1999)
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Performed at the Leicester Comedy Festival (1999, 2000 and 2002)
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Performed on the main stage at the BBC Mega Mela, NEC (1999)
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Special international shows in The Netherlands, US, Sweden, Dubai and
Hong Kong.
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Key member in the launch and running of the Funjabi Comedy Club - the
UK's first regular Asian Comedy Club (Mayfair, London), September, 2000.
w
Resident team member for Chutney Challenge, a comedy radio quiz show
on Westside Radio (August to September, 2000).
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Numerous TV/radio interviews and performances.
WRITING
w Currently writing a
solo multimedia comedy theatre show called "My Turbanant Years"
(being produced by Watermans and debuting January 2004).
w
Selected by Maverick TV as part of a new writers programme to develop
a screenplay (July 2003).
w
Main writer for all the Funjabi shows and sketches (1996 to 2002).
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Wrote and recorded a special version of "The Funjabi Family"
- a sitcom for BBC Asian Network Radio (March 2001).
w
Devised, wrote and participated in the weekly Asian quiz show "Chutney
Challenge" for Westside Radio (August 2000).
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Co-wrote the Asian comedy sketch show "Don't Look At My Sister
Innit!"
(which had a three week run at the Edinburgh Festival 1999).
w
Co-wrote the Asian comedy sketch show "Arrange That Marriage -
Remixed!" which toured to over 50 venues nationwide (1998).
STAND-UP
w
Selected for the second time to perform stand-up in character at the
BBC Melai Comedy for BBC2 and BBC Choice (October 2002).
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Performed with the cream of Asian comedy in the premier BBC Melai Comedy
event (March 2001). This programme was shown on BBC2 and BBC Choice.
w
Finalist in the "Hackney Empire New Act Of The Year 2000"
(April, 2000).
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Voted Best New Act 2000 by The Guardian (judged by William Cook).
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Semi-finalist of the "Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award 2000".
w Semi-finalist of the
"So You Think You're Funny, 2000" stand-up competition (at
the Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe, 2000).
w Performed at the Hackney
Empire with Rory Bremner, Gryf-Rys Jones, Steve Frost and Tim Vine (April,
2000).
MISCELLANEOUS
w Played a Sikh workman
in Murder Squad (Granada TV) starring Amanda Donahoe (July 2003).
w Starred and wrote comical
sketches for two episodes of the BBC Education's Belief File (religious
programme on Sikhism) which conveyed religious messages using a comic
vehicle (November 2000).
w Featured in the Hitachi
Brand Management corporate video (August 2000).
w Performed the winning
sketches of the Leicester Comedy Festival writing competition for BBC
radio (July, 2000) together with Nina Wadia (from Goodness Gracious
Me) and Mina Anwar (from The Thin Blue Line). The show was produced
by Maria Esposito (BBC Light Entertainment).
w Judged the Leicester
Comedy Festival's competition for new Asian writers (May, 2000).
w Starred in The Funjabi
TV Show for Namaste Asian TV (1996).
w Created the Funjabi
website and all its content. Currently administrator for the website.
w Created interactive
slides, videos and arranged all the music for the Funjabi shows.
ACCENTS
w Various Indian accents
w Southern American
w Somerset
w Birmingham
w Northern UK (ie Bradford)
w Scottish
LANGUAGES
w Fluent in Punjabi
w Some Hindi, French and
Dutch.