Entertainment
Who is Taskmaster star Jamali Maddix and where have you seen him before?
Taskmaster, Channel 4’s comedy panel game show, is returning for its 11th series, with Greg Davies and Alex Horne both coming back to take on presenting duties.
The new season will see five new celebrities put through their paces by completing a series of challenges, their overall aim being to win a bust of The Inbetweeners star’s head.
In December 2020, it was announced that comedians Jamali Maddix, Lee Mack, Mike Wozniak, Sarah Kendall and actor Charlotte Ritchie would be participating in the new episodes.
So who is Jamali and where have you seen him before?
Who is Jamali Maddix?
Jamali is a 29-year-old stand-up comedian from Ilford, which is located on the border of east London and Essex.
Speaking in an interview in 2016, Jamali explained that he was in his mid-teens when he decided he wanted to pursue a career in comedy.
‘What really made me want to do comedy was watching 100 Greatest Standups and I was young, 14,’ he told The Guardian, before adding that he might have been 15 or 16.
‘So I was 16 or however old I was, and I was watching this show and everyone was all right and then I saw Bill Hicks and I was like, “What the f*** is this man?” Like, “This s*** is mental”,’ he recalled.
‘I love the people I grew up with, I do, but every conversation was about money or clothes or just nothing. I always felt that there was more to this, but I didn’t know what it was. And I watched Bill Hicks and I thought, “There’s someone who has the same ideas as me.”’
The comedian went on to study theatre and performance practice at the University of Salford, where he was once advised by Jason Manford to quit university and ‘be a comic’ after the comedian watched him perform some stand-up.
During the early stages of his career, Jamali won the Comedy Café New Act of the Year Competition, in addition to winning the Chortle Student Comedy Award in 2014.
What other shows has he starred in?
In addition to Taskmaster, Jamali has also appeared on other TV shows including 8 out of 10 Cats, Live at the Apollo and The John Bishop Show.
He also has his own documentary series on the Viceland TV channel titled Hate Thy Neighbour, where he investigates and interviews various controversial far-right groups around the world.
In the first series, Jamali encountered organisations including Neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Movement in the US and the Nordic Youth in Sweden.
The second series saw Jamali speak to groups including the Sovereign Citizens in the US and ‘pro-life’ campaigners.
Taskmaster airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 4.
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