Raul Kohli is one of the most captivating acts in UK comedy. Growing up Indian in Newcastle upon Tyne, he’s developed a worldview that playfully upends ethnicity, culture and class, combining what The Scotsman called “superb political comedy” with surreal storytelling.
His debut show was selected as a top pick of Edinburgh Fringe 2016 by BBC Radio 4, The Huffington Post and The Skinny. He was nominated for Best Show at Leicester Comedy Festival 2019, and his 2024 Edinburgh Fringe show (Ish Awards) was hailed by Chortle as “one of the most important shows of the fringe,” with jokes featured in The Guardian and The Daily Mail’s Top Ten of the Fringe.
Beyond stand-up, Raul created Comic Sanskrit, a 5-star BBC Sounds podcast about Hinduism, and hosts BBC Newcastle’s official NUFC podcast, Just Put It In The Net. He is a NATYS 2017 winner and a regular at major clubs such as The Stand (Edinburgh), Frog & Bucket (Manchester) and Comedyhuis (Netherlands).
As a writer and actor, he has written and starred in RTS Award-nominated shorts, appeared in sitcom The VAR Room, fronted Channel 4 shorts Jokes Only An Indian Can Tell and Jokes Written By AI, and voiced work for Mike Reiss’s podcast What Am I Doing Here and for Lego.
He was nominated for Best Actor at the UK Film Awards 2024 for White Privilege, featured in Amazon’s NUFC documentary We Are Newcastle, presented Passion & Football in the North East for Channel 4, and toured globally in 2025, including New Zealand and Adelaide Fringe, where he received further award nominations.
***** – The Guardian
New Zealand Comedy Festival Best International Debut 2025
Edinburgh Fringe ISH Best Show Nominee 2024
The Guardian’s Top Ten Jokes of Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Leicester Comedy Festival Best Show 2019
***** – NextUp Comedy
***** – The Wee Review
***** – A Youngish Perspective
****1/2 – Distractify
****1/2 – The Reviews Hub
‘The Most Important Show at the Fringe’ – Chortle
‘Funny, Moving & Powerful… Nailed it more than anyone has nailed anything in the history of nailing things’ – Mike Reiss (Writer/Producer – The Simpsons
‘Inspiringly Intelligent’ – Paul Sinha
‘‘One of the Best comedians in England’ – BBC RADIO 4′
‘A powerful, passionate, open-minded, intelligent voice. It is superb political comedy and commentary’ – The Scotsman
“Poisoning the minds of British children with pro-immigrant claptrap’ – Nigel Farage
Tommy Sandhu Asian Business Award Winner 2026
Chortle Student Comedian of the Year Runner Up 2018
NATYS Winner 2017
As Featured in/on: BBC, Netflix, Channel 4, TNT SPORT, TalkRADIO, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, the Telegraph, The Times, Chortle, Adidas, Lego, The Skinny, The British Comedy Guide, Virgin Ire & More