Gina Yashere
| Gina Yashere | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Gina Obedapo Yashere |
| Born | April 6, 1974 Bethnal Green, London, England |
| Medium | Stand up, Television |
| Nationality | British |
| Years active | 1996-present |
| Genres | Social satire, Character comedy, Observational comedy |
| Subject(s) | Culture, Racism, Stereotypes, Current events |
Gina Obedapo Yashere (born 6 April 1974) is a British comedian of Nigerian descent.[1][2][3]
Early life
Yashere was born in Bethnal Green, London, England. Her mother was an immigrant from Nigeria. Before becoming a comedian, she worked as a lift maintenance technician.
Career as performer
Yashere was a finalist in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition in 1996.
She has appeared in many television programmes. She may be best known for appearing in the comedy series The Lenny Henry Show, where she played Tanya and Mrs. Omokorede, the pushy Mum. She voiced Keisha on Bromwell High. In 2005, she appeared in the reality television series, Comic Relief does Fame Academy, in aid of Comic Relief, and she co-hosted the 2006 and 2007 MOBO Awards alongside 2 face and Coolio. She has made numerous appearances on Mock the Week, and appears on the CBBC show Gina's Laughing Gear.
In 2007, Yashere was featured on the reality show Last Comic Standing, auditioning in Sydney, Australia. She was among the ten finalists, but on 1 August 2007, she and Dante were the first two finalists eliminated.
She was the first-ever British person to be on Def Comedy Jam, performing in 2008. On 3 September 2009, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and performed a stand-up comedy routine. On 24 December 2009, she appeared on Live at the Apollo. She appeared twice on the short-lived primetime show The Jay Leno Show: on 21 October 2009, a video of Yashere showed her giving free fortune-telling readings to passersby, and on 25 November 2009, she operated a walk-in psychic booth. Since 2010, she has appeared semi-regularly on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in a sketch comedy series called "Madame Yashere: The Surly Psychic". In the sketches, she continues to give fake psychic readings to unsuspecting people on the street.
In 2010, she appeared as Flo in several episodes of the ITV drama Married Single Other.[4] In April 2010 Gina's one-hour comedy special, Skinny B*tch, premiered on Showtime, a US cable channel.
She appeared on Watch TV show Scream If You Know the Answer in 2010 with contestant Emily Green from Portsmouth. She helped Emily win the show with prize fund of £2,000.
Personal life
Yashere resides in Los Angeles. She has stated that she feels there are far more opportunities for black performers to succeed in the United States than Great Britain.[5][6][7]
References
- ^ Maxwell, Dominic (27 May 2008). "Gina Yashere at Fairfield Halls, Croydon". The Times. London. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- ^ Gina Yashere at The New York Times
- ^ Arthur, Tim. Interview at Time Out London, 28 May 2008.
- ^ Married Single Other at ITV.com
- ^ Leijon, Erik. "Colon comedy", Montreal Mirror, Vol. 25 No. 5, 16–22 July 2009.
- ^ Pool, Hannah. "Question time", The Guardian, 15 May 2008.
- ^ Freak, Dave. "Comedy: Comic Gina Yashere on why she moved to America", Birmingham Mail, 17 September 2010.