Vir Das
Das at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Born	(1979-05-31)31 May 1979 (age 45) Dehradun,Uttar Pradesh (now inUttarakhand), India
Alma mater	Knox College (Illinois) (BSEconomics andTheatre) Moscow Art Theatre -Harvard University (Stanislavsky Program)
Occupations	Comedian actor comedy musician
Years active	2005–present
Spouse	Shivani Mathur ​ (m. 2014)​
Website	www.virdas.in

Vir Das (born 31 May 1979) is an Indian comedian, actor and musician.^[1] After beginning a career in standup comedy, Das moved toHindi cinema starring in films likeBadmaash Company (2010),Delhi Belly (2011), andGo Goa Gone (2013) in supporting roles.^[2] In 2017, he performed theNetflix specialAbroad Understanding.^[3] Das has appeared in approximately 35 plays, over 100 stand-up comedy shows, 18 films, eight TV shows and six comedy specials. He has written comedic columns forFemina,Maxim,Exotica,DNA andTehelka. In 2019, he made his debut in American television with the television series,Whiskey Cavalier. He won the 2023International Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series for the Netflix comedy specialVir Das: Landing.^[4]

Vir Das was born to Ranu Das and Madhur Das inDehradun on 31 May 1979.^[5][6][7] He was raised inNigeria and India. In Nigeria, he attended theIndian Language School inLagos,Nigeria. In India, he attendedThe Lawrence School, Sanawar andDelhi Public School, Noida.^[6] After 18 months atSri Venkateswara College,University of Delhi he went to the United States.^[6][8] There he obtained a bachelor's degree fromKnox College, Galesburg, Illinois in Economics and Theatre with a concentration in performance.^[6] After graduating from Knox, Das was accepted into theHarvard University's andMoscow Arts Theatre for their joint Stanislavsky Program.^[9] He has a sister Trisha, who is four years elder to him and is a published author and a documentary filmmaker.^[7] He has claimed in one of his shows that his grandfather was aPadma Shri awardee from Bengal.^[10] He married his girlfriend after five years of relationship, Shivani Mathur, in October 2014.^[11][12]

In November 2021, Das performed a comedy monologue at theKennedy Center called "Two Indias". He contrasted India's rich vs. poor, criticised politicians anddemocratic backsliding, and noted divisions over Bollywood films and cricket teams. On the topic of women, he remarked: "I come from an India where we worship women during the day and gang-rape them at night." The performance received a standing ovation,^[13] but Indian politicians filed seven police complaints against Das, including for insulting India on foreign soil.^[14]

In November 2022, Mumbai police issued anFIR against Vir Das and two other persons and online streaming platform Netflix on charges of copyright rules violation,^[15] following a complaint by noted theatre producer Ashvin Gidwani of AGP World that Das re-used material from his previous show in his Netflix special.^[16]

He began his career with a gig at one of the premier hotels in New Delhi with a performance titled "Walking on Broken Das".^[8]

Das started his career on TV when he hosted two TV shows onZoom. The first one wasIs Route Ki Sabhin Linein Maast Hain where he was anagony uncle. The second was his own stand-up comedy late night showEk Rahin Vir. Das also hostedTop Drive - Getaway forStar World.^{[citation needed]}

Das has appeared on a variety of comedic television programs. He hostedCricket Firsts, a sports comedy show on Zee Sports (nowTEN Action+). He did improvisational comedy onSAB TV'sLo Kar Lo Baat. He was an addition to the cast ofThe Great Indian Comedy Show onSTAR One. He can be seen anchoringNow Not Showing onCNN-IBN.^{[citation needed]}

Das is the host ofNews on the Loose, his own news comedy show onCNBC-TV18.News on the Loose was given its own weekly half-hour specialNews On The Loose — Weekend on CNBC-TV18.

Das was cast as the comic relief inThe Curse of King Tut's Tomb, aHallmark mini-series filmed in India. He began filming for his first two Bollywood roles in early 2006. He played a small roleVipul Shah's 2007 movieNamastey London.

Vir Das has also worked with Ashvin Gidwani Productions-AGP on stand-up shows likeWalking on Broken Das,Battle of Da Sexes, andHistory of India: VIRitten, which he wrote and directed.^[17]

He performed atEdinburgh Festival Fringe in 2011,^[18] 2022^[1] and 2024.

On 25 April 2017, Das'sNetflix specialAbroad Understanding was released, in the process becoming the first Indian comedian with a comedy special on the platform.^[19]

In June 2017 Das was named one ofVariety's "10 Comics to Watch for 2017."^[20]

In December 2018, Das released his second Netflix comedy special, entitledLosing It.^[21]

In 2019, Das released his travel-cum-comedy showJestination Unknown where he explores how Indians see humour along with a couple of other stand-up comedians and celebrities.^[22]

He starred oppositePreity Zinta in aFresh Off the Boat episode titled "The Magic Motor Inn".^[23] He plays the patriarch of an Indian family. Das's onscreen family will be at the center of the plot of the official spin-off of the same show.^[23] However, the show was not picked up by networks.

During the lockdown in 2020 he was on Netflix in a one-hour special calledVir Das: Outside In.^[24]

On 12 November 2021, Das performed amonologue titled "Two Indias" at theKennedy Center in Washington.^{[25][26][27][28][29]}

On 29 January 2023, Das appeared on theConan O'Brien Needs a Friendpodcast and discussed fakingappendicitis as a child, the first laugh he ever got on stage, the controversy over his "Two Indias" monologue, and his new specialVir Das: Landing.^[30][31]

He hosted the52nd International Emmy Awards in 2024.^[32]

• List of Indian comedians
• List of stand-up comedians

Wikimedia Commons has media related toVir Das.

• History of India – 2010
• Vir Das at Chakpak.com
• YouTube
• Vir Das atIMDb

• 1979 births
• Living people
• 21st-century Indian male actors
• Knox College (Illinois) alumni
• Indian male comedians
• Indian male television actors
• Indian stand-up comedians
• Male actors from Dehradun
• Male actors in Hindi cinema

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from January 2025
• Use Indian English from January 2025
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from December 2024
• Commons category link from Wikidata