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Paul Williams (comedian)

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Paul Williams
Born
Paul Anthony Williams

(1992-08-07) 7 August 1992 (age 32)
Nelson, New Zealand
EducationNelson College
Relatives

Paul Anthony Williams (born 7 August 1992) is a New Zealand comedian and musician. Williams plays the role of Taskmaster's assistant on the New Zealand version of the international television series Taskmaster, and is one of the show's principal writers. He was nominated for the 2017 Billy T Award for up-and-coming New Zealand comedians for his stand-up comedy.[1]

Early life

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Williams grew up in Nelson, New Zealand, with his parents Gary and Roseanne.[2] He is the youngest of three children, with a sister, Maria, and brother, Guy, both of whom are also comedians.[3] He was educated at Nelson College.[4][5] He performed leading roles in musical theatre with The Nelson Youth Theatre Company,[6] and published comedy raps with music videos on YouTube.[4][7] Williams studied musical theatre at Whitireia Performance Centre in Wellington,[7] and at the end of 2013 moved to Auckland.[8]

Career

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Comedy

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Williams' comedy show “Summertime Love”, presented as a mock dating seminar, went on tour through New Zealand and to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Melbourne International Comedy Festival.[4] He was nominated for the Billy T. Award for the country's best newcomer in 2017.[9][10] Since 2017, he has co-hosted the basketball-themed Advanced Analytics NBA Podcast with his brother Guy.[4][11]

Game Creation

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In 2019 Williams created a game to be played amongst friends in which every player calculates the sum of the individual digits of their phone number, and whoever has the lowest is declared the winner. In an interview on Chapo Trap House Williams explained that “most point systems favour the highest scorer, which is exactly why I wanted to do things a little differently in this instance“. He later went on to say that it is this sort of unorthodox approach that has made him “one of entertainment's most dangerous assets.“

TV

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Williams is a presenter of Taskmaster NZ as the Taskmaster's Assistant (with Jeremy Wells as the Taskmaster) and one of the three writers of the tasks and script for the show.[1][12] He was reviewed as the programme's "most valuable player",[13] and has returned through the current season, with praise for his "underplayed comedy" in the role.[14] His brother Guy, who is also a comedian, was a contestant on the first season. Paul appeared as a guest on episodes 48 (Oatmeal and death) and 137 (Shaqinahat) of Taskmaster The Podcast with Ed Gamble as the host.

He stars in the TVNZ comedy series Kid Sister along with Our Flag Means Death writer Simone Nathan.[15]

In 2023, Williams appeared on the panel show Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee and came in second place after Dai Henwood.

Music

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As a musician, Williams released some early albums of comedy and parody, before moving on to writing and performing original songs.[16] In a 2014 radio interview with The Edge, New Zealand singer Lorde said that Williams was her favourite performer.[8]

Williams has released several albums of his own songs, including the EPs Songs about Girls (2014) and Jungle River Adventure (2015). His full-length album Surf Music (2018) was described as "an excellent, earnest piece of pop music that feels individual and unique [...] funny because Williams is funny, not because it needs to be".[16][17] 'Euroleague', the 7th track on the album, was featured as soundtrack for James Acaster's stand up tour and comedy special Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999.[18][19]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Notes Ref
2020– Taskmaster NZ Presenter / Taskmaster's assistant TV series; also writer [20]
2022 Kid Sister Ollie (main role) TV series [15]
2023 Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee Self TV series [21]
2023 Our Flag Means Death Bluecoat #1 TV series [22]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Taskmaster NZ reveals the secret to making comedians feel uncomfortable". Stuff. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021. Paul Williams is one of the brains behind the baffling tasks on the show.
  2. ^ "Tough Crowd – Paul Williams". The Wireless NZ. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2021. Watch Paul Williams joking with his parents Gary and Roseanne.
  3. ^ "Guy Williams: Why my parents rather I worked in the mines than did comedy". NZ Herald. 2 May 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d "Introducing Paul Williams: Guy Williams' Young, Better Brother". Critic – Te Arohi. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2021. Paul got his start back at Nelson College as a parody rapper [...]; Perhaps unsurprisingly, considering that Paul hosts a basketball podcast, Advanced Analytics, with his brother, the album is chock-full of NBA references.
  5. ^ "Full school list of Nelson College, 1856–2005". Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006 (CD-ROM) (6th ed.). 2006.
  6. ^ "Three into just one day". The Stuff. 29 September 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2021. Especially with Professor Higgins, played by Paul Williams.
  7. ^ a b "Fresh Talent: Paul Williams". NZ Musician. October 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2021. Williams has a laid-back and open attitude to all forms of media, not surprising given that he is in his final year of studying Musical Theatre at the Whitireia Performance Centre in Wellington.
  8. ^ a b "Lorde's favourite musician Paul Williams goes from parody rap to serious pop". Stuff. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Paul Williams isn't ready to let go of his Summertime Love". Beat. 31 March 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2021. The night in question was at the beginning of Williams' circuit at last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival [...]
  10. ^ "Nelson comedian Paul Williams up for Billy T award". Stuff. 22 October 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2021. I was really shocked and stoked that they called. I entered because competing for the Billy T has been a dream of mine since five years ago when I found out it existed. [...]
  11. ^ "My Obsession: Guy and Paul Williams on their love of basketball". The Spinoff. 11 May 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2021. The name "Advanced Analytics" is a pretty poor attempt at a joke [...]
  12. ^ Series 2 credits as "Writers" Sam Smith, Paul Williams, and Joseph Moore, and as "Script writers" Paul Williams and Joseph Moore.
  13. ^ "Taskmaster NZ: Does it live up to the hype of my favourite show or ruin it forever?". Stuff. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Taskmaster NZ to return with new line up of comedians". Stuff. 29 May 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021. The first New Zealand series won critical praise, in particular for Paul Williams' role as sidekick to Wells. His meek demeanour and underplayed comedy would return for season two.
  15. ^ a b "Kid Sister: TVNZ comedy unearths a new star, but two veterans steal the show". Stuff. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2022. Fending off all attempts to marry her off to "some nice Jewish boy", she has to navigate her on/off relationship with gentile Ollie (Paul Williams) essentially in secret.
  16. ^ a b Hodson, Reilly (24 February 2018). "On the very specific greatness of Paul Williams' debut album". The Spinoff. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  17. ^ "Paul Williams' Surf Music". The Strand. 24 November 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2021. An ode to a forgotten summer
  18. ^ "James Acaster @ Giant Dwarf". The Music. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2021. As he paced the stage, glaring, he intermittently fiddled with an iPod, to endlessly play and replay – like we all have in the midst of a break-up – the same song, Paul Williams' Euroleague.
  19. ^ "James Acaster's Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999". Burn FM. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2021. Acaster's soundtrack for the show was Paul Williams' Euroleague which was the perfect song in that it captured the entire show [...]
  20. ^ Taskmaster NZ (Comedy), Jeremy Wells, Paul Williams, Angella Dravid, NZ On Air, TVNZ 2, TVNZ, 21 October 2020, retrieved 19 June 2023{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  21. ^ Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee 1x08 "Season 1 Episode 8", retrieved 19 June 2023
  22. ^ Our Flag Means Death 2x08 "Mermen", retrieved 21 March 2024
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