Sugar Sammy

Samir Khullar (born 29 February 1976), better known as Sugar Sammy, is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer from Montreal, Quebec.

Being fluently quadrilingual, his comedy routines are delivered in English and French, and sometimes in Punjabi and Hindi.

His comedy includes cultural, social, and political themes, often improvising with the crowd during shows.

He has been performing for over 25 years and has toured in over 32 countries, including Canada, the US, France, Singapore, United Arab of Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and India, with over 1,900 shows to date.

Samir Khullar was born on February 29, 1976, and raised in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec; he worked in his parents' convenience store.

At the age of eight, he saw Eddie Murphy's 1983 comedy special Delirious and credits the experience as being a defining moment in his life.

From then on, he knew what he wanted to do.

Khullar also names Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, and Dave Chappelle as comedic influences.

Attending École Secondaire La Voie for high school, where he gained early stage experiences, Khullar attended Marianopolis College while occasionally performing at open-mic nights at the Comedy Works and the Comedy Zone.

Continuing to work for recognition on the comedy circuit, he attended McGill University in cultural studies while working as a nightclub promoter, which is where he got his stage moniker.

Khullar blends polished material with improvisational comedy and interacts with audience members sitting near the stage.

The New York Times called him "a fearless comic with a talent for provoking both laughter and outrage."

The Hollywood Reporter selected him as one of their "Ten Comics to Watch".

Khullar has performed on television several times since 2004.

On August 21, 2006, Khullar opened for Dave Chappelle at Toronto's Massey Hall.

That same year, he taped his Comedy Now! special, which aired in Canada on the Comedy Network, CTV, and A, as well as in the United States on Comedy Central.

He appeared at the Just For Laughs Festival seven years in a row and was the first comedian ever to perform in all three of the English, French, and Hindi Toronto editions of the Festival.

In 2007, Sugar Sammy appeared in Quebec's Le Show Raisonnable, and in 2009 performed in the French edition of the Just for Laughs Festival.

His point of view concerning Quebec politics and culture from the perspective of a minority earned him a standing ovation and "The Revelation of the Year" award.

He has also appeared at the Sydney Comedy Festival, the Cape Town Comedy Festival, and was invited to the inaugural Johannesburg Comedy Festival in 2009.

Sugar Sammy has toured in Canada, the United States, France, Belgium, Switzerland, England, Australia, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, China, India, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Lebanon, Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Northern Ireland, Dubai, Haiti New Zealand and South Africa, where his one-man show sold 15,000 tickets.

In 2010, he made headlines again by presenting an award alongside Quebec political leader Pauline Marois.

His 2012–2016 bilingual "You're Gonna Rire" (and its French-language counterpart, "En français svp!") tour alone sold 372,000 tickets and culminated in a free outdoor show attended by 115,000 people, a record for the Just For Laughs Festival.

In addition to his stand-up tours, Sugar Sammy is a judge on La France a un incroyable talent, France’s version of America’s Got Talent, broadcast on french television channel M6.

Among his awards, Sugar Sammy has won "Comedian of the Year" at French daily newspaper Le Parisien’s Gala Les étoiles, and 3 Olivier awards in Quebec, including the "Comedian of the Year" award and "Olivier of the Year", for his take on life in multilingual Quebec.

In reference to Sammy, GQ France once declared that “the funniest man in France is a Quebecer” and France’s renowned television show Quotidien crowned him the “new king of comedy.” He has been the subject of an in-depth profile in the New York Times, where he was featured on the front page of the international edition; the newspaper called him a “fearless comic with a talent for provoking both laughter and outrage.” Less than a year later, the popular comedian was featured on the front page of the Arts section of the Washington Post.

He has also been anointed one of The Hollywood Reporter’s “Ten Comics to Watch and has been interviewed extensively for Canada's award-winning W5'' current-affairs TV show.

He is the first artist chosen by Comedy Central India to tour their country, visiting Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi in March 2013 with his English/Hindi/Punjabi comedy show.

Sugar Sammy's international TV credits include his own one-hour TV special on Showtime Arabia entitled, Sugar Sammy Live in Dubai, which aired in 14 countries; headlining two TV shows for Showtime, Minority Rules and Friday Night Live; and appearances on CBC, Comedy Now on CTV, The Comedy Network (Canada), The Comedy Channel (Australia), and Dutch TV.

On one of the most electric nights of the 2016 edition of Just For Laughs Festival, his 8th presence at the festival, Sugar Sammy capped off his 420-show tour with one last performance of his hit show You're Gonna Rire in front of a crowd of 115,000 in Montreal.

Since 2016, Sugar Sammy has been performing his growing one-man show in France, where GC magazine published a piece saying that the funniest man in France is Quebecois.

In July 2017, Sammy made his triumphant return to the Just For Laughs Festival to host 2 evenings of Sugar Sammy's International Gala.

In hosting the gala, Sugar Sammy joined legends and comedy stars such as Don Rickles, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Bill Maher and Bill Burr.

Fresh from hosting two critically acclaimed sold-out Galas at the 35th edition of the festival, Sugar Sammy went on to host the 17th edition of the annual Just For Laughs Canadian Comedy Tour in the autumn of 2017.

In Spring/Summer 2017, Sugar Sammy toured the US, performing 40 shows in 7 American cities, including New York, San Jose, Seattle, Atlanta, Austin, Naples and Dallas.

He has been touring the country as well as performing 3 nights a week at the Alhambra Theatre in Paris until December 2018.

From there, he was named as one of the judges on La France a un incroyable talent, the French equivalent of America's Got Talent.

In July 2018, between his runs in France, Sugar Sammy set off for Malaysia, where he performed two nights of tapings for Comedy Central: Stand-Up Asia!.

The tapings aired in 18 Asian countries on August 14.

Following the tapings, he took off for Singapore to perform his one-man show.