Gina Yashere

Yashere was born and raised in London, to Nigerian parents.[1] Before becoming a comedian, Yashere worked as a lift maintenance technician and engineer (all of which she mentions in her stand-up routine).[2][3]

She uses the surname "Yashere" due to encountering common mispronunciation of her original surname.[4][5][6]

Yashere was a finalist in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition in 1996. She has appeared in a number of television programmes, including in the comedy series The Lenny Henry Show, where she played Tanya and Mrs Omokorede, the pushy Mum. She voiced Keisha on the animated series 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 2Baba 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. She was among the ten finalists, but on 1 August 2007, she and Dante were the first two finalists eliminated.

In 2008, she became the first Briton to perform on Def Comedy Jam. On 3 September 2009, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and performed a stand-up comedy routine. On 24 December, 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 passers-by, and on 25 November 2009, she operated a walk-in psychic booth. Since 2010, she has appeared semi-regularly on 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, Yashere appeared as Flo in several episodes of the ITV drama Married Single Other.[7] In April 2010 Yashere'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 with contestant Emily Green from Portsmouth. She helped Emily win the show with a prize fund of £2,000. In 2013, Yashere appeared in an advert for Tesco Mobile. In 2015, Yashere was featured as a selected comic on Gotham Comedy Live, which airs on AXS TV (season 4-Judah Friedlander). On 8 January 2016 she appeared on The Nasty Show with Artie Lange, which aired on Showtime.

Starting on 16 March 2017, Yashere became the newest British Correspondent for The Daily Show.[8]

In September 2019, Yashere appears in a supporting role on the 2019 Chuck Lorre CBS sitcom, Bob Hearts Abishola, which Lorre created with Yashere. Yashere writes for the show and plays Folake Olowofoyeku's character Abishola's best friend, Kemi.[9] Bob Hearts Abishola is the first American sitcom to feature a Nigerian family.[10][11]

Although she dated men in the past, Yashere identifies as lesbian.[12] Yashere currently lives in North Hollywood, California, with her partner.[13][14][15][16][17]

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• Official website
• Gina Yashere on IMDb
• Gina Yashere at AllMovie
• Gina Yashere's channel on YouTube