Pax Assadi

Pax Assadi began doing stand-up comedy in 2012 — utilising skills he'd honed selling vacuum cleaners as a teen. Nominated for the Billy T Award a year later, he began writing for TV series Brown Eye in 2015. He was a writer and host on sketch comedy series Only In Aotearoa, alongside his partners in the comedy trio Frickin Dangerous Bro. Assadi's been a writer and guest on 7 Days and The Project, becoming a regular guest host on The Project in 2019. He's also acted on TV's Mean Mums, Tongue Tied and the animated Jandal Burn, and co-stars in his own sitcom, Raised by Refugees. The 2022 show is based on his stand-up set of the same name. 

...he [my father] was incredibly nervous — partly because his son is portraying him, but also partly because this show is not scared of getting serious ... it is a comedy show, but I delve into some painful moments in my parents' lives, and obviously in my life as a 12-year-old. Pax Assadi on playing his own father in his autobiographical sitcom Raised by Refugees, Radio New Zealand, 5 March 2022