Multi-award-winning South African-New Zealander Urzila Carlson is one of comedy's biggest stars. A global touring powerhouse, she's taken her trademark deapan delivery and cheeky wit to sold-out audiences across Australasia, North America and the UK and has just announced her first homecoming tour of south Africa in 2027. She has built an enormous international fanbase through both her live work and high-profile screen appearances.
In 2019, Urzila became the highest-selling comedian in the 33-year history of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival - the world's largest comedy festival. Her long list of accolades includes four Melbourne International Comedy Festival People's Choice Awards (2019, 2022, 2023, 2025), the Rielly Comedy Award (2019), six New Zeeland Comedy Guild Awards for Best Female Comedian, and Sydney Comedy Festival's Director's Choice Award (2017).
Urzila became a household name through her numerous TV appearances including being a regular panelist on Have You Been Paying Attention? NZ and a frequent panelist on the Australian version. Other appearances include Thank God You're Here, 7 Days and QI (UK). In 2020 she was names as panelist on the inaugural season of The Masked Singer Australia and in 2026 she became the first person to appear on multiple international versions of Taskmaster when she was announce as a contestant on the Australian version having already competed on the NZ version in 2021.
Adding to her success on stage and screen, the 2019 re-release of her memoir Rolling With The Punchlines confirmed her place as a best-selling author.
Urzila made her Netflix stand-up debut with the globally released hour-long special Overqualified Loser in 2020 and in 2024 she voiced Honkus in the animated feature Ozi, alongside Laura Dern, Donald Sutherland and RuPaul. In 2025, Uzila starred with Amy Schumer and Will Forte in the hit Netflix rom-com Kinda Pregnant which debuted number 1 globally and was viewed 25.1 million times in its first week.
After crossing 100K annual ticket sales for the first time in 2025, Urzila has already surpassed that in 2026 and is set to go event further in 2027 and beyond. Furthermore, she achieved another landmark career milestone in 2025 with a sold-out headline performance for the On The Steps series at the iconic Sydney Opera house Forecourt, becoming on of only two comedians to ever do so.
In 2026, she cements her status as a powerhouse creator, writing and starring in her own hit self-titled TV show, URZILA. A bold new comedy series produced by Warner Bros, International Television Productions (WBITVP) Australia and ABC, URZILA fuses bespoke stand-up with finely honed sketches and has amassed millions of views online and was picked up by Sky NZ. Later in 2026 Urzila starred in the ABC series Separated At Birth alongside Nazeem Hussain and will end the year with a sold out tour of the UK and Ireland, playing two sold-out shows at the iconic, Palladium Theatre in London.