Nimesh Patel

{{short description|American comedian and television writer (born 1986)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Nimesh Patel

| image = Nimesh Patel March 2025.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Patel in March 2025

| birth_name = Nimesh Patel

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1986}}

| birth_place = Parsippany–Troy Hills, New Jersey, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| other_names =

| education = New York University (B.S.)

| occupation = Stand-up comedian • television writer

| years_active = 2009–present

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| spouse = {{married|Amy Havel Patel|2020}}

| children = 1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqINUBd7zD8

}}

Nimesh Patel (born 1986) is an American comedian and television writer. In 2017, he became the first Indian American writer on Saturday Night Live.{{cite news |last1=Rathore |first1=Reena |title=Indian American Comedian/Writer Nimesh Patel Lands His First Emmy Nomination for 'SNL' |url=http://www.indiawest.com/entertainment/global/indian-american-comedian-writer-nimesh-patel-lands-his-first-emmy/article_13252532-893e-11e8-b844-f3199230c857.html |work=India West |date=July 16, 2018}}{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1eKJ_Mp3cek | title=One Season at SNL - Nimesh Patel | website=YouTube }}

Early life

Patel was born in 1986 in Parsippany–Troy Hills, New Jersey, into an immigrant Indian Gujarati Hindu family[https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2018/02/22/nimesh-patels-comedy-chops-are-impressing-saturday-night-live-and-his-parents/ "Nimesh Patel’s comedy chops are impressing ‘'Saturday Night Live'’ — and his parents"], The Washington Post, February 22, 2018. Accessed February 7, 2025. "'The stereotype of Indian parents wanting their kid to be a doctor or finance person was true, for me at least,' says Patel, who grew up in Parsippany, N.J." and graduated from Parsippany Hills High School.[https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFvTEgiNKKl/ "I've lived all the Patel memes."], Instagram.com. Accessed February 7, 2025. His parents immigrated to the United States from India in the 1970s. His father first came to Newark, New Jersey, as a 17 year old and worked as a cashier at a Macy's. He eventually opened a liquor store in a troubled neighborhood with heavy African-American organized crime and gang culture in nearby Irvington, often being robbed and also shot at.{{cite AV media |date=November 13, 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3xPoGAvCoc |title=How Not to Insult Indians {{!}} Nimesh Patel {{!}} Stand Up Comedy |publisher=Nimesh Patel |via=YouTube |access-date=October 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106121758/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3xPoGAvCoc |archive-date=November 6, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last1=Provencio |first1=Phil |title=Up Next, Nimesh Patel. A Look Through the Lens in New York Comedy |url=https://theinterrobang.com/next-nimesh-patel-look-lens-new-york-comedy/ |publisher=The Interrobang |date=April 30, 2017}}

Patel moved to New York City to attend New York University, initially as a pre-med student. He has lived in the city ever since. He graduated with a degree in finance in 2008.{{cite news |last1=Catlin |first1=Roger |title=Nimesh Patel's comedy chops are impressing 'Saturday Night Live' — and his parents |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2018/02/22/nimesh-patels-comedy-chops-are-impressing-saturday-night-live-and-his-parents |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 22, 2018}}

Career

After graduating, Patel began working during the day and performing standup at The Stress Factory by night.

In 2015, he was doing standup in Greenpoint, Brooklyn when he was discovered by Chris Rock. Patel then joined Rock's writing team for the 88th Academy Awards ceremony.

In 2016, he was a finalist in Kevin Hart's Laugh Out Loud Network Pitch Panel at Just for Laughs ComedyPRO.{{cite web |date=July 28, 2016 |title=Kevin Hart Options All 10 Pitch Ideas for the Laugh Out Loud Network |url=https://comedypro.hahaha.com/Category/laugh-out-loud-network/ |publisher=Just for Laughs ComedyPro}}

Patel also wrote material for Hasan Minhaj's 2017 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner appearance.{{cite magazine |last1=Robinson |first1=Joanna |title=Why Saturday Night Live's Most Intriguing New Hire Is Behind the Camera |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/09/saturday-night-live-new-cast-members-chris-redd-heidi-gardner-luke-null-nimesh-patel |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=November 26, 2017}} In 2017, he began working as a full-time writer for Saturday Night Live, mainly writing jokes for Weekend Update. In 2018, Patel was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for his work on SNL. He worked for SNL for one season.{{cite AV media |date=October 18, 2023 |url=https://youtube.com/shorts/1eKJ_Mp3cek |title=One Season At SNL - Nimesh Patel |via=YouTube |url-status=live}}

Patel has appeared on @midnight, Comedy Knockout and Late Night with Seth Meyers. He has also featured as a comedy and politics panelist at the Foreign Affairs Symposium at Johns Hopkins University.{{cite news |title=Chelsea Manning, Samantha Power among speakers for 2018 Foreign Affairs Symposium |url=https://hub.jhu.edu/2018/02/12/hopkins-foreign-affairs-symposium-lineup-2018/ |work=The Hub |date=February 12, 2018}}

On November 30, 2018, roughly twenty-four minutes into a comedy set, Patel was interrupted and asked to leave by the organizers of cultureSHOCK: Reclaim, an event for Asian representation hosted by Columbia University's Asian American Alliance.{{cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2018/12/05/former-snl-writer-booted-off-stage-at-columbia-university/ |title=Former 'SNL' writer booted off stage at Columbia University|date=Dec 5, 2018|access-date=November 12, 2019|work=The New York Post}}{{cite AV media |date=December 6, 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN-3DByTq6k |title=Nimesh Patel getting kicked off the stage at Columbia |publisher=Veritech |via=YouTube |access-date=October 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725231752/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN-3DByTq6k |archive-date=July 25, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |date=2018-12-14 |title=I'm an Asian American Student at Columbia University — and Nimesh Patel's Mic Needed to be Cut |url=http://reappropriate.co/2018/12/im-an-asian-american-student-at-columbia-university-and-nimesh-patels-mic-needed-to-be-cut/ |access-date=2022-03-18 |website=Reappropriate |language=en-US}} On October 7, 2020, Patel posted a video of his full Columbia set in response to an article he believed to be untruthful.{{cite AV media |date=October 7, 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcICkrR6AYY |title=KICKED OFF STAGE - FULL COLUMBIA SET {{!}} Nimesh Patel {{!}} Stand Up Comedy {{!}} DESCRIPTION FOR DETAILS |publisher=Nimesh Patel |via=YouTube |access-date=October 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017160730/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcICkrR6AYY |archive-date=October 17, 2020 |url-status=live}}

Influences

Patel's main comedic influences are Chris Rock, Larry David and Patrice O’Neal.{{cite web |last1=Garcia |first1=Courtney |title=Nimesh Patel |url=http://www.btrtoday.com/read/music/discoveryartist/discovery-artist-unsolved-mysteries-week/ |publisher=BTR Today |date=October 29, 2012}}

Personal life

Patel is a non practicing Hindu.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

Patel criticized the Partition of India on one of his shows, as part of his "Come see me on tour!" and criticized a British Indian woman in the audience defending British Colonialism and tyranny in India, eventually calling out the stolen Indian Kohinoor diamond by the British royal family and calling the woman a self-loather.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zDVuusW0YQ |title=Heckled by British Indian - Come see me on tour! {{!}} Nimesh Patel {{!}} Stand Up Comedy |date=August 30, 2021 |publisher=Nimesh Patel |access-date=October 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003053129/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zDVuusW0YQ |archive-date=October 3, 2021 |url-status=live |via=YouTube}}

He used to live in Hell's Kitchen, Midtown Manhattan, but now resides in Brooklyn. He is a regular comic at the Comedy Cellar, a comedy club in Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

He married Amy Havel in 2020.{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CB_Ishigb20/?hl=en&img_index=1 |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=www.instagram.com}}

Awards and honors

2017 - Nominated for Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety (Music, Awards, Tributes) – Specials for the 88th Academy Awards
2018 - Nominated for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for Saturday Night Live