Ghulam Khan, better known as Guz Khan and occasionally Guzzy Bear, is a British comedian and actor best known for his work in such TV shows as Man Like Mobeen and stand up appearances in Live at the Apollo.
Early life
Khan is the youngest of three children, with two sisters who are ten and eleven years older than him. His father died when Khan was three. He is of Pakistani descent. Khan grew up on a housing estate in Hillfields, Coventry and attended Stoke Park School and Community College. After graduating Coventry University, he taught Humanities at Grace Academy. In Sindhu Vee's 2020 BBC comedy podcast Things My Mother Never Told Me , Khan talks about being raised in a South-Asian community and his relationship to his mother.
Comedy career
Khan uploaded his first video to Facebook in 2014; in June of that year, he first performed on stage, opening for Aamer Rahman at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. His second time on stage was at a comedy evening at the Library of BirminghamBBC Asian Network organised for Comic Relief, with Citizen Khan. In June 2015, whilst performing as his character Mobeen, a Muslim living in Small Heath, Khan made a video expressing mock outrage at the apparent use of "Paki", a racial slur for people of Pakistani descent, in the film Jurassic World, and called for boycott of the film because a lead character shouted "the Pachys are out of containment",. In the video, Khan recounts a recent trip he and his friend took to the cinema to watch the film, described some awkward incidents in the cinema whilst watching the film and raises the point that the phrase could sound exceptionally racist to the untrained ear. In six days, the video was watched over 340,000 times on YouTube and has received over 700,000 views on Facebook. Khan's hashtag on Twitter, #BoycottJurassicWorld has gained attention and viewers also took to Twitter to voice their shock at the use of the derogatory term. After the Birmingham Mail publicised the story, Khan was interviewed by radio stations in the United States and Indonesia. In June 2015, Khan made a short filmRoadman Ramadan as part of the British Muslim Comedy series, five short films by Muslim comedians commissioned by the BBC to be released on BBC iPlayer. Khan's sketch was a guide to Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting during daylight hours, which sees Khan's character Mobeen guide his newly converted friend Trev through his first Ramadan. In July, Khan gave up his job as a school teacher to pursue a career in comedy after his YouTube clips went viral. In November, he featured in an episode of comedy web seriesCorner Shop Show. In December 2015, Khan performed at BBC Asian Network's Big Comedy Night in Birmingham, a special comedy night celebrating 50 years of Asian programmes on the BBC. In February 2017, Khan appeared as Rocky in romantic comedy filmFinding Fatimah. He went on to play the rambunctious baggage handlerMo Khan in Borderline. He has also performed at the stand-up show Live at the Apollo in Episode 4 of Series 13 which was aired 31 December 2017 on BBC2 and hosted by the comedian Henning Wehn. In December 2017, Khan's four-part BBC comedy seriesMan Like Mobeen was released on BBC iPlayer. Two more series of the show were produced which were released on BBC iPlayer in 2019 and 2020. In 2019, Khan appeared alongside Idris Elba in the Netflixcomedy showTurn Up Charlie, which premiered on 15 March 2019. In 2020, he appeared in Four Weddings And a Funeral,, a miniseries created by Mindy Kaling that is a remake of the original film. In June 2019, Khan appeared in an advert for Walkers alongside the Spice Girls playing Dev, the group's biggest fan.
Personal life
Khan is a Muslim. He lives with his wife and four children in the West Midlands, next door to his mother.
