Phil Wang


Philip Nathaniel Sin Goi Wang is a British Malaysian stand-up comedian who is also a member of the sketch comedy group Daphne, and co-creator of their BBC Radio 4 series, Daphne Sounds Expensive.

Early life

Wang was born in Stoke-on-Trent to an English mother and a Chinese-Malaysian father. One week after his birth, his family returned to his father's home town of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, where his parents had first met in 1982. His mother, a trained archaeologist, had moved to Malaysia as a volunteer with the Voluntary Service Overseas. Wang's maternal grandfather was from Derbyshire and became the manager of a tea estate in Assam, India, where his mother spent part of her childhood.
Wang grew up in Malaysia, where he was taught in Malay, Mandarin and English. He took GCSEs at Jerudong International School in Brunei. When he was 16, his family moved back to the UK, to Bath, Somerset, where his mother is from originally. There he attended Kingswood School. He then studied engineering at King's College, Cambridge, where he was also president of the Cambridge Footlights.

Career

Wang won the 2010 Chortle Student Comedian of the Year Award and, in 2011, Comedy Central's Funniest Student Award. In 2012, he was president of Footlights at Cambridge University, where he did a four-year engineering degree. Wang has since performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Wang has appeared in The Rob Brydon Show, Comedy Up Late, About Tonight, It Was Alright in the 70s, Have I Got News for You, Unspun with Matt Forde, Would I Lie to You?, Live at the Apollo, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, The Dog Ate My Homework and Insert Name Here. He has also acted in the sitcom Top Coppers. In January 2018, he took part in Comedy Central's Roast Battle, hosted by Jimmy Carr, in which he battled friend and fellow comedian Ed Gamble; Wang won the battle.
He has recorded two full length stand-up shows, which are available to watch for free on his YouTube Channel. Wang has also written for The Guardian.
In 2017 Phil Wang appeared in the podcast series Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown and Do the Right Thing.
On 4 July 2018 it was announced that Phil would be one of the contestants in series 7 of Taskmaster. Tasks he won included 'Make the best noise' and 'Most surprisingly beautiful thing'.
Wang is currently working on a stand-up comedy series for BBC Radio 4 titled Wangsplaining. The pilot episode aired on 19 May 2019 on BBC Radio 4.