News / University of Bristol
Bristol student wins top comedy award
A Bristol student who took his first foray into the world of comedy at the early age of 12 has won a prestigious comedy award.
University of Bristol student Riki Msindo, won this year’s Chortle Student Comedy Award, competing in multiple heats to take the award.
He joins a roll call of former winners that include Joe Lycett, Jamili Maddix and Phil Wang.
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Speaking about his win, Riki said “it felt incredible.”
“In comedy you do so many gigs – often after driving to the middle of nowhere – and a lot of the time you aren’t sure if you’re any good or if you’re progressing.
“The award was recognition that I’m actually entertaining people. I’ll really hold on to that.
Riki is originally from Zimbabwe but moved to Bedfordshire when he was eight, and fell in love with comedy after watching American comedian and presenter Trevor Noah on screen as a child.
He has since consumed comedy voraciously, including watching all 245 episodes of the BBC’s Mock the Week “four or five times”.
“Name an episode and I can tell you the contestants and the jokes they made,” said Riki.
Now, the 24-year-old has honed his craft with over 150 gigs under his belt.
Msindo organises his gigs around his busy medicine degree, which he decided to study after being badly burned as a child.
“The only other thing I’ve wanted to do is to work in medicine,” he said.
“When I was a kid I was burnt badly when some boiling water fell on me – I spent three weeks in hospital and learnt that this thing called medicine existed.”
Riki also hosts a podcast with comic Mark Olver called Oh Captain My Captain, which entertains a revolving door of A-list comedians including Russel Howard, Jimmy Carr and James Acaster.
Riki is graduating from Bristol this year, and will continue gigging as he takes up his first job as a doctor in Brighton.
Main photo: Riki Msindo
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