Neel Nanda, a stand-up comedian who appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and Comedy Central and who was known to shame the unvaccinated during his routines, has died suddenly. He was only 34 years old.
Nanda’s manager, Greg Weiss, confirmed his death in the media on Sunday.
“My client of over 11 years has passed,” Weiss said. “Neel was not (only a) great comic (but) a good friend and a fantastic human being.”
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Nanda’s sister took to Reddit to dismiss rumors the rising stand-up star took his own life.
“We firmly truly do believe this was a horribly tragic accident. Neel was incredibly happy that day. My dad and him were even looking for plane tickets 3 hours before we were notified so dad could visit him Christmas Eve or day. I literally FaceTimed with him the day before and he was in a really great place in his life.”
Nanda was known for his pro-vaccine stance during the Covid pandemic, regularly shaming the unvaccinated as part of his comedy routines. As one Twitter user pointed out, Nanda’s vaccine activism has “not aged well.”
Per USA Today: Nanda first appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in 2017 for a five-minute, on-air set. The comedian has appeared on Comedy Central multiple times, including on “Adam Devine’s House Party” and most recently for “Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents” in January.
The writer and actor is credited as a producer in the internet comedy horror series “Garland: Anthology.” Nanda appeared on the Snapchat original series “Apocalypse Goals” for two episodes in 2020 and starred in the 2019 comedy horror film “Deep Murder.”
According to his biography on IMDB, Nanda got his start performing stand-up in Atlanta. He moved to Los Angeles in 2013 and eventually appeared on various networks, including Comedy Central, MTV, Viceland, IFC, Hulu and Amazon Prime. His Los Angeles show “Unnecessary Evil” was named one of LA Weekly’s top 10 stand-up shows.
The comedian had two shows in Toronto set around his birthday earlier this month, according to his website.
