Shaun Majumder

Shaun Vincent Majumder (born January 29, 1972) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for his role on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, where he worked from 2003 until 2018. During that time, he won a Gemini Award for his work on the series in 2006.

Shaun Majumder
Born
Shaun Vincent Majumder

(1972-01-29) January 29, 1972
Burlington, Newfoundland, Canada
NationalityCanadian
OccupationActor, comedian
Spouse(s)
Shelby Fenner
​
(m. 2012)​

Early life

Majumder was raised in Burlington, Newfoundland[1] by his mother Marian Bartlett, a European-Canadian woman from Newfoundland, and Mani Majumder, a Bengali Hindu man, originally from West Bengal. His parents separated after seven years.[2] Majumder has an older sister named Rani.[2]

Majumder has said that because he was raised by a white mother and around white people, he had no idea he "was anything but white".[3] In his standup acts, he jokes about joining his schoolmates in chanting racist slurs before realizing that he was the victim they were talking about.[3][4] Majumder was very close to his mother who he says raised them selflessly so that he and his sister were unaware of the extreme poverty in which they lived.[4][5] His mother died of a heart attack in 2003.[6] Majumder feels a debt of love to Newfoundland which has influenced him and his work, and has given him a rhythm of appreciation for what he has.[2]

Career

Majumder started his entertainment career as an announcer for the YTV game show CLIPS, and soon was hosting the network's popular morning kids show Brain Wash, where he was known as Ed Brainbin. He also hosted the "Slime Tour" segments on the popular game show Uh Oh!. Eventually he joined This Hour Has 22 Minutes in 2003,[7] and also hosted 15 episodes of the Just for Laughs specials on television and participated in the Comedy festivals in Montreal. He was also a star of Cedric the Entertainer Presents, aired in the United States on the Fox network, and appeared in an NFB documentary on aspiring Canadian comics, The Next Big Thing.[8]

Majumder has also starred in the CBC comedy pilot Hatching, Matching and Dispatching and the short film Plain Brown Rapper, as well as playing Kumar's brother in the 2004 comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.

Majumder often plays an alter ego called Raj Binder. Binder is an awkward, nervous and usually excessively sweaty Indian reporter with a strong accent. Binder first appeared in a sketch from a comedy showcase with some former YTV costars called The Bobroom,[9] and also appeared on Just For Laughs and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Majumder caused some minor controversy when "Raj" posed in the MegaStars group picture during the 2003 Heritage Classic NHL outdoor ice-hockey game.[10][11] In 2006, Majumder won a Gemini Award for his work on This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Majumder made a guest appearance on two episodes of the television series 24, playing Hasan Numair. He also played Dr. Freddy Sahgal in the short-lived Fox TV series Unhitched, which aired in March 2008.

In 2010, Majumder had a guest starring role as Benny Natchie in Republic of Doyle, and from 2010 to 2011 starred in the American TV series Detroit 1-8-7 as Detective Vikram Mahajan.[12]

In the summer of 2011 Majumder was cast in The Firm, a Canadian-American co-production, in the recurring role of Andrew Palmer, the lawyer at the firm who befriends Josh Lucas' character Mitch McDeere.[13][14] The show ran for one season.

From 2013 to 2014, Majumder starred in the documentary TV series Majumder Manor, which documented his quest to develop the tourism potential in his picturesque hometown of Burlington, Newfoundland. The show also featured his family, friends, and community.[15]

In December 2016, Majumder starred in a controversial satirical short produced by This Hour Has 22 Minutes, titled "Beige Power", which called for white supremacists to "embrace the beige" and accept that humans will all "look the same by the year 3000". The short received mixed reviews, with some criticising it for being racist, and others finding it humorous.[16]

In August 2018, Majumder was not hired back for the next season of This Hour Has 22 Minutes after he sent a letter to the producers with suggestions on the future direction of the show. Citing creative differences with Majumder, the production team chose to cut ties.[7]

Personal life

On 21 December 2012, Majumder married American actress Shelby Fenner.[17][18] On August 25 Fenner gave birth to their daughter named Mattis Maple.

Filmography

Films
Year Title Role Notes
1998 Reluctant Angel Male Clerk
1999 Pushing Tin New Controller
2000 The Ladies Man V.S.A. Member
2002 Purpose Victor
2004 Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle Saikat Patel
2005 Plain Brown Rapper Sundeep Rappa short
2007 I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry Protestor Outside of Court Uncredited
2009 Bob Funk Raymundo

TV
Year Title Role Episode
1997 Once a Thief The Prince It Happened One Night
1998/99 SketchCom Various The Bobroom and Pale by Comparison/The Bobroom and the Stand-Ins
1999 The City Mick Blood Sports
2000 The Bobroom Various TV special
2001 Relic Hunter Baz The Light of Truth
2002 Royal Canadian Air Farce Chip Kellaway / The Visible Minority Episode 9.13
2002/2003 Cedric the Entertainer Presents Various 17 episodes
2003 This Hour Has 22 Minutes: New Year's Eve Special TV Movie
2004 Snakes & Ladders Daniel Ivory Sisters
2004 Nevermind Nirvana Raju Mehta TV Movie
2006 Hatching, Matching and Dispatching Cyril Pippy 6 episodes
2007 24 Hasan Numair Day 6: 9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m./Day 6: 8:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.
2008 Unhitched Freddy 6 episodes
2008 Robson Arms Dr. Jordan Cohen Baby? What Baby?
2009 Da Kink in My Hair Sanjay Oil's Well That Ends Well/Coming Out of the Closet/Of Papers and Patois
2009 Married Not Dead Jay TV Movie
2008–2009 Less Than Kind Tito French Is My Kryptonite/I Am Somewhere/Fatso Loves Lesbo
2010–2011 Detroit 187 Detective Vikram Mahajan 18 episodes
2011 Bad Mom Kevin TV Movie
2012 The Firm Andrew Palmer 12 episodes
2013 Satisfaction Trevor First contact
2010–2014 Republic of Doyle Benny Natchie Fathers and Sons/ True Lies
2015 Breed Teddy TV Movie
2013–2017 This Hour Has 22 Minutes Various 82 episodes
2017 A Christmas Fury Cyril Pippy TV Movie
2018 Addison Max 10 episodes

References
  1. Gill, Alexandra (February 8, 2003). "Proud to be a Pewfie". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  2. http://www.progressmedia.ca/article/2012/08/manor-born%5B%5D
  3. Shaun Majumder, every word really is absolutely true. Posted by John Doyle, April 30, 2012.
  4. Shaun Majumder celebrates This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Posted by Richard Ouzounian for The Star Edition. Dec. 5, 2014.
  5. TV, Brad Oswald / Watching (April 28, 2012). "Apr 2012: Majumder surprisingly frank – and funny – in HBO special" – via www.winnipegfreepress.com.
  6. Comedian Shaun Majumder shows emotional side in new HBO documentary. Posted by Whatson for Guelph Mercury Tribune.com. Apr 27, 2012.
  7. Ahearn, Victoria (August 27, 2018). "Shaun Majumder shocked to leave CBC's 22 Minutes: 'They chose to let me go'". Toronto Star. The Canadian Press. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  8. "NFB – Collection – The Next Big Thing – DVD".
  9. "The Bobroom (TV Movie 2000)". IMDb. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  10. "Comic Dressed As Soccer Player Sneaks Onto Field Before Manchester City Game". George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. CBC. 18 March 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  11. "22 Minutes at 22 Years: I Had No Idea I Shouldn't Have Done That". CBC/Radio-Canada. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2010-12-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Battlestar Galactica Babe Tricia Helfer to Appear in THE FIRM". DaemonsTV. 19 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  14. Goldberg, Lesley (22 August 2011). "'The Firm': 'Battlestar Galactica,' 'Detroit 187' Duo to Recur: Tricia Helfer and Shaun Majumder join the NBC adaptation of the 1993 feature film". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  15. "Majumder Manor (TV Series 2013–)". IMDb.
  16. Warmington, Joe. "Seeing red over 'Beige Power' rap parody". The Toronto Sun. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  17. Dekel, Jon (July 21, 2014). "Shaun Majumder goes home again". Archived from the original on 2018-08-11.
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2015-09-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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