Sandeep Parikh
Encyclopedia
Sandeep Parikh is an American
writer, director, actor and producer of comedy currently residing in Silver Lake
in Los Angeles, California
. He is best known for his co-starring role as Zaboo on the award-winning web series The Guild
. He is the founder of Effinfunny.com, a comedy video site focusing on alternative stand up comedy and the creation of original web series like The Legend of Neil
(for Comedy Central and AtomFilms), which are currently available online.
n immigrants in Goffstown, New Hampshire
and raised there by his parents and two older brothers, Rajiv and Sanjiv. He was a gymnast since the age of 4 and competed nationally in all six male events until 18.
Parikh went to Goffstown High School
in New Hampshire
and then went to Brown University
where he received an A.B. in Computer Science with Honors in Creative Writing
.
for Best Comedy. He was awarded the Capstone at Brown for writing the feature screenplay Chess Wesley. After graduating, he lived in Brooklyn
, New York, and wrote plays, one of which was produced at the Lower Tenement Theatre in Manhattan
. Unable to ignore the calls of Hollywood, he moved to Los Angeles in 2004 and wrote, directed, and produced an independent television pilot called The Good Guys. This landed him his agent at the William Morris Agency
. In July 2006 he founded Effinfunny.com where he produced stand up comedy shows in LA, and edited the best bits into digestible clips for the Internet and created profiles for the comedians for promotional purposes.
Parikh plays the role of "Zaboo" in The Guild
, an Internet sitcom about a group of online role playing game members whose guild meets in real life for the first time after Zaboo turns up on the doorstep of fellow gamer "Codex," played by show's star and creator Felicia Day
, whom he has tracked down
to give her the blue roses he crafted for her.
Parikh created, co-wrote, and directed The Legend of Neil
about a real world slacker who gets sucked into The Legend of Zelda
and has to fight his way out with a wooden sword and no discernible skills. He wrote the 4 minute short as a web pilot for VH1's Acceptable.tv. The show was cancelled before the Legend of Neil was eligible to air but it won best Sci Fi Fantasy Web Pilot for the Acceptable.tv podcast. The show was then a YouTube sensation amassing over a quarter million hits. It was soon picked up by Comedy Central for 5 more webisodes that were released in July 2008 on Atom.com. A second season, commissioned by Comedy Central, was released by Atom.com in 2009. A third season followed, premiering in July 2010.
He also co-wrote, directed, and acted in Raptor, which had a two-episode run on Channel101.com, in which he plays a man who plays foosball against his co-worker Raymond, a velociraptor
. Parikh co-wrote, directed, and starred as Tom Selleck
in The Blood Oath of Three Men and a Baby which likewise had a two-episode run on Channel101.
In 2009, Parikh appeared in an episode of Community
. In the end credits scene of the season one episode "Debate 109," he appears as "Abed's Abed," playing Abed in one of his films, performing the Spanish rap from the end of "Spanish 101" with "Abed's Troy."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer, director, actor and producer of comedy currently residing in Silver Lake
Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California
Silver Lake is a hilly neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California east of Hollywood and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Silver Lake is inhabited by a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic groups, but it is best known as an eclectic gathering of hipsters and the creative class.The...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. He is best known for his co-starring role as Zaboo on the award-winning web series The Guild
The Guild (web series)
The Guild is an American comedy web series created and written by Felicia Day, who also stars as Cyd Sherman . It premiered on YouTube on July 27, 2007. Subsequent webisodes premiered on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace, Zune Marketplace, and MSN Video. The webisodes were later made available on...
. He is the founder of Effinfunny.com, a comedy video site focusing on alternative stand up comedy and the creation of original web series like The Legend of Neil
The Legend of Neil
The Legend of Neil is a comedy web series distributed by Comedy Central's partner Atom.com and is a parody of the Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda. Sandeep Parikh of The Guild fame directs the series. Tony Janning writes for the series, and acts as the title character Neil...
(for Comedy Central and AtomFilms), which are currently available online.
Background
Parikh was born to two IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n immigrants in Goffstown, New Hampshire
Goffstown, New Hampshire
Goffstown is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 17,651 at the 2010 census. The compact center of town, where 3,196 people resided at the 2010 census, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Goffstown census-designated place and is located at the...
and raised there by his parents and two older brothers, Rajiv and Sanjiv. He was a gymnast since the age of 4 and competed nationally in all six male events until 18.
Parikh went to Goffstown High School
Goffstown High School
Goffstown High School, located in Goffstown, New Hampshire, USA, serves the towns of Goffstown, New Boston and Dunbarton. Goffstown High School has a total of 1,221 students as of September 3, 2008.- Administration :...
in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
and then went to Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
where he received an A.B. in Computer Science with Honors in Creative Writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
.
Career
Parikh began improvising and writing sketches for the short lived comedy troupe The Village Idiots at Brown University. In 2001 he wrote and produced his first film, The Courier Dodge, which was a finalist at the Ivy Film FestivalIvy Film Festival
The Ivy Film Festival is the world's largest entirely student-run film festival, held annually on the campus of Brown University. The festival was started in 2001 by Brown juniors David Peck and Justin Slosky, with collaboration from students of the other seven Ivy League schools...
for Best Comedy. He was awarded the Capstone at Brown for writing the feature screenplay Chess Wesley. After graduating, he lived in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York, and wrote plays, one of which was produced at the Lower Tenement Theatre in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Unable to ignore the calls of Hollywood, he moved to Los Angeles in 2004 and wrote, directed, and produced an independent television pilot called The Good Guys. This landed him his agent at the William Morris Agency
William Morris Agency
WME is the largest talent agency in the world, with offices in Beverly Hills, New York City, Nashville, London, and Miami. WME represents elite artists from all facets of the entertainment industry, including motion pictures, television, music, theatre, publishing, and physical production...
. In July 2006 he founded Effinfunny.com where he produced stand up comedy shows in LA, and edited the best bits into digestible clips for the Internet and created profiles for the comedians for promotional purposes.
Parikh plays the role of "Zaboo" in The Guild
The Guild
The Guild is an American comedy web series created and written by Felicia Day, who also stars as Cyd Sherman . It premiered on YouTube on July 27, 2007. Subsequent webisodes premiered on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace, Zune Marketplace, and MSN Video. The webisodes were later made available on...
, an Internet sitcom about a group of online role playing game members whose guild meets in real life for the first time after Zaboo turns up on the doorstep of fellow gamer "Codex," played by show's star and creator Felicia Day
Felicia Day
Kathryn Felicia Day is an American actress, known for her work as "Vi" on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and for parts in movies such as Bring It On Again and June, as well as the Internet musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog...
, whom he has tracked down
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
to give her the blue roses he crafted for her.
Parikh created, co-wrote, and directed The Legend of Neil
The Legend of Neil
The Legend of Neil is a comedy web series distributed by Comedy Central's partner Atom.com and is a parody of the Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda. Sandeep Parikh of The Guild fame directs the series. Tony Janning writes for the series, and acts as the title character Neil...
about a real world slacker who gets sucked into The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda, originally released as in Japan, is a video game developed and published by Nintendo, and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Set in the fantasy land of Hyrule, the plot centers on a boy named Link, the playable protagonist, who aims to collect the eight fragments...
and has to fight his way out with a wooden sword and no discernible skills. He wrote the 4 minute short as a web pilot for VH1's Acceptable.tv. The show was cancelled before the Legend of Neil was eligible to air but it won best Sci Fi Fantasy Web Pilot for the Acceptable.tv podcast. The show was then a YouTube sensation amassing over a quarter million hits. It was soon picked up by Comedy Central for 5 more webisodes that were released in July 2008 on Atom.com. A second season, commissioned by Comedy Central, was released by Atom.com in 2009. A third season followed, premiering in July 2010.
He also co-wrote, directed, and acted in Raptor, which had a two-episode run on Channel101.com, in which he plays a man who plays foosball against his co-worker Raymond, a velociraptor
Velociraptor
Velociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed approximately 75 to 71 million years ago during the later part of the Cretaceous Period. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the past. The type species is V. mongoliensis; fossils...
. Parikh co-wrote, directed, and starred as Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck
Thomas William "Tom" Selleck is an American actor, and film producer. He is best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I.. He also plays Police Chief Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B....
in The Blood Oath of Three Men and a Baby which likewise had a two-episode run on Channel101.
In 2009, Parikh appeared in an episode of Community
Community (TV series)
Community is an American television comedy series created by Dan Harmon that airs on NBC. The series is about a group of students at a community college in the fictional locale of Greendale, Colorado. The series heavily uses meta-humor and pop culture references, often parodying film and television...
. In the end credits scene of the season one episode "Debate 109," he appears as "Abed's Abed," playing Abed in one of his films, performing the Spanish rap from the end of "Spanish 101" with "Abed's Troy."