Baz Ashmawy

Baz Ashmawy
Born
Bazil Ashmawy

(1975-04-09) 9 April 1975 (age 49)
Libya
Occupation(s)TV and Radio Presenter / Actor / Writer
Known for
  • 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy
  • Faithless TV Series
  • That Baz Thing
  • The Fanatics
  • How Low Can You Go?
  • Fáilte Towers
  • Baz's Culture Clash
  • Baz's Extreme Worlds
  • Weekend Breakfast with Baz & Lucy
  • Baz The Lost Muslim
  • Change Your Tune
  • DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland
  • Best Place To Be
Children2
Awards

Bazil Ashmawy, commonly known as Baz Ashmawy, is an Irish radio and television personality, whose TV show 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy won the International Emmy Award for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment award. In 2024, Baz created, wrote and starred a TV Series Faithless for Virgin Media Television. Baz hosts The Money List and Best Place To Be for RTE One and both shows have been renewed for a second seasons. Baz also is the host of DIYSOS The Big Build Ireland. In summer 2017, he hosted That Baz Thing on RTÉ Radio 1. Ashmawy co-hosted Weekend Breakfast with Baz & Lucy on RTÉ 2fm in 2010, and co-presented the 2008 reality show Fáilte Towers on RTÉ One, as well as the popular travel show How Low Can You Go on RTÉ Two. In 2018 he began presenting ITV's new singing show – Change Your Tune.

Early life

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According to an article in The Nationalist (Carlow), Ashmawy's mother Nancy is from Ballycoog, Ballycoog, Avoca, County Wicklow[1] although Ashmawy was born in Libya and is part-Egyptian.[2] He moved to Ireland at age eight and grew up in the Dublin suburb of Churchtown and attended CUS Leeson Street for a period of time.[3]

Career

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Ashmawy is best known[citation needed] for 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy[4][failed verification] which was first broadcast on Sky 1. The show is based on Baz inserting his 71-year-old mother Nancy into various dare-devil situations, and documenting her typical Irish mammy reactions to the situations.[5][6]

In November 2015 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy won the Best Non-Scripted Entertainment award at the 2015 International Emmy Awards.[7][8]

Prior to that, Ashmawy was on the popular RTÉ Two travel show, How Low Can You Go?[9] where he appeared with co-presenters Mark O'Neill and Michael Hayes. In remarking on his experiences with that show, Ashmawy said that he loved Las Vegas where he received a lap dance from (as he describes) 'a former hooker who looked like she was in her late 50s' and said of his experiences on the set of a porn movie in California that 'We saw things there that will be in our minds for a very long time.'[10]

Ashmawy is also a sports fan who tried his skill at GAA management on the RTÉ show[2] Celebrity Bainisteoir.[11][12][13] According to The Irish Times, Ashmawy managed managing his team while wearing 'nicely polished footwear'.[14] When asked in an RTÉ Sport interview who he would like to see win the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Ashmawy joked that he was 'not going for the patriotic 'Go Ireland' I'd have to say New Zealand...typical. How boring is that. Think I've made myself feel a little sick there saying that. I'm going back....'GO IRELAND!'[15]

He appeared in Jason Byrne's award-winning prank series Anonymous. He later appeared numerous times on RTÉ One's flagship travel show No Frontiers before venturing into his own solo project Baz's Culture Clash on RTÉ Two, which he began filming in September 2008 and finished the following April,[16] travelling the world to film it.[17][18] It was aired during September and October 2009. It had initially been expected to air in March 2009.[19] For the series Ashmawy visited a coven of witches in Kells, County Meath and underwent hypnosis to allow him to meet his Egyptian ancestors.[20][19][21] Ashmaway also visited a haunted house with a group called "Leinster Paranormal".[19] He also teamed up with a group of ghostbusters to visit the haunted Carlow Shopping Centre where a little girl and some former prisoners from the old county gaol were among the ghosts which were said to haunt the building.[22] The episode in the shopping centre was filmed at night and in one incident a member of Ashmawy's film crew collapsed without explanation when his body was invaded.[21] In another episode Ashmawy met a man whose diet consisted of roadkill, including badgers and cats.[20] The series was poorly received. Irish Independent critic John Boland wrote of the first episode that it "gives a new meaning to the notion of meaninglessness", and questioned the purpose of a show where Ashmawy "grinned and grimaced his way through southern California in an unserious search of alternative therapies".[23] Hilary Fannin wrote in The Irish Times that a later episode "investigated (well, that might be too strong a word for it – let's say glossed over) the world of the paranormal".[24] Paul Whitington wrote in the Irish Independent that the subjects covered in the series were "new-age nonsense".[25] His next project Baz's Extreme Worlds aired on 10 May 2010.

In addition to appearing on as television host, Ashmawy is an actor who has appeared in television dramas and other programmes.[26] He has also appeared in a plays and short films.[11] Although he says that comedy comes naturally to him, his dramaturgical background has led him to productions of classical theatre and the works of Shakespeare.[10]

In April 2015, Ashmawy hosted the Sky 1 quiz show "Fanatics" where fanatics of various things (e.g. Doctor Who) are tested on their knowledge of these things[27]

50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy

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The series was born after Ashmawy's mum and co-star Nancy, 72, announced that she wanted to do a skydive. The first series was one of the most watched programmes on Sky 1 in Ireland in 2014; season 2 was considered[who?] as delightful as the first.

The show has been licensed by Sky Vision into over 150 territories worldwide, including Canada, Australia, China, and the Middle-East. Local versions of the show have been produced in a number of key territories, including Denmark (two series), Holland and Belgium with several countries picking up the 50 Way to Kill your Mammy format, making this Sky Vision's most successful factual entertainment property to date.[28]

In November 2015 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy won the Best Non-Scripted Entertainment award at the 2015 International Emmy Awards.[7][8]

In 2016, Sky 1 aired the 3rd season of the show in a new twist to the show's format, where four new Mammies joined Baz and Nancy on their travels, changing the show to be known as 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammies.

On 12 October 2017, Ashmawy announced on Twitter that he and Nancy would be filming a one off Christmas special broadcast exclusively on RTÉ Ireland. This was followed, on 12 November, by a series of Snapchat videos of Nancy, Baz and the production crew at Dublin airport waiting to fly out to Rome for filming.

Radio

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In July 2017, Ashmawy hosted his radio show That Baz Thing on RTÉ Radio 1.[29] On his show he interviewed different 3 guests every week as he explores a broad range of issues, including parenting, health, happiness and relationships.

Ashmawy co-hosted Weekend Breakfast with Baz & Lucy on RTÉ 2fm with Lucy Kennedy for 2 years.

Personal life

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He has two daughters Hanna and Mahy. He is also stepfather to four other kids from a previous relationship (Charlotte, Harry, Jake and Amelia). One of his lungs collapsed on a transatlantic flight and he underwent double-lung surgery.[30][31]

References

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  1. ^ Lawrence, Brendan (9 January 2008). "TV's Baz sets out to make the Billies kings of the screen". The Nationalist. Archived from the original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2007.
  2. ^ a b Stilling, Rob (13 December 2007). "Baz' hopes to lead the Billies to glory". Wicklow People. Archived from the original on 6 May 2008.
  3. ^ "Playing the joker; Time and place Baz Ashmawy; The RTE presenter tells Kate Butler about his misguided teenage years when he was surrounded by nurses". Sunday Times. 4 January 2009. p. 9. – via Academic OneFile (subscription required)
  4. ^ "50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy". 25 August 2014 – via IMDb.
  5. ^ [1] sky (Saturday 27 September 2014)
  6. ^ "From Dublin to Hollywood! Baz Ashmawy's 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy hits American shores". evoke.ie. 16 January 2014.
  7. ^ a b "Baz and mammy Nancy bag international Emmy Award for 50 Ways to kill your mammy". Irish Independent. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Success! 50 Ways To Kill Your Mammy is nominated for an Emmy". evoke.ie. 6 October 2015.
  9. ^ [2] Horse Racing Ireland
  10. ^ a b "So, how low did they go?". Irish Independent. 12 April 2008. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  11. ^ a b "Fáilte Towers". RTÉ One. 2008.
  12. ^ [3] An Phoblacht (17 April 2008)
  13. ^ [4] The Once a Week Show
  14. ^ [5] The Irish Times (Saturday, 5 April 2008) Back to a familiar future
  15. ^ "RTÉ Sport: Quick Tap: Baz Ashmawy". RTÉ.ie. Archived from the original on 25 October 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008. RTÉ Sport Quick Tap: Baz Ashmawy
  16. ^ "'Baz's Culture Clash' Invades our Screens". Irish Film and Television Network. 14 September 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  17. ^ "2008 -- the year Baz found fame and fell in love". Evening Herald. 29 December 2008. Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  18. ^ "Baz Ashmawy". Irish Independent. 27 December 2008. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  19. ^ a b c "The biggest shock of 2008 as hell-raising Baz vows to give up booze in 2009 (for a while, at least...)". Evening Herald. 31 December 2008. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  20. ^ a b Anrea Byrne (20 September 2009). "Our love-hate relationship with Ireland's sexiest man". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  21. ^ a b Aoife Anderson (24 September 2009). "Baz spooked by ghostly goings on as he films in supermarket". Evening Herald. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  22. ^ Elizabeth Lee (15 September 2009). "Baz left spooked by shopping centre visit". Carlow People. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
  23. ^ John Boland (19 September 2009). "The gong for Worst show goes to . . ". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 23 September 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  24. ^ Hilary Fannin (3 October 2009). "Getting jiggy with it". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 October 2009. Skirting the precipice of RTÉ2's Monday-night comedy zone, Baz Ashmawy, an easygoing chap with the leather jacket and sexed-up self-effacement that are obligatory for television presenters nowadays, got all spooky on Baz's Culture Clash, which this week investigated (well, that might be too strong a word for it – let's say glossed over) the world of the paranormal.
  25. ^ Paul Whitington (12 September 2009). "Just for laughs". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 14 September 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  26. ^ [6] IMDb: Bazil Ashawmy
  27. ^ "Baz Ashmawy to host super fan show The Fanatics for Sky 1". BSkyB. 2 October 2014.
  28. ^ "50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy nominated at the 2015 Emmy® Awards". Sky Ireland. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  29. ^ "That Baz Thing Wednesday 5 July 2017 - That Baz Thing - RTÉ Radio 1".
  30. ^ [7] Evening Herald (Wednesday 12 January 2012)
  31. ^ Jarlath Regan (11 October 2015). "Baz Ashmawy". An Irishman Abroad (Podcast) (108 ed.). Retrieved 12 October 2015.
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