How The Chase star Paul 'Sinnerman' Sinha's 'midlife crisis' led him to NZ

Paul "Sinnerman" Sinha. Photo / Supplied

Fans of The Chase rejoice, one of the stars of the hit UK quiz show is coming to New Zealand thanks to a "midlife crisis" gone unexpectedly well.

Paul "Sinnerman" Sinha is heading our way to perform standup comedy at the NZ International Comedy Festival.

He appeared on Breakfast this morning, where he revealed he turned to comedy as the result of a "sort of midlife crisis".

"I was a professional doctor for many years, and I just thought, I want to be doing something else with my life," he told Breakfast's Jack Tame.

"Like a lot of people, I started very much at the bottom and stayed there for a number of years to be perfectly honest with you, but you sort of slowly climb your way up the ladder and I've been a professional comedian for nearly 20 years."

Surprised? You shouldn't be. Sinha says The Chase host Bradley Walsh has been introducing him on the show as a "doctor and comedian" for some time.

Chase fans may be disappointed to know that there's "really no connection" between Sinha's quizzing and comedy, but his time on the show does make for some good stories, which he shares in a standup set described as "storytelling with jokes".

"I've got a very unusual life as - as far as I'm aware - the only openly gay, British-Asian, qualified doctor and competitive quizzer in the international comedy scene. You'd be astonished the number of stories that give you really," he told Breakfast.

However, he does say that being on The Chase has helped him tremendously.

"It's a privilige really to be on TV ... it's also helped my comedy career a lot because people know who I am now. That changes your life."

Paul Sinha will perform in the Best Foods Comedy Gala - an event which kicks off the International Comedy Festival - alongside James Acaster, Rhys Nicholson, Urzila Carlson and Melanie Bracewell at the Civic Theatre on May 2.

The two-and-a-half-hour show will be broadcast on TVNZ.

This year's comedy festival runs from May 2-26. The full line-up will be revealed on February 28, the same day tickets go on sale.