Anisa Nandaula

Nandaula was born in 2001^[1] in Kampala, Uganda.^[2][3][4] Her mother and siblings moved to Rockhampton, Queensland when she was seven.^[5][6] A year later, they relocated to Brisbane.^[7] She graduated from Runcorn State High School.^[8]

After high school, Nandaula studied law and political science at Griffith University.^[9] During this time she began to perform slam poetry.^[10] In 2016, she was the Queensland Poetry Slam champion,^[5] and she has performed at Splendour in the Grass, the Sydney Opera House, and the Woodford Folk Festival.^[2][11]

Nandaula was runner-up at the Australian Poetry Slam in 2016, and won the 2018 Queensland Poetry XYZ Innovation in Spoken Word Prize. She co-founded the poetry organisation Voices of Colour in 2016.^[2]

Her debut poetry collection, Melanin Garden, was published in 2017.^[12]

Nandaula wrote, directed, and performed in the theatre show The Grass is Dead on the Other Side in 2018 at the Wonderland Festival.^[13]

Her poem "Human" appeared in Solid Air: Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word (2019) and Volume 8 of the Australian Poetry Anthology (2020).^[14]

She said her transition from poetry to comedy during the COVID-19 pandemic made her feel "reborn", and likened the reading of poetry to performing stand-up comedy.^[5] She also maintains popular accounts on Instagram and TikTok.^[6][15] Nandaula worked at a bank while beginning her comedy career.^[4]

She was featured in The Welcome, a collection of short films, in 2021.

In June 2023, Nandaula hosted HEAL's (Home of Expressive Arts and Learning) Songs of Hope event.^[16] She gave the closing address at the 2024 Welcoming Australia Symposium.^[17]

She created and co-wrote the 6-episode short series Let's Break Up,^[18][19] based on a stage show.^[20]

Nandaula opened for Chelsea Handler during Handler's Little Big Bitch tour in Australia in 2024.^[21] In 2025, she performed her first comedy show, You Can't Say That, in Adelaide^[22] and at the Brisbane Comedy Festival, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the New Zealand International Comedy Festival,^[4] and the Sydney Comedy Festival.^[6][23]

She appeared on Thank God You're Here in October 2024^[5] and is the Gen Z "team captain" on Talkin' 'Bout Your Gen.^[24][25] She will appear in Taskmaster Australia in 2026,^[7][4] as well as Urzila Carlson's upcoming sketch series URZILA.^[26]

Nandaula will perform her new comedy show, No Small Talk, in 2026.^[27]

As of January 2026^[update], Nandaula is repped by Jubilee Street Management.^[1]