Amelia Dimoldenberg

Amelia Beth Dimoldenberg (born 30 January 1994) is an English comedian and presenter. She is the creator and host of the web series Chicken Shop Date, in which she interviews celebrities in fried chicken restaurants while subjecting them to her sarcastic, deadpan, and awkward sense of humour.

Early life
Dimoldenberg was born in the Westminster area of London on 30 January 1994, the daughter of retired librarian Linda and Westminster City Council member Paul Dimoldenberg. Her father is a Labour Party councillor in the Westminster City Council. She grew up in Marylebone and attended St Marylebone School. She gained A-levels in English, art, politics, and IT, before studying for a foundation diploma in Art and Design and a BA in Fashion Communication at Central Saint Martins, where she graduated in 2017. She said that her time at university was spent "on the outskirts of the ultra-fashionable scene" and that she "left the party-going to those who had the stamina, and the invite".

Chicken Shop Date
Chicken Shop Date began as a humorous column written by Dimoldenberg for the youth magazine The Cut, which was based at the Stowe Centre youth club on Harrow Road. It was other members' interest in grime music that led her to interview grime artists, as she wanted to know more about the music, and she began by interviewing "friends of friends". Dimoldenberg had the idea to frame the interviews as dates, and the location of a chicken shop was chosen as it was "somewhere you wouldn't usually go on a date". The first filmed episode was released in 2014, featuring a "date" with grime MC Ghetts.

Each episode takes around 40 minutes to film, with the finished episode being edited down to a maximum of seven minutes. Dimoldenberg has described her persona in the show as "an exaggerated version" of herself, adding that "in the edit is where the character comes through, we chop and cut things, we make it more awkward". While noting that Chicken Shop Date is "not as popular" as American interview formats like Hot Ones, Between Two Ferns, and Carpool Karaoke, Jonah Engel Bromwich of The New York Times has described it as "notable for the way in which it has grown through tapping into a specific subculture" and that "capturing an audience of music enthusiasts has given the show credibility".

Dimoldenberg is known for surprising her chicken shop guests by posing preposterous questions about aspects of their image, art, or public perception. For example, Dimoldenberg asked Phoebe Bridgers, a singer who wore a skeleton onesie for the duration of a 2-year tour, if she thinks "dressing as a skeleton is promoting an unhealthy body image?"

Television
In early 2018, Dimoldenberg presented the Channel 4 documentary Meet the Markles, in which she travelled to the United States to meet members of Meghan Markle's family. The Telegraph called it "an entertaining ride [...] slicked by moments of real hilarity" and the Evening Standard described it as an "instant hit". Later that year, she appeared in an episode of The Big Narstie Show. In October, she appeared as a "roving reporter" in the first series of the ITV2 hip hop-themed comedy show Don't Hate the Playaz. The series was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award. Dimoldenberg did not appear in the second series.

In 2020, Dimoldenberg appeared on Channel 4's Celebrity Come Dine with Me with Marcel Somerville, Dave Benson Phillips, Anthea Turner, and AJ Odudu.

In December 2021, it was announced that Dimoldenberg would host a web shorts series titled Celebrity Rebrand for Channel 4. The first season, consisting of six episodes, was released via the network's social media channels. The comedy show features Dimoldenberg as a "celebrity brand visionary" attempting to assist various Channel 4 stars in rebranding their image.

In 2022, Dimoldenberg became a brand ambassador for Olay. In January 2023, she appeared on a "New Year's Treat" episode of Taskmaster alongside Self Esteem, Mo Farah, Greg James, and Carol Vorderman. On 29 January 2024, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Dimoldenberg was their red carpet correspondent for the 96th Academy Awards.