CityLife

Shappi Khorsandi: The Distracted Activist

Shappi Khorsandi
Buxton Opera House
March 10, 2010

A third of the way through the second half of the show and Khorsandi apologises for her scattiness; blaming it on the fact that once you’re a mum it’s possible to complete only one job with full focus and memory at a time.

Indeed it has to be said that there are many forgetful moments and distractions between gags, but regardless Khorsandi is a charming performer and so easily gets away with it – and, as she wryly notes, at least her 15 year old son won’t be the one stabbing you in the street.

Still, she’s developed her own, receptive audience anyway, with a Radio 4 show Shappi Talk, an appearance on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and a new book A Beginner’s Guide To Acting English: The British Iranian has garnered a healthy following over the last year.

It’s exactly that multi-culturalism that provides her with a distinctive voice and wonderful viewpoint from which to look at, not just the meeting of two cultures in her Iranian heritage and the Britain in which she grew up, but also the vast differences between the Middle East and Western countries.

As Khorsandi is consuming the works of Enid Blyton and their ‘quaint’ depiction of foreigners, her atheist, comedy writer father is receiving death threats on the family phone.

Unsurprisingly, Khorsandi’s comedy is firmly rooted in her life experiences, everything coming in for sharp tongue-lashing. Such routines as her father’s rather ad hoc method employed for checking for bombs under the car he is about to take the kids to school in have just the right balance of gravitas and comedy.

Whether stand-up was what Dad had in mind for his daughter when the family were fleeing from the Ayatollah’s regime in the 1980s, possibly not - but nevertheless we we’re sure he’s very proud.
 

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