About her life before comedy

Shazia Mirza is writing her memoirs about her life before becoming a comedian.

The stand-up grew up in strictly religious family in Birmingham and was a science teacher in a ‘really rough’ comprehensive in East London before becoming a comic.

Although no title or publisher has yet been announced for the autobiography, the plans were revealed when she appeared Radio 4’s Women’s Hour yesterday.

Mirza’s parents moved from Pakistan to Birmingham in the 1960s and were ‘desperate to be British’. She added that ‘Asian people of that generation were obsessed with the Royal Family’ and told how her mother wanted to be like Princess Diana, down to seeking the same haircut.

Mirza also said that as a child she never thought she could be a comedian as ‘when I was growing up on TV there was nobody else who looked like me’ and that ‘the only option’ for second-generation immigrant ‘was that you were a doctor, a lawyer, or a doctor. For me to say I wanted to be a stand-up comedian, that was not the done thing.’

Speaking about representation, and being the first female Muslim comedian to break through, she added: ‘You know people have this phrase "if you can see it you can be it". But what if you don’t see it? 

‘There has to be somebody does it first, There has to be somebody who breaks down barriers, who says "I know it’s only white men on TV telling jokes but maybe I can do this". 

‘It’s brave. I know it because I’ve been there. You get a lot of criticism, you get a lot of abuse. Not just from maybe your own community, from your family, from critics, from the industry, from other comedians.  You get it from every angle. 

‘Sometimes if people don’t understand what you are joking about, they will just criticise it, that’s the easiest thing to do. Or they will just abuse you.

‘I got a lot of criticism and I got a lot of abuse and just took it. I thought if I survive this, then when the next wave of women who look like me come along  I’m going to make sure I lift them up and take them with me.’

To that end, she spoke about being part of the  international touring show Comedy Queens, comprising just female Muslim comedians, and said she hoped it would help them ‘have an easier time than I did’.

And not just Muslim comics, but women in general. She said: ‘Sometimes young women just need encouragement and support and that’s enough, really… to inspire them to carry on.

‘When I started stand-up, I started with a lot of great women who just disappeared after a few years. When I started stand-up about 15 years ago. We didn’t get much support. There wasn’t much camaraderie as there wasn’t many of us.’

She added that the Comedy Queens was also attracting new audience to stand-up.

‘What I realised is that there was nothing out there for us  for Muslim women or women in general that didn’t want to be in a leery atmosphere, that didn’t want to be among stag nights. They wanted to be with other women, laughing with other women. 

‘For Muslim women, there’s been a very negative preconception about us… We’ve never really been seen as entertainers, yet there was a massive audience for us.’

Published: 28 Dec 2024