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To appear with a head scarf on stage draw a big audience but also the hatred of some radical Muslims. Once a out of the audience a man came up to Shazia and hit her, because in his view, she offended her religion.
In 2002 the practicing Muslim female comedian from Birmingham conquered the London stand-up comedy scene with her head scarf.
After the US, London was seen as target number one for the next terror attack. Finally being able to laugh about September eleven – Shazia just hit the right tone of the moment.
SHAZIA MIRZA on STAGE (2002):
In Afghanistan Taleban means student. And they have a lot in common with students. They both don’t shave. They both get stoned and talk bullocks. And when their mother walk in, and say oy, it looks like a bombe has gone off in here.
Today Shazia Mirza judges her hijab-gig:
That was my greatest mistake.
Question:
Why?
Shazia Mirza:
Cause now every TV-crew in the whole world comes to interview me “because there is a Muslim woman doing comedy” and I think it is just so ridiculous.
Eventually Shazia abandoned her head-scarf on stage. She felt like washing her hair again – her ironic reply. Actually the 28year old comedian wants to get rid of the label which once made the headlines. She wants to prove herself and the world, that without hijab she can be funny too.
Shazia Mirza:
People have labeled me with every label they could possibly find. Muslim, femal, asian, comedian from Birmingham who might be a lesbian, you know, all the labels.
Now she is trying out other fields of humor. Lesbianism…
SHAZIA MIRZA On Stage:
There was a woman, the organizer, she came up to me, she was small, she was rought, she had short dark hair and she had a moustache so she was definitively a lesbian and she followed me to the toilets. And I said – look, I’m not a lesbian - . And she said – why not? I said – you know, I’m not allowed and my dad thinks, that I’m in the library. And I thought, you know, she was so aggressive, if I had any inkling to be a lesbian, she just killed it.
and German bashing (I love this one):
SHAZIA MIRZA On Stage
I went to Germany recently, they were really strange. They asked me to go on news night, which they call “deadline” and they kept asking me, where do you think Saddam is hiding his weapons of mass destructions – because I know you see, so I said under his wife’s burka. And they were oh ok then. Brilliant
I asked her, what she would fear more, to perform in front of a German audiens, an audience of Islamic fundamentalists or British hooligans:
Shazia Mirza`s reply:
They’re all as bad as each other. Fundamentalists, Germans. Germans are Fundamentalists. Germans, Fundamentalists and Hooligans. They’re all German
To say good bye to the label „England’s only Muslim female comedian“ is not easy in a world where the expectations of the media dictate the way you’re seen in public.
Shazia Mirza:
I don’t do muslim humor. There is no such thing as muslim humor. I’m british and I do stand-up comedy and I happen to be a muslim
Shazia realized, that the funny thing with her head-scarf, gave her all the attention for the short term, but she believes, that being limited to this label is a dead end in the long run.
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