Award-winning British Muslim comedian Shazia Mirza is no stranger to controversy. 

When three British Muslim girls left their London homes in Bethnal Green to join ISIS, Shazia contributed a radio piece for the BBC on the phenomenon of jihadi brides which received a record number of complaints.

Her 2015 critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe show The Kardashians Made Me Do It addressed this outrage and resulted in a sell-out run at the Tricycle Theatre in London. Shazia is now embarking on a nationwide tour of the provocative show. 

Shazia told us: “It’s got nothing to do with the Kardashians. If there’s Kardashian fans coming they’re going to get the shock of their lives.

“It’s about political correctness and people being offended. It’s fashionable to be offended. Some people are offended because they want someone to write to. I’ve never known so many people to be offended.”

The show explores Shazia’s controversial insight on the intrusion of ISIS in the lives of young British Asian women in her trademark unabashed style. 

Shazia said: “Those ISIS men, a lot of them are hot. Girls fancy them, they are kind of like our pop stars and our pin ups. When I was growing up I had George Michael on my bedroom wall.

“It’s nothing to do with religion; you don’t know anything about religion at 15. Those 14 or 15 year olds weren’t even born when the war in Afghanistan started.”

She added: “They’re going for sexual reasons, it’s very sexual, the whole thing. It’s not fashionable for me to go on TV and say it.”

Shazia’s show may be unsettling for some due to the current political climate but she is unafraid to cause discomfort. 

She said: “I’ve got many friends that live in Kingston, Surbiton and Richmond. I do get a lot of white middle class Guardian readers who forget to laugh. In those areas they are very interesting people, they come and see things they wouldn’t usually see.”

With her sharp, gutsy comic wit, Shazia has appeared on various TV and radio shows including Have I Got News For You (BBC), F*** Off, I'm a Hairy Woman (BBC), NBC's Last Comic Standing, Beautiful People (BBC2), The World Stands Up (Paramount Comedy), and held a regular slot on Radio 2’s Vanessa Feltz Show and Radio 4’s The Now Show.  

She has performed internationally and will soon be taking her show to Paris in a move that was welcomed by organisers, despite the November terrorist attacks.

“I’m doing my show in Paris, I said I’d rather not come at the moment but they said this is the time to come. We are carrying on as normal. Maybe it would be good to laugh at these people.” 

Shazia Mirza will perform The Kardashians Made Me Do It at Teddington Landmark Arts Centre on April 14. Go to landmarkartscentre.org

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