Shazia Mirza

Shazia Mirza

Mirza performing
Born (1976-10-03) 3 October 1976
Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Medium Stand-up, Television Writing
Nationality British
Years active 2003–present
Genres Observational comedy, Satire, Deadpan, Self-deprecation
Subject(s) Comedy, Observational comedy, Social commentary, Family
Notable works and roles The Jonathan Ross Show Loose Women'The Late Late Show- Irish chat show The Wright Stuff Channel 5 (UK) The World Stands Up, Have I got News for You Last Comic Standing, CBS 60 Minutes Sky Arts, BBC Arts Night, F***K Off I'm a Hairy Woman, Radio 4- The Now Show, A Good Read,Saturday Live. Critically acclaimed sell out show 'The Kardashians Made Me Do It'
Website www.shazia-mirza.com

Shazia Mirza (Urdu: شازیہ مرزا‎; born 3 October 1976) is a British stand-up comedian, Actress, and Writer of Pakistani parents. She is famous for her dead pan delivery and ground- breaking material especially sharp one liners.

Early life

Mirza was born as the eldest daughter in Birmingham, England, to Pakistani Muslim parents who moved to Birmingham in the 1960s.[1][2][3][4]

Earlier in her life, Mirza was a science teacher in a secondary school and taught Dizzee Rascal, now a rapper.[5][6][7] Mirza read Biochemistry at University of Manchester and then did a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at Goldsmiths, University of London. She also attended Rose Bruford College where she studied acting. On Friday 24 September 2010 Mirza was awarded an Honorary Fellowship to Rose Bruford College, Sir Richard Eyre was made President of the college at the same ceremony.

Career

Stand-up

About a year into her stand-up comedy career, Mirza gained UK-wide publicity in the months when the world was coming to terms with the September 11, 2001 attacks. This was because at this time she would begin with the deadpan remark, "My name is Shazia Mirza. At least, that's what it says on my pilot's licence". She was profiled as a ground breaking comedian on CBS 60 Minutes America's oldest and most watched newsmagazine where she was interviewed by the legendary Ed Bradley. In April 2007, she presented a documentary on BBC Three called F*** Off, I'm a Hairy Woman which was the highest rating TV Show for BBC Three at that time. She has since performed stand up comedy on many TV shows around the world, USA, Canada, Holland, Paris, UK. Performing at Winnipeg Comedy Festival Canada (3 times) Halifax Comedy Festival Nova Scotia Canada, Lund Comedy Festival Sweden 2012 & 2014, Malmo Comedy Festival 2013, Kings and Queens of Comedy Singapore 2016 & 2013. She has performed at Glastonbury Festival numerous time, Ilkley Literature Festival 2012 & 2016, Hay Festival 2012 & 2016, Dalkey Book Festival alongside Bob Geldof, Michael Gambon, and Brian Eno, Wirksworth Comedy Festival 2016, Latitude Festival 2016, Cat Laughs Comedy Festival Kilkenny Ireland 2016 & Galway Comedy Festival 2016. She performed many times with Robin Williams at The Throckmorton Theatre Mill Valley, California. She has performed at The Edinburgh Festival for many years doing around seven solo shows. Her latest show 'The Kardashians Made Me Do It' has been a critically acclaimed sell out 69 date tour, including 3 sell out runs at London's Soho Theatre, gaining rave reviews.

The show has been performed in the UK, Sweden, Ireland, & France and been written about in numerous publications all over the world. It has been described as a brave and groundbreaking piece of comedy.

Writing

Mirza is a prolific writer has been a regular columnist for The Guardian since 2008.[8] In 2006, she also began writing a fortnightly column in the New Statesman magazine, for which she won Columnist of the Year 2008 at the prestigious PPA Awards. She has had a regular column in Dawn News, www.DAWN.Com, published on a Saturday. She has also written numerous in depth articles for FT Magazine The Daily Telegraph and more recently for Chicago Tribune. A piece written for the FT Magazine on 12 February 2016 titled 'From playground to warzone' was the most read article in the FT Magazine that week.

Television

Mirza appeared on The Jonathan Ross Show in March 2016 alongside Hugh Jackman, Taron Egerton, & Luke Evans (actor). She is widely acknowledged as having 'stolen the show' with her hilarious stories of family and meeting The Queen. Also appeared a guest on Loose Women and The Late Late Show Ireland (RTE1)- The world's longest running chat show. She is a regular and extremely popular panelist on the Channel 5 topical discussion series The Wright Stuff. In 2016, she appeared as a panelist on The Dog Ate My Homework. She has also appeared on Have I got News for You with Boris Johnson. She also played a main role in Episode 2 of the acclaimed sitcom The Vessel playing an inconsiderate Doctor. Since then she has been in a short film Aleeza Harriett & Mrs.Milton and a feature film 'Arifa'. In 2010 Mirza appeared with Jeff Goldblum on Midweek (BBC Radio 4) presented by Libby Purves. She has also done the 'Pause for Thought' live on BBC Radio 2 on the Vanessa Feltz show every week since 2013

Awards and recognition

References

  1. ↑ The Jonathan Ross Show s10 e11, 19 March 2016
  2. ↑ Shazia Mirza (2010-04-12). "Halal comedy? You might as well ask for halal bacon". London: The Guardian.
  3. ↑ "Life – The Times".
  4. ↑ Mirza, Shazia (3 August 2008). "What I know about men". The Guardian. London.
  5. ↑ Time Out London: Shazia Mirza: interview 17 June 2008
  6. ↑ Shazia Mirza: Diary of a disappointing daughter Shazia Mirza's weekend column 22 May 2010
  7. ↑ Interview: Shazia Mirza 23 June 2010
  8. ↑ "Profile: Shazia Mirza". London: The Guardian UK. 2008-07-23.
  9. ↑ The A-Z of laughter (part two) The Guardian 7 December 2003

External links

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