Shaparak Khorsandi
Encyclopedia
Shaparak "Shappi" Khorsandi (Persian
: شاپرک خرسندی born 8 June 1973) is an Iran
ian-born comedian based in the United Kingdom
.
, her family was forced to flee Iran for London
after the Islamic Revolution following the publication of a satirical poem by her father perceived as being critical of the revolutionary regime. Shappi was raised without any religion.
Khorsandi was married to fellow comedian Christian Reilly, with whom she has a son named Charlie. They divorced in 2010.
She lives with her son in West London near Richmond Park
. Her father and brother are also stand-up comedians.
, having been a noted performer at Joe Wilson's Comedy Madhouse throughout 1997. She has appeared on many BBC Radio 4
programmes, including Quote... Unquote
, Loose Ends
, You and Yours
, Midweek, Just A Minute
, The Now Show
and The News Quiz
, as well as BBC Television
's Have I Got News For You
. In July 2009 she hosted her own four-part series, Shappi Talk on BBC Radio 4
, examining what it is like growing up in multi-cultural families. She also writes an occasional column for online magazine Iranian.com
.
In 2007, she made her first trip to Australia and the Melbourne Comedy Festival with her show Asylum Speaker. She also appeared live on the Australia comedy talk show Rove. Later, she was nominated for best breakthrough act at the 2007 Chortle Awards.
In December 2008, she appeared on the BBC stand-up television show Live at the Apollo alongside Russell Kane
and Al Murray
. She also made an appearance on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow
on 20 June 2009, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
on 26 June 2009 and 8 Out of 10 Cats
on 10 July 2009.
Khorsandi's memoir, A Beginner's Guide to Acting English, was published by Ebury Press on 2 July 2009.
She performed her show, The Distracted Activist, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 6–31 August 2009.
She was a panellist on Question Time
in 2006, and returned on 14 January 2010. During that show, she mentioned, that her political support goes to Labour
, a position she repeated in later interviews on the subject.
She performed on the second episode of Let's Dance for Sport Relief 2010.
In 2010, Khorsandi took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala
, a benefit show
held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital
, filmed live at the O2 Arena
in London on 30 March.
She appeared as a guest in Genius
hosted by Dave Gorman
on 31 October 2010.
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
: شاپرک خرسندی born 8 June 1973) is an Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian-born comedian based in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Background and personal life
The daughter of Hadi KhorsandiHadi Khorsandi
Hadi Khorsandi is a contemporary Iranian poet and satirist. Since 1979, he has been the editor and writer of the Persian-language satirical journal Asghar Agha ....
, her family was forced to flee Iran for London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
after the Islamic Revolution following the publication of a satirical poem by her father perceived as being critical of the revolutionary regime. Shappi was raised without any religion.
Khorsandi was married to fellow comedian Christian Reilly, with whom she has a son named Charlie. They divorced in 2010.
She lives with her son in West London near Richmond Park
Richmond Park
Richmond Park is a 2,360 acre park within London. It is the largest of the Royal Parks in London and Britain's second largest urban walled park after Sutton Park, Birmingham. It is close to Richmond, Ham, Kingston upon Thames, Wimbledon, Roehampton and East Sheen...
. Her father and brother are also stand-up comedians.
Career
Khorsandi performs stand-up comedyStand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
, having been a noted performer at Joe Wilson's Comedy Madhouse throughout 1997. She has appeared on many BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
programmes, including Quote... Unquote
Quote... Unquote
Quote... Unquote is a long-running panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4 based on quotations. Every episode since the beginning of the series in 1976 has been chaired by its deviser, Nigel Rees. In July 2011, the programme began a new series, being broadcast at 1.30pm on Mondays, repeated on...
, Loose Ends
Loose Ends (radio)
Loose Ends is a British radio programme originally broadcast on Saturday mornings, and then transmitted early Saturday evenings from 1998 by BBC Radio 4. It was hosted by Ned Sherrin until he became ill in late 2006 with a reported throat infection, and later throat cancer...
, You and Yours
You and Yours
You and Yours is a British radio consumer affairs programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.-History:It began broadcasting in October 1970, its first presenter was Joan York. In the great rescheduling of April 1998 it was increased from a 25 minute programme to 55 minutes. In the 1980s it briefly ran...
, Midweek, Just A Minute
Just a Minute
Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game chaired by Nicholas Parsons. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003....
, The Now Show
The Now Show
The Now Show is a British radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, which satirises the week's news. The show is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs presented by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis...
and The News Quiz
The News Quiz
The News Quiz is a topical panel game broadcast on British radio BBC Radio 4.-History:It was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently it was chaired by Simon Hoggart, Barry Took , and then again by Simon Hoggart until March 2006. Hoggart was replaced by Sandi Toksvig in...
, as well as BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
's Have I Got News For You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
. In July 2009 she hosted her own four-part series, Shappi Talk on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, examining what it is like growing up in multi-cultural families. She also writes an occasional column for online magazine Iranian.com
Iranian.com
Iranian.com, also known as The Iranian and The Iranian Times, is an online English language magazine.Founded in July 1995 by entrepreneur/journalist Jahanshah Javid, Iranian.com has the largest online following among Iranians residing in North America, with about 68,000 visitors per month-Awards...
.
In 2007, she made her first trip to Australia and the Melbourne Comedy Festival with her show Asylum Speaker. She also appeared live on the Australia comedy talk show Rove. Later, she was nominated for best breakthrough act at the 2007 Chortle Awards.
In December 2008, she appeared on the BBC stand-up television show Live at the Apollo alongside Russell Kane
Russell Kane
Russell Kane is an English writer, comedian, actor and media personality. In June 2006, he became the face of digital station Five US. He has been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning the main prize in August 2010...
and Al Murray
Al Murray
Alastair James Hay "Al" Murray , is a British comedian best known for his stand-up persona, The Pub Landlord, a stereotypical xenophobic public house licensee. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy...
. She also made an appearance on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow
Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow
Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow is a British stand-up comedy television series hosted by comedian Michael McIntyre from different venues around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The first series was broadcast with six episodes in 2009. Each episode features a routine from McIntyre,...
on 20 June 2009, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...
on 26 June 2009 and 8 Out of 10 Cats
8 Out of 10 Cats
8 out of 10 Cats is a television comedy panel game made by Zeppotron for Channel 4. It was first broadcast on 3 June 2005. The show is based on statistics and opinion polls, and draws on polls produced by a variety of organizations and new polls commissioned for the programme, carried out by...
on 10 July 2009.
Khorsandi's memoir, A Beginner's Guide to Acting English, was published by Ebury Press on 2 July 2009.
She performed her show, The Distracted Activist, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 6–31 August 2009.
She was a panellist on Question Time
Question Time (TV series)
Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...
in 2006, and returned on 14 January 2010. During that show, she mentioned, that her political support goes to Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, a position she repeated in later interviews on the subject.
She performed on the second episode of Let's Dance for Sport Relief 2010.
In 2010, Khorsandi took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala
Channel 4's Comedy Gala
Channel 4's Comedy Gala is a British stand-up comedy benefit show organised Channel 4 in aid of the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. The gig is filmed live at the O2 Arena in London, and then broadcast later by Channel 4...
, a benefit show
Benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children is a children's hospital located in London, United Kingdom...
, filmed live at the O2 Arena
The O2 arena (London)
The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the centre of The O2, a large entertainment complex on the Greenwich peninsula in London, England.With a capacity of up to 20,000 depending on the event, it is second largest...
in London on 30 March.
She appeared as a guest in Genius
Genius (TV series)
Genius is a comedy game show on BBC Two, adapted from the original radio series hosted by the comedian Dave Gorman. On Genius, members of the public submit a range of unusual ideas and inventions for Gorman and guest celebrity judges to decide whether the idea is "Genius"...
hosted by Dave Gorman
Dave Gorman
David James Gorman is an English author, stand-up comedian and presenter. He has performed comedy shows on stage in which he tells stories of extreme adventures and presents the evidence to the audience in order to prove to them that they are true stories...
on 31 October 2010.
External links
- Shappi Khorsandi at Comedy CV
- Shappi's Diary at Iranian.comIranian.comIranian.com, also known as The Iranian and The Iranian Times, is an online English language magazine.Founded in July 1995 by entrepreneur/journalist Jahanshah Javid, Iranian.com has the largest online following among Iranians residing in North America, with about 68,000 visitors per month-Awards...
- Iranian diaspora: Shappi Khorsandi at BBC News OnlineBBC News OnlineBBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. The website is the most popular news website in the United Kingdom and forms a major part of BBC Online ....
- Shappi Khorsandi at Melbourne Comedy Festival
- Chortle account