- Title: UK: MUSLIM COMEDIAN, SHAZIA MIRZA, PERFORMS AT 'LONDON UNITED' FESTIVAL.
- Date: 17th July 2005
- Summary: (MER1) BURGESS PARK, SOUTH LONDON, UK (JULY 16, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SIGN READING "CRISIS COMEDY TENT" 2. (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) SHAZIA MIRZA, MUSLIM STAND-UP COMEDIAN, SAYING; "I went to America recently, not to blow anything up, just for comedy" (MER1) LAYTONSTONE, EAST LONDON, UK (JULY 16, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3. SHAZIA MIRZA, MUSLIM STAND-UP COMEDIAN, WALKING ON PAVEMENT 4. VARIOUS OF SHAZIA BUYING CHERRIES AT A FRUIT STORE 5. CLOSE-UP OF CHERRIES 6. SHAZIA TALKING ON HER MOBILE PHONE, LAUGHING 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHAZIA MIRZA, MUSLIM STAND-UP COMEDIAN, SAYING: "To be honest a lot of the people that criticise me are people who has never seen me. They have never seen me perform, they've never seen comedy, they just know: "Oh my God, there is a muslim woman doing comedy oh my God". And then they get on the internet and start writing me e-mails But actually when people have come to see me it's different." 8. SHAZIA'S HANDS 9. SHAZIA'S BEING INTERVIEWED 10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHAZIA MIRZA, MUSLIM STAND-UP COMEDIAN, SAYING: "But I'm muslim I never..... and I talk about these kind of things from my point of view, but I never make jokes about Islam or my religion saying 'oh what a lood of rubbish '. I never say anything like that. Basically because.... I wouldn't... I've got so many other things to talk about .... and so..... but you know, there has been Jewish comedians for many centuries and Catholic comedians fo many centuries and they all make jokes about their religions. You know I don't do that." 11. MORE OF SHAZIA BEING INTERVIEWED 12. SHAZIA WALKING TOWARDS THE LONDON UNDERGROUND, CATCHING THE TUBE (MER1) BURGESS PARK, LONDON, UK (JULY 16, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 13. WIDE OF COMEDY TENT WHERE SHAZIA WILL PERFORM 14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHAZIA MIRZA, MUSLIM STAND-UP COMEDIAN, SAYING; "Now I'm Muslim and sometimes I get hate mail, mainly from Muslim men who say that I shouldn't leave the house. I had an e-mail last week from this Muslim man saying: 'You do comedy, you're a prostitute'. Now I had to point out to him that prostitutes earn more money, but what he doesn't realise is that I'm now using him as materil, so effectively he is now my pimp (audio of people laughing)." 15. AUDIENCE LAUGHING AND CLAPPING 16 AUDIENCE LISTENING 17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHAZIA MIRZA, MUSLIM STAND-UP COMEDIAN, SAYING: "I went to Saudi Arabia and the women there, they are not allowed to drive cars, 'cause they can't see where they're going. But I think I'm quite lucky 'cause in England all the women in my family, they all wear their burka and it's great, because we all use the same bus pass (audio of people laughing)." 18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHAHAB YOUSIEF, FESTIVAL VISITOR AND A MUSLIM LIVING IN LONDON, SAYING: "She's done it very well. And she makes everybody happy. That's a girl of Islam." 19. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FAISEL SADIQ, FESTIVAL VISITOR AND A MUSLIM LIVING IN LONDON, SAYING "I don't know and maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but right now I think those sorts of comments can often be unhelpful. Perhaps I'm overly sensitive, I don't know." 20. MORE OF AUDIENCE 21. (SOUNDBITE) (English) VISITOR TELLING SHAZIA MIRZA TO GET OFF THE STAGE, MIRZA, SAYING "Don't worry, that's my dad! " 22. MORE OF FESTIVAL AREA. Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 1st August 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA73T84S9AWS85JMKA0XJVZOFBQ
- Story Text: Female muslim comedian delivers her jokes during the
London United festival and receives mixed reactions.
British Muslim comedian Shazia Mirza performed
during the "London United Festival" on Saturday (July 16, 2005).
The free event, organised by the London Mayor Ken
Livingstone, was an attempt to show London unity and
celebrate cultural diversity in light of the bombing in
London on Thursday (July 7).
When it's her turn, Shazia strides on stage dressed all
in black and says: "I went to America recently, not to
blow anything up, just for comedy"
The mixed audience titters nervously not really knowing
if it's ok to laugh. But Shazia doesn't seem to take any
notice and continues: "Now I'm Muslim and sometimes I get
hate mail, mainly from Muslim men who say that I shouldn't
leave the house. I had an e-mail last week from this Muslim
man saying: 'you do comedy, you're a prostitute' . Now I
had to point out to him that prostitutes earn more money,
but what he doesn't realise is that I'm now using him as
material". Then she delivers another dry one-liner: "So
effectively he is now my pimp".
The crowd lightens up and starts laughing. But Shazia
is already tackling another western stereotype. She quips
that the burka, or face veil, is "great" because it allows
all women in here family to use the same bus pass."
From New York to the Netherlands, she loves to mock
Western ignorance of Islam, using her humour to push out
the boundaries of taste. It has worked well. She has been
garlanded with awards and acclaimed as a positive role
model for British Muslim women in a multi-cultural society.
Mirza is adamant that she is just telling the truth in
her jokes. If it makes people uncomfortable, then its their
problem. In fact she dislikes people who are politically
correct.
She has had to battle criticism, mostly from her own
community. During one performance in front of a mainly
Muslim audience a couple of years ago, a man in the crowd
lashed out and hit her, saying she was insulting her
religion.
"But I'm Muslim I never..... and I talk about these
kind of things from my point of view, but I never make
jokes about Islam or my religion saying 'oh what a lood of
rubbish '. I never say anything like that. Basically
because.... I wouldn't... I've got so many other things to
talk about .... and so..... but you know, there has been
Jewish comedians for many centuries and Catholic comedians
fo many centuries and they all make jokes about their
religions. You know I don't do that," she says.
The audience verdict is mixed, though. At one point
during her show, a man in the audience stands up and
shouts: "Get off!" Shazia initially looks confused, but
quickly hits back with one of her caustic one-liners,
saying: "Don't worry, that's my dad! "
"I don't know and maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but
right now I think those sorts of comments can often be
unhelpful. Perhaps I'm overly sensitive, I don't know,"
says Faisel Sadiq, with reference to the attacks on the
London tube last Thursday.
"She's done it very well. And she makes everybody
happy. That's a girl of Islam," says Shahab Yousief, a
Kurdish Muslim living in London.
It was in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001,
suicide attacks on the Twin Towers, that her career really
took off. Her jokes about the stereotypes that the attacks
have generated about Muslims were first received with
scepticism, but were soon embraced. Since then, Shazia has
toured Europe and America successfully. Mirza, the daughter of
Pakistani immigrants to Britain,
was initially a science teacher in a rough London
neighbourhood. But she never gave up on her ambition to be
an entertainer. She put herself through drama school on her
salary as a teacher. For the first two years, she studied
part-time, but went full time during the last year of her
course. She then enrolled in a stand-up comedy writing
course in London.
Her choice to change career seems to have paid off. Her
humour works because she uses her own experiences as a rich
source of material.
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