1. Shaparak Khorsandi is the daughter of the Iranian political satirist and poet Hadi Khorsandi.
22 Facts About Shaparak Khorsandi
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Shaparak Khorsandi's family left Iran for the United Kingdom following the 1979 revolution, and she frequently references her Iranian heritage and reactions to it in her stand-up comedy performances.
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Shaparak Khorsandi rose to national prominence after her 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show Asylum Speaker and her appearance at the Secret Policeman's Ball two years later.
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Shaparak Khorsandi has featured on numerous British television and radio programmes, including the BBC Radio 4 programme Shappi Talk, and I'm a Celebrity.
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Shaparak Khorsandi was born on 8 June 1973 in Tehran.
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Shaparak Khorsandi's parents were Fatemah, and the satirist and poet Hadi Khorsandi.
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Shaparak Khorsandi graduated from King Alfred's College, now the University of Winchester, in 1995, with a drama, theatre, and television degree.
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Shaparak Khorsandi's 2006 show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Asylum Speaker, drew on her experience of leaving Iran and her fear upon learning of death threats to her father.
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In 2007, Shaparak Khorsandi travelled to Australia and performed at the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
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Shaparak Khorsandi performed her show, The Distracted Activist, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 6 to 31 August 2009.
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Shaparak Khorsandi was a panellist on Question Time in 2006 and returned in 2010,2015, and 2018.
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Shaparak Khorsandi has included references to this in some of her stand-up routines.
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Shaparak Khorsandi performed "Mickey" on the second episode of Let's Dance for Sport Relief 2010, and later was a guest alongside Noddy Holder on Genius, hosted by Dave Gorman.
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Shaparak Khorsandi wrote a 2011 episode of Little Crackers, a series of short autobiographical programmes shown on Sky1, about meeting Todd Carty from Grange Hill.
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In 2016, Shaparak Khorsandi appeared with her son on Big Star's Little Star.
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Shaparak Khorsandi was a contestant on the seventeenth series of I'm a Celebrity.
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Shaparak Khorsandi remarked that she felt isolated during the show and did not enjoy it.
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Shaparak Khorsandi's show Mistress and Misfit combined material about Khorsandi's life with biographical details about Emma Hamilton.
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Confessions of a Club Comic saw Shaparak Khorsandi reflecting on 20 years as a stand-up comedian, including her own undermining of herself in the early years.
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Shaparak Khorsandi was raised without any religion, and identifies as an atheist.
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Shaparak Khorsandi later became a patron of Humanists UK, which appointed her as its president for a three-year term beginning in January 2016, succeeding Jim Al-Khalili.
22.
Shaparak Khorsandi became a vice-president of the organisation in 2019, a role she retained as of 2023.