Beat the January blues and enjoy some much-needed New Year laughter at Hitchin Mostly Comedy's first gig of 2022.
Doggett & Ephgrave's monthly comedy club is scheduled to return to Hitchin Town Hall on Thursday, January 20 with a line-up that includes Shaparak Khorsandi and Yuriko Kotani.
Popular TV and radio comic Shaparak will both perform and be interviewed for the club’s More Than Mostly Comedy podcast.
Shaparak, formerly known as Shappi, is an Iranian-born British comedian and best-selling author who is the daughter of the Iranian political satirist and poet Hadi Khorsandi.
Her family were forced to flee Iran and seek asylum in the UK following the Islamic Revolution, something she discussed in her sell-out 2006 Edinburgh stand-up show, Asylum Speaker.
Her dad’s satirical material attacking the regime has ensured they cannot return to Iran. As Shaparak says, “obviously there’s free speech in Iran, but little freedom after you’ve spoken”.
Shaparak's career has taken her to all corners of the globe.
Her numerous TV credits include BBC’s Mock The Week, Have I Got News For You, QI and Channel 4’s 8 Out Of 10 Cats. Her radio appearances include the flagship BBC Radio 4 shows You and Yours, The Now Show, Just a Minute and The News Quiz.
In July 2009, she hosted the four-part series, Shappi Talk on Radio 4, examining what it is like growing up in multicultural families.
She’s a British Comedy Award nominee who received an honorary doctorate from Winchester University for her contribution to the arts, and the prestigious James Joyce award from Dublin University.
Japanese comic Yuriko Kotani joins Khorsandi on the bill. Yuriko started her stand-up career in 2014 and within 12 months had won the BBC Radio New Comedy Award and been named “one to watch” by Time Out.
She was a runner-up in the Edinburgh Fringe’s coveted So You Think You're Funny competition in 2015 as well as winning the Brighton Comedy Festival Squawker Award and coming third in the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year.
Her TV and radio credits include Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central, BBC3’s Pls Like and The Comedy Club for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
The gig will be emceed by David Ephgrave who will also interview Shaparak for Doggett & Ephgrave's podcast More Than Mostly Comedy in the second half. Yuriko won’t be taking part.
Audience members can submit questions in advance via the Mostly Comedy website or tweet them with the hashtag #MTMCpodcast, both before and on the night.
Doors open at 7.15pm with the show starting at 8pm.
Tickets are £15 and are available via www.mostlycomedy.co.uk, where you can also book for March 3's rescheduled date with Tony Slattery and Phil Kay.
Seating will be socially distanced and sold to a maximum of 50 per cent capacity to mitigate COVID-19 transmissibility. Mask-wearing will be expected unless exempt.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here