Brits In The Wood Podcast

She recently survived a month living wild in Bear Gryll's Celebrity Island (C4) - which, she says, was no laughing matter.  Comedian Shazia Mirza is a regular face on TV in the UK - appearing on The Jonathan Ross Show (ITV), Graham Norton (BBC), Top Gear (BBC), Loose Women (ITV), The Late Late Show (RTE), and she is a regular panelist on The Wright Stuff (Channel 5).  However, growing up in Birmingham with strict Pakistani parents nearly saw Shazia's career take a different turn. Her family hoped she'd be a doctor or a lawyer - and she reluctantly got a degree in biochemistry and became a science teacher. But her dream of being on stage led her to take comedy-writing classes at night and she began performing at small clubs around London. A few weeks after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, she got on stage wearing her hijab, and started off her act: “My name is Shazia Mirza… at least that’s what it says on my pilot’s licence...” After that night, Mirza’s comedy career took off. She was profil