Female standups: Shappi Khorsandi

Shappi appears to be very fashionable with the English chattering classes, the following is from the Independent:

The stand-up comic, Shappi Khorsandi, reflects back on her childhood immigration from Tehran to London after her journalist father sparked the ire of Ayatollah Khomeini, (forcing his family into hiding, with the help of M15).

She dwells on the nostalgia and alienation such political strife brings, through the prism of a child's mind, but perhaps more charmingly, describes bittersweet encounters with her excitingly unfamiliar adoptive nation, it's stodgy food and the peculiarities of the English language ("I spent the days being a 'poppet', a 'sweetheart' and a 'love'"). 

There is something very appealing about the new generation of female standup comedians, they are intelligent, attractive and have cracking wit.

It would be easy to look at the glamour photos of Shappi and be beguiled by sassy wit to think that she has been gifted a wonderful life. The following glowing review from "Melbourne International Comedy Festival" website, hints at a more troubled past. 

Terrorism, bulimia, Enid Blyton… It hasn’t always been glamour, glamour, glamour for this sassy Iranian.

In the early '80s, Shappi became a refugee long before it was fashionable. Then Scotland Yard uncovered a plot to assassinate her father. Terror had followed them from Iran to West London.

Feisty, flirty and effortlessly funny, Shappi handles every subject with razor sharp wit, softened by a deliciously dizzy delivery and endless charm. Don’t miss her first visit to Australia.

“Britain’s best young female comic by any yardstick.” The Guardian

“… socially aware without being overbearing, and jam-packed with great gags.” chortle.co.uk

“Don’t be fooled by her innocent looks, she packs a deceptively powerful punch.” Evening Standard

I am interested in the exiled Iranian community, they seem very cultured and have a really good sense of humour, Shappi is not the only funny Iranian women in the public eye: 

• Baroness Haleh Afshar (Muslim Feminist, Socialist, Equal Opportunities ...) who came across with a great sense of humour and passion for life during her appearance on "Desert Island Discs" 
• Marjane Satrapi (Persolpis: Book & Film) both of which made me smile and with a humour full of humanity.
  

beguile |biˈgīl|

verb [ trans. ]

1 charm or enchant (someone), sometimes in a deceptive way : every prominent American artist has been beguiled by Maine | [as adj. ] ( beguiling) a beguiling smile. See note at tempt .

• trick (someone) into doing something : they were beguiled into signing a peace treaty.

2 dated help (time) pass pleasantly : to beguile some of the time they went to the movie theater.

DERIVATIVES

beguilement |bəˈgaɪlmənt| |biˈgaɪlmənt| noun

beguiler |bəˈgaɪlər| |biˈgaɪlər| noun

beguilingly |bəˈgaɪlɪŋli| |biˈgaɪlɪŋli| adverb

ORIGIN Middle English (in the sense [deceive, deprive of by fraud] ): from be- [thoroughly] + obsolete guile [to deceive] (see guile ).