What’s it like for an Iranian female comic breaking onto the scene?

I’ve lived my career in a fog, it’s a strange thing because I feel like I’ve just started as a stand-up, which is good. Whether you’re a woman or Iranian or Japanese it’s just about pounding the streets and writing your jokes and hoping you’re going to hit the spot with some people.

There’s the illusion I talk a lot about being Iranian but I actually don’t. I do talk a lot about race, religion, things that people then associate with my background, that’s always been something I’ve enjoyed and been known for.

You talk a lot about cultural identity- could you tell us a bit about how you tie that into your shows and why?

The reason is because I think about it a lot off stage as well. It tends to be the soundtrack to my life really, as well as other things, but I think you talk about stuff that interests you. In the last 10 years I feel I’ve become a lot more comfortable of my own cultural identity, so I feel less of a need to talk about it now.

Some of my friends say- ‘why do you bang on about being Iranian all the time?’ The thing is I have been slightly obsessed with it. When Iran’s on the news I can’t help but be drawn to it. I come from a very political family and these are the sort of things we talk about.

I tried to do this joke the other day about sex, it just felt really weird coming from me, it didn’t work (laughs). I decided I’d experiment with being blue and talk about sex and the audience just thought ‘ewww, that’s icky’.

Have your public and TV performances changed the way you look at the media and politics?

You can’t really use the same jokes once you’ve done them on TV so they’ve changed the way I write, I write more now. Lots of things happened to me all in the same year- I got a book deal, got TV work, had a baby and I have to say, got a divorce. I’ve had massive life changes in the past couple of years so that can only lead to looking at stuff from a different angle or having new things to talk about and feeling more connected with your emotions, that’s the key. When I really connect with my own feelings about things I can talk about them on stage. Comedy is hugely about your own personal response to things and that’s the way you can let the audience see the world as you see it.

Has this chaotic couple of years led to more creativity in your work?

Things have changed because I have a toddler so I can’t just write whenever I want. There has to be a certain time so I’ve resigned myself to the fact I’m sometimes a bit spur of the moment, slightly scatty and winging it. I did a gig at the NEC in Birmingham in front of 11,000 people. I arrive at these gigs puffing and panting, having dropped my son off with the babysitter, and I run on stage, whereas before I would have had a lot more time to worry and freak out.

So it’s a bit off the cuff

I never did my homework at school either so I’ve stopped trying to pretend I can be this organised prepared comedian and just hope stuff comes to me and works out alright, and I’m comfortable with that.

Have you organised anything for 2010?

I’m hoping my Radio 4 show will be re-commissioned, I’m doing a national tour then I’m writing a new Edinburgh show called ‘The Moon on a Stick’. I’ve got a gig in Burnley! They have BNP council seats in Burnley - I don’t know why my agent sent me there, I think he hates me.

What I thought was nice was I got a really misogynistic hate mail the other day. Maybe the fact that it’s misogyny means I’m finally completely assimilated- the fact I’m a woman is now more of a thing to hate than that I’m not indigenous.

You’ve got to be careful on what you say about race, prejudice and that type of thing today. How do you manage to curb round that in such a funny way?

I never sit down and go- ‘right, I’m gonna write some jokes about racism’ they’re just the things I say because they’re always things that bother me, or the things I’ve dealt with. I tried to write some jokes about real fur and they were awful because I’m too angry to talk about it. When you try to write about something that’s riling you it can be difficult but if it’s something I’ve thought about my entire life the anger’s manageable. You can satirise things better when you can characterise them.

What are your views on comedy as an art form. Do you see it as more about preparation or performance or a combination of the two?

Stand-up comedy must be an art form. It’s a conversation with you and the audience so for that conversation to flow you have to really be connected with yourself and them. It takes a long time to figure that out every time, and even when you do figure it out you can still die, that’s just one of the hazards of the trade.

It’s true what they say- it’s 10% material 90% performance. I think confidence is the absolute key because, no matter how good your jokes are, if you’re confidence is not right behind them they’re not going to work. People want to see someone who makes it look easy, the real trick is to make it look really effortless.

What are some of your comedy highs?

Steve Coogan came up to me in Edinburgh (Fringe) to tell me ‘yours is the best show I’ve seen this year, no not the best, Arthur Strong’s was the best, your’s was the second best.’ That really made me feel ‘this is my moment’(sings). It made me very happy because I’m such a huge fan of his. There’s gigs I’ve done which really set me on the right path like Live at the Apollo. Have I Got News is one of my favourite programs and
I just wanted to kiss Ian Hislop, I don’t feel like that about the other panel shows. I did Question Time, that was quite trippy. It was the scariest thing I’ve done in my life and I’m doing it again this year, I’m an adrenalin junky. Stuff like that can be so dry and I think as a comic, if you’ve got the opportunity, you should take it because too many people are turned off by politics.

Who influences your work? Any favourite comedians?

Tom Stade gave me a brilliant bit of advice- when your nervous the most powerful position to stand is still. I used to flap all over the place and now I stand still and it works. Lenny Henry is a real giver and you can learn so much about putting on a show from him. Michael McIntyre gives everything to the audience and people like Stewart Lee are really important to comedy. A newer guy I like is Paul Sinha, I think he’s a phenomenal comedian. Growing up I loved Richard Pryor, I love how serious his comedy is a lot of the time, it’s got a lot of heart and that’s something I’d like to do better. My father is an Iranian comedian and writer too, I’ll never be as funny as him but that’s ok.

Are you excited about playing in Leicester again this year and what can we expect?

It’s great, the festival’s brilliant. The Audiences in Leicester are very tuned in, as we comedians call it, they are very ‘comedy literate’. They tend to really know their comedy and really challenge you, they’re great fun. My show will be a mish-mash of all the stuff I’ve been getting up to for the last couple of years. I’ve got some new routines and stories, I’m having a lot of fun on stage at the moment. It will be scatty because that’s the way I roll. I’m just having a lot of fun, I’m sure Obama will make an appearance at some point. Someone said I’m observational the other day which I guess I am now so I’ve got a lot of new stuff I’ve been working on.