Second generation Iranian comic

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 9th, 2007

EDITORS NOTE: Shappi Khorsandi is a woman. We shall go change the “he” to “she” and the “his” to a “her”. (Thanks for the tip from FOS Tanyalee Davis!)

“It could have been me,” writes Shappi Khorsandi, a second generation London-based comedian. She recounts the ordeal of “Afshin,” who “arrived in the UK from Iran 12 years ago, fleeing further persecution. He had a long history of opposition to the Iranian regime and was imprisoned and beaten many times before leaving the country.”

Khorsandi contrasts Afshin’s situation to her own:

My own experience as an asylum-seeker could hardly be more different. Like Afshin, I am Iranian, but my family first came to London because of my father’s job, as a writer and comedian. This was shortly after the content of one of his newspaper columns had led the Ayatollah to declare my dad an “enemy of the revolution.”

As a result, his office in Tehran was surrounded by a mob. After we received death threats, we had to seek asylum here. When a hit squad was sent to London to try to kill my father, we were actually offered police protection.

Enemy of the revolution? Pretty strong stuff! Sounds like dad hit a nerve. Sounds like he was among the many who opposed the 1979 Islamic Revolution. (It was in all the papers. It helped launch Nightline. We still hear about it once in a while.)

And it sounds suspiciously like what is happening in America today with an alarming and ever-increasing frequency! The slightest comedic opposition to the Bush regime brings blood thirsty mobs, death threats! Eventually comedians are forced to flee with their families to seek asylum elsewhere– where you’re sought out by hit squads dispatched directly from Langley! …Or at the very least, people stop buying your CD or your book… and then other people start buying your book or CD because other people told them to stop buying it! And, maybe, in the extreme cases, you’re forced to switch networks! The horror! (The Sarcasm Light is flashing.)

Toward the end of the piece, the junior Khorsandi says, “Since then, I’ve been able to follow in my father’s footsteps and become a productive member of society (if you can say that about a stand-up comedian).” Yes! Yes, Shappi, you can! Remember: Not only was your father a “productive member of society,” he risked his life trying to bring down a historically oppressive regime! (We know the statement is tongue in cheek, but just how thoroughly have British comedians internalized this “comedians are worthless” meme? The trend does not look good.)

(Papa Khorsandi’s website is here and his writing is featured in Asghar Agha, check them out if you can read Arabic… then again, it might be Farsi… we don’t read either, so we’re not sure! And, as a bonus, here’s the elder Khorsandi on YouTube, killing in Farsi!)

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