BBC New Comedy awards 2025<\/a>. Amy Gledhill was the host, and I was the head judge. We were on stage about to present the award when a man shouted out: \u201cShow us your 9-5\u2019s\u201d. Me and Amy thought he wanted us to flash him! We were mortified. Turns out he wanted to see my trainers \u2026 which were Air Max 95s.<\/p>\nWhat has inspired your debut show, Cockney Stacking Doll?
Just like a Russian stacking doll, I have many layers to me. This show is an introduction to me and my layers.<\/p>\n
\u2018I am a bit of a sweary Maryum\u2019 \u2026 Fatiha El-Ghorri. Photograph: Matt Stronge<\/p>\n
You are doing two family friendly matinee performances. What was the thought behind these?
I am a bit of a sweary Maryum and I know not everyone likes swearing, but I want my shows to be accessible to all. This is why I have decided to do these shows. Proper clean fun you can watch with your mum and dad.<\/p>\n
Who is your comedy hero and why?
I don\u2019t really have one. I don\u2019t really watch comedy. I guess because I work in the industry, I know how it\u2019s all done and that\u2019s all I can see when I watch it. Growing up I loved watching French and Saunders, Desmond\u2019s, The Real McCoy. I like Neal Brennan, an American standup too.<\/p>\n
Who is your non-comedy hero?
My maternal grandmother. She was a strong woman who worked hard along with my grandfather to raise her family. They had such a good partnership and did everything to make sure my aunts and uncles were OK.<\/p>\n
Can you recall a gig so bad that it\u2019s now funny?
I was on stage and there was a group of men who just wouldn\u2019t stop shouting out. They were doing it to all the comedians. When I was on, I just couldn\u2019t take it any more and ended up losing my temper and shouting at them. I came out of my comedy persona, which was frightening. I cried afterwards but now I look back on it and I\u2019m embarrassed. They never booked me again.<\/p>\n
Any bugbears from the world of comedy?
Comedians running over their allocated time on stage. A few minutes is OK but when it\u2019s five to 10 minutes, it affects everyone else\u2019s night negatively.<\/p>\n
Any preshow rituals?
I never eat a meal before a show otherwise I\u2019ll end up burping on stage. Before I go on stage, I have plenty of water and do a little prayer when I am called to go on stage.<\/p>\n
Best advice you\u2019ve ever been given?
From my faith: \u201cWhat is yours will never miss you and what isn\u2019t yours will never reach you.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s an important lesson you have learned from being a standup?
Your audience are your client or customer, never forget that it\u2019s about them, not you. They must have a good time, and they must be the focus of your time on stage.<\/p>\n
Your debut novel for children, The Perks of My Hijab, is due out next year. Can you give us a sneak peek at what readers can expect?
It\u2019s a story of a young girl embracing herself, her identity and navigating this with her family and friends. It\u2019s funny and cool so give it a read.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next for you?
Finding a husband. Are you free on Friday night bruv?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How did you get into comedy?After my second divorce, I was online looking for a walking group in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-322891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}