Shappi Khorsandi: Dirty Looks and Hopscotch

I was going to begin by asking, with a mixture of rhetoric and cattiness, am I interested Shappi Khorsandi’s love life? This is what the veteran of the Fringe and Radio 4 brings on a platter, spun out in explicit detail over an hour.

After years of being dismissive of trashy women’s magazines obsessing over the private lives of celebrities, my gut reaction was ‘not at all’. And then I found myself vainly spending an hour on the internet trying to work out who the mysterious two-timing rock star was that she dated for eight months last year.

This late night Google session is testament to Khorsandi’s storytelling ability. She makes the tale of her destructive, potentially nasty breakup with a sociopathic indie musician something most of the audience can relate to. Basically, she’s a great gossip.

She drip feeds enough details to keep us hooked—a text here, a threesome there—but also weaves in some finely tuned observations on growing older and the infantilising myths women tell themselves. She complains about how young girls never get over their encouragement to be princesses, hence their choice of wedding attire. She praises men for getting over their childhood obsessions, otherwise grooms would be at the altar dressed as cowboys and astronauts.

But for all her home truths for the women, ultimately this show is Khorsandi’s takedown of her odious ex-boyfriend. As a comedy show, it just about works. Her charisma carries proceedings on the odd occasion when the material flags. As a two-fingered salute, however, it is pretty damn satisfying.