The comic talks to Eliza Frost about how ‘serious’ can be funny, changing culture and why this is her ‘most authentic’ show yet
“Scatterbrain is the most successful show I’ve done in terms of relatability,” says stand-up comic, writer and key-note speaker Shaparak Khorsandi.
The show is coming to Blackheath Halls on 27 October and looks over her diagnosis of ADHD, as well as a trip back through her early years as a comic.
“It’s been a lot of fun to do something so relatable,” she says, of connecting with other people who have ADHD.
The show also looks back at Shaparak’s youth as someone who was in her 20s in the 90s, the time of ladette culture, and how it is so different to her children’s experiences now.
“I think I’m being a really, really responsible mum by talking to my son about consent, and he looks at me and goes, ‘No, we should think about enthusiastic consent, because consent is not enough’,” she explains. “But consent in my day wasn’t even really spoken about.”
“This doesn’t like comedy fodder,” she laughs. “I often talk about very serious things, but I think the more serious something is, the funnier it can be talking about it. It doesn’t belittle it; it makes it more human.”
But it is that relatability, and authenticity, that Shaparak now feels mostly as a result of her ADHD diagnosis.
“I’ve been doing comedy for a long time, but I feel that I’m finally doing it for me. I feel like I am much more authentic than I have been in the past, where my neurodivergence meant that I locked myself away and I would do impressions of what I thought a stand-up comic should be,” she explains.
Scatterbrain is the most herself, she says, and that is why people relate: “You could be talking about potatoes, and if you’re yourself, people will relate.”
Being diagnosed with ADHD also changed her approach to comedy, too. She says it has “cleared out a lot of the clutter, a lot of my barriers, and I feel much more comfortable in my skin”.
“It’s a peace with yourself,” she adds. “So even if you’re not feeling confident, it’s okay just being yourself, your actual living, breathing, fallible, idiotic self.”
Of comedy in the capital, and in general, Shaparak says it tends to be quite inward-looking now, compared with when she started out. Comics used to be quite outward-looking and used to comment on society.
“I mean, look at me, I’m doing a show about ADHD,” she says of how the circuit has changed since she started as a comic.
And there are so many more women on the circuit now, she notes, adding: “The biggest change is how being not white and being a woman was such a rarity when I started, and now it’s just really normal. So that’s changed. You are welcome, everybody,” and laughs.
But “culture moves forward”, and the most important thing as an older comic is to keep abreast with what the young ones are talking about and how mediums move forward, says Shaparak.
She adds: “The last thing you want to be is that grumpy old geezer comic going, ‘Oh, you can’t say nothing anymore.’
“If you love comedy, you have to keep up with how culture changes. You have to move with the times. I’m a massive comedy nerd, and I get so excited when I hear a buzz about a young, newer comic that everyone’s talking about; I’ve got to go and see them.”
What hasn’t changed since Shaparak became a comic is her excitement and interest in the art form. “And it is an art form,” she adds.
Shaparak Khorsandi brings Scatterbrain to Blackheath Halls on Sunday 27 October 2024 – tickets cost £17.
23 Lee Road, Blackheath, SE3 9RQ
www.blackheathhalls.com/whats-on/shaparak-khorsandi-scatterbrain
Images by Steve Best
