Award-winning comedian Shazia Mirza is touring the UK her with her solo show, The Kardashians Made Me Do It.

Shazia’s comedy is usually autobiographical, she talks about her life, relationships and parents, but also somewhat political and opinionated.

Her current show is markedly more politically charged, she explains why this is: “I was in New York with a friend and we saw on TV that three girls from Bethnal Green had joined ISIS. We were really shocked. I started comparing it to my childhood, growing up we did rebel in normal ways.

“I had an instant reaction to it and thought I can say something about this and relate it to my upbringing. I just wanted to say that it’s got nothing to do with religion or politics, these young girls just fancy these men. They are the One Direction of religion.”

Shazia grew up in Birmingham but now lives in London, her stand-up routines have taken her all over the world to places like America, Pakistan, India and the Middle East.

“Wherever you go you have got to be funny. Everyone likes stuff they feel like they can relate to. Wherever I go I tailor stuff to that audience.”

Although don’t worry about needing to relate to Jihadi brides for this show, Shazia goes on to say: “Jihadi brides people don’t relate to but I can get comedy out of everything.”

She has appeared on various TV and radio shows including BBC’s Have I Got News For You and The One Show and Radio 4’s The Now Show. She also wrote a weekly column for The Guardian entitled Diary of a Disappointing Daughter.

Shazia was once a science teacher at a school in Tower Hamlets in London and she believes this experience prepared her for a career in stand-up comedy.

“They hated me and I hated them. I used to tell them jokes to pass the time, when I look back that is where I learnt stand-up. That was really good training for me because I never had that much abuse as a comedian.”

One of her students was grime-musician Dizzee Rascal, who Shazia bumped into years later. She says: “He shouted up the red carpet, shouting ‘Miss! Miss!’” and then said how well she was doing, while she thought “what a nightmare you were.”

She explains: “The kids were so rough they used to try to escape through the window and tell me to shut up. As a comedian no one has ever tried to escape through a window.”

Shazia, however, has, when a member of the audience took a strong disliking to her routine: “He got up and followed me round the back. The only way out was this toilet window and I knew my car was there, out the back. So that’s how I got out.”

Shazia never dreamt of being a comedian, but was interested in acting and writing. While still working as a teacher she started a writing course and it was here that she discovered her comedic talent.

“You had to write things that were personal to us and that we were angry about or sad about. The first thing I wrote about was having a moustache and all the things I tried to get rid of it and everyone laughed and thought it was hilarious.”

Her teacher encouraged her to try her material on the stand-up circuit and when she did, Shazia’s audience would laugh and laugh. “Now I realise I was always meant to do it,” she adds.

Female body hair later became the topic for Shazia’s BBC documentary, F**k off I’m a Hairy Woman. Many people would consider this to be a feminist subject, but that’s not what made Shazia want to do it.

“Feminism wasn’t in fashion then. Everyone is a feminist now – I’ve never felt the need to say it. I did that programme because people were prejudice against women who are hairy and I thought it was a fun thing to do.”

Shazia is unafraid of taboo topics such as female body hair and jihadi brides, she has written in defence of smutty jokes and once contributed a radio piece to the BBC which received a record number of complaints.

Queens Park Arts Centre, Queen’s Park, Aylesbury, Friday, February 5, 8pm. Details: 01296 424 332, qpc.org