Review by Steve Bennett

Shappi Khorsandi is smart, vivacious, innately funny and eminently likeable – tipped only this week as a rising star of the BBC as it seeks to promote more entertainers who are neither white nor male in the shake-up Jonathan Ross’s departure will trigger. Tonight, while all those attributes were on obvious display, she was also unfocussed, never quite convincing that she knew where her set was heading, and sidelining into blether when material was needed.

She would intermittently remember where she was and dole out one of the corking gags that made her reputation (including a fantastic new one about the Iranian equivalent to the ‘Cheers!’ toast) – but this wasn’t the sharpest set.

She blamed the twin strains of being a single mum and the strain of appearing on Question Time the previous night. That all sounds feasible, but let’s hope she’s not stretching herself too thin to achieve all she can in stand-up.

Review date: 17 Jan 2010
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Leicester De Montfort Hall