WEB CHUTNEY

In a country where many dreams are killed because of the phrase “Log Kya Kaheinge?” these women dared to go against the norm and follow their dreams of becoming comedians.

A place where male comedians are rare, female comedians are even rarer; these women are breaking stereotypes wherever they go! With no further delay, I’d like to introduce 5 of the funniest female comedians from Pakistan:

Mona Shaikh

A Pakistani comedian who moved to America when she was 15 wanted to become a comedian at an early age. She said that her parents would often ask “what people might say, how I would ever get married if I entered this field.” But she couldn’t care less. She just wanted to “travel, experience the world and ball out.” You can find out more about her here.

Nadia Parvez Mansoor

A Pakistani who grew up in London and is now based in New York has a one woman show called “Burq-off” which tackles the conflict of growing up in two vastly different worlds. You can find out more about her here.

Aizzah Fatima

Another New York based comedian, Aizzah gave up a career as an ads engineer at Googles to perform on stage. She was initially an actress but grew tired of the stereotypical roles offered to her of either a refugee or an abused victim. She took matters into her own hand and started Dirty Paki Lingerie which is another one woman show about Muslim women reconciling with their ethnic identities. You can tweet to her here.

Fawzia Mirza

A Chicago based actor/writer/producer has produced several documentaries and performs regularly on stage. She’s made shows such as Brown Girl Problems and performed on stage shows such as Me, My Mom and Sharmila. You can find out more about her here.

Shazia Mirza

A British comedian of Pakistani descent has starred in her own stand up comedy show called “My name is Shazia Mirza. At least, that’s what it says on my pilot’s licence” and has even presented a BBC documentary called “F*** off, I’m a hairy woman“. You can find out more about her here.