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the hand of god pinched my bum in mecca

"On the road, men go for anything, they really do. But I don't let them in. I don't get men hitting on me, but I get Muslim men hitting me [Mirza has been attacked on stage in London]." She allows herself a rueful laugh.

"I don't fit in on the comedy circuit but I do have a laugh with them. But that's it. They don't know how to deal with me. They are a bit scared. They don't cross that line."

The petty jealousies sparked by her meteoric rise do annoy her. "They have been so racist to me. They say that I have only got where I am because I'm Muslim. Well, I had the courage to do what I am doing. You have to have an angle in comedy. And I'm naturally different. I am brown and I am a Muslim woman, what can I do?"
An interview with Shazia Mirza in today's Guardian.