A COMIC with a fierce social conscience, Shazia Mirza received awards and hate mail for her dark comedy after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Her material confronted the audience by drawing attention to the rampant Muslimophobia that marked the Western world after the tragedy. Around this time she used to introduce herself on stage with the line: “My name’s Shazia Mirza – at least that’s what it says on my pilot’s licence.”

For the last two years she has been touring a show called The Kardashians Made Me Do It, in which she discusses the three girls from Bethnal Green, London, who migrated to join Isis. Mirza spoke to EDWIN GILSON about why sex, not politics, was the motivation for this radicalisation.

Did the content of your show change when one of the three Bethnal Green girls, Kadiza Sultana, was reported to have died in Raqqa last year?

I always assumed they’d all be killed. From the moment they went I wrote it under the assumption they would never come back. For all we know, they are dead. What I talk about most is what I think drives people to go to Isis and it’s nothing to do with religion or politics. The reason they go is to do with fancying the guys – these girls get wooed online by guys. These Isis people become poster boys.

What led you to believe this was their main reason?

These girls were 15 and 16 when they went. Everything in my show is fact – I haven’t made it up. The things these girls packed to go and join Isis are the kind of things I pack when going on holiday to Ibiza. It was obviously a fantasy to them – they thought they were going on holiday or to a life a hunky macho guy.

The books they were reading before they left also act as a sign. They weren’t reading the Quran, they were reading Harry Potter. They were into make-up and boys. There was no evidence to suggest they were into religion and politics at all.

I talk about how women have always been attracted to barbaric men. Men like Donald Trump always have women after them. Mussolini had loads of mistresses. This has always happened. It’s nothing new. It’s a similar pattern these girls have adopted – the only difference is that these girls are Muslim and the guys are Jihadis.

A report last year claimed that friendship played a part in the girls’ decision, that they egged each other on. Do you buy this?

Well, if a friend bought a new pair of shoes you might buy the same because you wouldn’t want to feel left out. But this was such a big thing. These girls had never been on a plane by themselves. But then they went to Turkey and crossed over into Syria. They were naive and they didn’t know what they were getting into, but it was more than the girls egging each other on. They were clearly groomed by these guys.

You were a teacher in a Tower Hamlets school. Did you reflect back on the behaviour and interests of your students when you were studying the Bethnal Green girls?

Yes. When I taught there, none of the kids were interested in religion and politics. And yet they always talked about who they fancied.

It sounds a stupid question but where does comedy come into all of this?

Well, the show is hilarious – the funniest I’ve ever done. I talk about Isis and Jihadi brides and naturally people are sometimes offended. It is funny all the way through, though.

You received hate mail after 9/11 and some jokes you made thereafter. Do you often think back to that time now? Was it tumultuous for you?

Nothing much happened after 9/11. I did some jokes about it, but I just carried on developing as a comic from that point.

Shazia Mirza, Komedia, Brighton, March 2