Even in exile the family still wasn't safe. As an enemy of the state, Hadi's life was in danger wherever he went and with the threat of religious assassins hanging over them, the family ended up in hiding.

Listening to Shappi's club routines, however, it appears that the radical cleric's revolutionary zeal has backfired comically. By banning free speech, Khomeini played a part in turning a young girl from a hardline Muslim country into a totally modern London woman . . . and one of a growing number of Iranian comedians who believe in making jokes, not war.

Not that Shappi considers herself political or a political comedian. Even though politics has directly influenced her life, her shows are far more personal. "It's really just my story. I talk about what happened to me, as one person who claimed asylum in the UK, " explains Shappi.

On the other hand, not being political doesn't mean she pulls her punches. 'Asylum Speaker', her feature-length piece which she'll perform at the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival (which runs from 31 May to 4 June), opens with the joke: "When I say my body clock is ticking, everyone hits the deck."

Shappi wastes little time setting the scene and getting to the point: for those in exile it's hard to separate the personal from the political.

In her shows, she talks about her struggle to become a Londoner. She also sheds light on a side of Iran and its people that the western media rarely portrays. "Iran is one of the most misunderstood countries. There are so many vague generalisations and stereotypes and the images on TV are always of fundamentalists. I've travelled all over the world with my show and the response I get from Iranian people all over, is always: 'It's great that one of us is out there in the entertainment industry showing that we're not the crazy hotheads you see on TV.'" Quite the opposite, in fact; her shows reveal the people as warm, witty and comically eager to please. "It's a very literary tradition;

even people who can't read can recite hundreds of poems. People there love to hold court, to tell stories.

There's no such word as a 'showoff ' in Iran . . . it's considered a good thing to be able to stand-up and entertain."

Although she now considers herself a Londoner, Shappi has clung to her heritage. Following in her father's footsteps, she knew from a very early age that she wanted to be a performer and to make people laugh.

Known for her breezy one-liners and easygoing delivery, Shappi also has a dark sense of humour. Being Iranian, female and bulimic, Shappi wryly refers to herself as 'The Box Ticker'.

After explaining how the constant danger made growing up harder and how she then became bulimic, Shappi adds: "I wouldn't say the Ayatollah is directly responsible for my bulimia but he certainly put the fat into fatwa."

Hardly comedy gold . . . but then many comedians have made us laugh by showing the funny side of a dark period and much of her humour springs from her feelings of isolation, something she believes everybody can relate to.

"Everyone has stresses in their life but comedians are the kind of people who make it into material. With the tensions between Iran and the west at the moment, I'm finding that people are reacting to me in a positive but slightly strange way. It's like, 'Hey! You're funny! I didn't know Iranians were normal!' They seem to see the place as dark and desolate, when in fact it's rich and full of life."

Now pregnant, Shappi is working on material for her new show, Carry On Shappi. While it's unlikely that Shappi will ever leave her beginnings or her heritage behind, we can also expect that a brand new light is about to be shed on motherhood and parenting.