The rise and rise of Fatiha El-Ghorri

“I’m not violent, I’ll speak to an old lady on the bus, but if you cuss me I WILL knock you out!” 

The assertive, no nonsense approach isn’t a new one in comedy, harking back to the likes of Jo Brand or Kathy Burke, but unlike those comics, there’s a real chance Fatiha El-Ghorri means it.

That fierce confidence is palpable in everything the stand-up touches. “It had to be that way,” El-Ghorri admits. “I’d walk on stage with a hijab on in North East London. I knew people hated me before I opened my mouth.

“These aren’t places where the crowd wanted a visibly Muslim woman taking the mic, I had to own that shit from the off. Even other Muslims didn’t like me on stage, being dirty. You figure out that if you let shit slide, it escalates. I’d say to people, let me bang out this set, then meet me outside and I’ll bang you out.”

In her own words, Fatiha El-Ghorri has many layers, much like the title of her debut tour, Cockney Stacking Doll. Be it capturing hearts on Taskmaster, scouting new talent as head judge of the 2025 BBC New Comedy Awards, acting on Mr Bigstuff, or penning her upcoming novel The Perks of My Hijab, Fatiha has made a phenomenal impact, all before her first tour.

The tour show sees El-Ghorri unpack some of these layers on stage, from Hackney roots, to her Islamic faith, these facets “form the skeleton“ of the inimitable performer.

The comic’s style is an interesting one. Fans of Taskmaster saw a sweetness to her which she assures us was purely incidental, contrasting drastically with her combative onstage persona.

In many ways, up until a spontaneous visit to a stand-up workshop, comedy wasn’t on the agenda. “I enjoyed Only Fools & Horses, French and Saunders are great, I just never properly watched any of it. I never thought I’d do it, so I never studied it. It took two divorces before I figured I’d give it a try!

“I got compliments pretty quickly in the early workshops. I never took compliments well, so it wasn’t that which hooked me, it was the community.” It was the buzz of the dressing room, the gossip between acts, the giddiness as someone comes off stage detailing the crowd, who’s laughing and who can be picked on.

Credit: Matt Stronge.

No matter where fame takes her, you get the sense that El-Ghorri will always be a club comic at heart; at her happiest when on the back foot, taking charge of a room. She sparkles when reminiscing about the early days, learning the ropes in Manchester when someone brought a dog to the comedy club, which she inevitably referred to as a hate crime. It’s evident just how besotted she is with being a comedian, warts and all.

But just when she was on her way to being a household name, El-Ghorri was dealt a real blow. Having undergone surgery for endometrial cancer in the past year, El-Ghorri admits to feeling lost and scattered, both personally and within her comedy.

It wasn’t until a conversation with fellow standup Richard Herring, with whom she initially shared her diagnosis, that she got the courage to open up. “It was Richard who encouraged me to talk about it, not necessarily on stage, but personally. I have such an issue with vulnerability, my entire act is tough and combative, so learning how to open up on stage has been a new challenge.

“It's strange, I know the techniques to make it funny, I know how you make it work on stage, none of that’s the issue. But saying those words, ‘I HAD CANCER’, or even ‘I WAS HOMELESS’, that’s the struggle, but it’s necessary.”

Whether she’s earnestly reflecting on her journey, or threatening to “punch out” everyone in Glasgow and Edinburgh for not selling out her shows, there’s many layers to El-Ghorri. The bravado on stage is a slither of her entirety, the nervous and excitable comic gearing up for her debut Fringe is another. But one constant throughout is her steadfast professionalism, her love for her job, and making people happy through comedy. “Ultimately, it’s about the audience, ensuring that everyone who walks in, walks out feeling better. Be funny, make them laugh, that’s what I intend to do, even if I have to knock someone out to do it!”

---

Fatiha El-Ghorri: Cockney Stacking Doll, The Stand, Glasgow, 27 May and The Stand, Edinburgh, 28 May, both 8pm, £16
Also at the Edinburgh Fringe, Monkey Barrel Comedy (MB4), 17-30 Aug, 3.35pm (60 mins), £13-15
@fatiha.elghorri on Instagram and Tiktok