She takes humor seriously and was raised in a family with many female role models. We've seen her in the role of a child prodigy and now Shima is relevant as a Punk Rocker.

This is my life right now. I don't see it as a job, I see it as a way of life.

Lots of pink, yellow, blue and green post-it notes are stuck everywhere on tables and walls when INRIKES checks in with Shima Niavarani via Zoom in the hotel room where she is temporarily staying. The 37-year-old, who has been described as one of the greatest comedians of our time, is in the middle of planning her new solo show Shima is a Punk Rocker and there are many threads to hold on to. A billion puzzle pieces that need to fall into place.

– There will be a lot of reminders, says Shima, laughing, but it's so much fun working on this and it doesn't matter that it takes up all my time. This is my life right now. I don't see it as a job, I see it as a way of life.

The result of more than two years of hard work, Shima Is A Punk Rocker is a solo show that Shima has been longing to do for over 10 years. The show is a personal reckoning with our times, and Shima uses her unique voice, sensational body language and humorous style to navigate the hardships of life and the search for true freedom. Audiences can expect to both laugh and cry in recognition of Shima's thought-provoking and comedic insights into our times.

How important is humor in describing our times and provoking thought in the audience?

– I really believe that humor is a portal to the heart. Because if you physically experience something and if you can make someone start laughing, or if you yourself start laughing with someone, then you can reach people's brains.

Can you joke about anything?

– I joke about everything. I think you can joke about everything, but it depends on who you are, because humor has certain premises. It's about context. If you're in a context where the people you're joking about aren't in the room but are below you hierarchically, then the joke will inevitably backfire. Because some of the premises of humor are based on context, in what context, from what perspective and who you're hitting on. I think it's about who the sender of the joke is, what perspective they choose and who they're trying to make laugh.

Does it feel scary to do a solo show where you are the center of attention?

– Yes. It was over thirteen years ago that I last did a solo show. I have done a lot of TV and film and been on TV galas and hosted Melodifestivalen and the QX gala, among other things, but standing live on stage and facing the audience alone night after night – I haven't done that in a very long time. It has taken me a decade to gather my thoughts and especially in the last three years I have encapsulated everything that has happened in our time. I am faithful and loyal to the fact that people who come to my shows come to my specific context because the show itself reads from our time and is about the world and the time we live in. But I am still an individual in it, with my own perspective but I really want to reach out to people. That's how the audience gets in touch with me and my specific life and my baggage and how I have chosen to look at our time with the intention that I really want to entertain.

It's obvious that you take your work very seriously.

– It's really a matter of life and death for me. I've already been through and risked a lot to even experience popular culture from the West, which was illegal when I was born in Tehran. So to make people laugh and cry, and for us to share it under the same roof – that's the greatest thing there is for me.

You like the Ramones, I assume, given the name of your show?

– Haha, there’s a background story to why my show is called Shima Is A Punk Rocker. When I was a teenager I lived in Upplands Väsby and it was pretty dead there, but the internet had arrived so I started writing poetry online and I went to record stores in Stockholm and discovered Smashing Pumpkins, Depeche Mode, The Cure and a bunch of other bands. I bought a lot of music magazines and the only thing I did in my free time was save money so I could buy records, books and stuff. I was goth for a while and I really stood out where I grew up, because I experimented with different styles and I don’t think people really understood me. They probably knew about punk and hard rock, but not much else. I think it was in 2000 when a girl duo called Shebang released a cover of the Ramones‘ classic punk song Sheena Is A Punk Rocker. The song was played a lot on the radio and when people saw me they started singing 'Shima is a punk rocker' and of course I was really annoyed because one; I was goth and not punk and two; it was a cover, which I considered a crime! Haha. Since then I've had in the back of my mind that Shima Is A Punk Rocker would be a good show title. My first solo show was called Autodidakt i enmansakt. I was pushing the fact that I was 19 and people said 'she's self-taught, how can she write, direct and act?' Then when I was very praised and kind of declared a prodigy when I did a solo show called Shima Niavarani er en übermench, because that's what people said – so I pushed that too.

Shima Niavarani

Age: 37. 
Bor Stockholm. 
Family Mom, dad, brother Shebly. 
Occupation Comedian, actor, director, singer, songwriter. 
Background in brief: Breakthrough at the age of 19 with his own performance Autodidakt i one-man act at the Riksteatern. Performed more than 20 leading roles on the theater stage before turning 30. Has played in TV series such as Boy Machine, Sjölyckan, Allt faller, SVT's Christmas calendars Tusen år till julavon and Storm på Lugna gatan and films such as She's Wild Again Tonight. Has hosted the QX gala and Melodifestivalen. Makes the podcast Nördarnas attack together with his acting brother Shebly. 
Currently Swedish tour with the musical comedy show Shima is a Punk Rocker. Premiere in Stockholm March 17. 
Information and tickets: www.shimaisapunkrocker.com

Why did it take so long for Shima Is A Punk Rocker to become a reality?

– I've been planning it for over a decade. But my partner who discovered me when I was 19 and who I later became great friends with died in 2012. And then I chose a path in film and TV. I had done 35-40 theater performances before I turned 30 and theater really takes all the energy out of you. If you're a perfectionist like me, you want to challenge yourself to a certain limit and that's where I chose to explore film and TV in different genres; drama, humor. But a couple of years ago I decided to take the plunge and start working on the solo show. There were clear premises for me. I was going to write, direct, act, do set design and compose music but it was important for me to collaborate with people who are brilliant in their own thing, that they got to be a part of this show. So I wanted to work with two choreographers who really come from two different worlds but I have great respect for both of them and then I wanted to work with music producers who had a background with pop as a basis, with clear beats but also could orchestrate who understand strings and drama. I wanted to create a little universe on stage and to do that I wanted to have the people I have the greatest respect for.

If you are a perfectionist like me, you want to challenge yourself to a certain limit and that's where I chose to explore film and TV in different genres.

Do you have a very strong vision?

– Yes, I have always had a strong vision of how everything should look, but no one in the team, not even my co-producer and everyone around me, has really understood where I want to go with all the puzzle pieces. But when I finally put the puzzle pieces together and delivered a 40-page script with every single detail written down, they were just 'aha, now we get it'! Right now I am in the middle of creating directorial solutions, the script is ready, I am working on the music numbers, I am putting together my choreographers with different video ideas that I have been creating for a long time. I work with those who do the graphics, lighting and stage for Melodifestivalen so we are working at a very high international level when it comes to the technical aspects.

There is an art to finding the right collaborators for a project.

– Yes, I think that's the key to everything. Creativity is taking a vision and putting it together with someone else so that something new is created. When I work with incredibly talented people, I feel that my almost twenty years of experience together with their knowledge means that together we become innovative and it's a lot of fun. It becomes high quality, entertainment to amuse and worry.

How do you relax? Or maybe you never do?

– I relax by being with my parents. They have lived a pretty hard life and when I am with my family I am very grounded by the thought that I know that I have people behind me who need me, and who need me to do things that are visible and that are noticed. Then I feel like I get air under my wings to be able to continue. But they also give me a life perspective on what I do. My mother was a nurse for thirty years, my father is a trained engineer but worked as a property manager. He has also written an incredible piece of poetry that I am working on and setting to music. But right now I really don't have time to relax, I even had an EKG just to make sure my heart is in the right place. I am holding eight wires at the same time so my head has eight tabs open to be able to put this show together. I am having a lot of fun and my head is very stimulated and I feel like I can put everything together.

What makes you burst out laughing?

– Odd, bizarre things. Things that are hard to put into words, things that are funny in the moment. Most recently today when I had lunch with one of my music producers and we were on our way out of the restaurant, I was going to turn around and say 'bye' to the restaurant owner. Then I happened to nod my producer in the head at the same time the door slammed shut. We both came out crying laughing because it was so crazy and funny.

Four quick

Favorite place in Sweden? 
- Norrland. I grew up in Örnsköldsvik and I love the entire High Coast, it's magic to me. It's the most beautiful place to be a human being. And I love the people of Norrland. Standing on top of a mountain and breathing makes you humble before nature. 

Do you get stage fright? 
- Yes, I get very excited and nervous about going on stage in front of people all over Sweden. I love traveling through Sweden and it will be really fun to meet the audience on site. Usually when they watch me, they turn on the TV or go to the cinema. But now I'm coming to them and it feels like a huge honor. I'm humbled and super nervous about it. It feels like my heart is hanging on a butterfly, like. 

Unknown talent? 
- One ace I have up my sleeve that I rarely use, but will actually do in the solo show, is that I sing opera. I don't think many people know about that. 

Talent you wish you had? 
- To perform emergency surgery when needed. What a talent it would be to be able to save lives. You know when someone shouts 'help, is there a doctor in the room?' and then to be able to shout 'Yes, I'm a doctor!!' and then rush forward and save people's lives.

Har du någon favoritkomiker?

– In recent years, I think Aubrey Plaza is an incredibly funny girl. All her synapses connect in such an unusual way, so that everything she says becomes unexpected and funny in the situation. She is so present but always chooses to go in a completely different direction than you think she should in her humor. I think that's fun. She recently hosted Saturday Night Live and she was absolutely fantastic. When she does interviews on talk shows, she's also super good. A few years ago she was called 'the weirdest person on earth' but now she's being praised as a drama actress and comedian. I think that's so funny. I love when someone has always done their thing and not been understood but then all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place for everyone. I can identify with that, always holding their line.

It is strong to dare to believe in what you do and not let yourself be influenced by the concerns or opinions of others.

– I think that's the only tuning fork you can have. What I do and feel has to strike a chord with me and one day everyone else will understand.

When did you first know you were funny?

– I grew up in a family with a lot of long table dinners where the older women in the family are the funniest and hold the box, drink whiskey, smoke cigars and make everyone tan. So for me the distance to being funny has not been that far, but it has been a given that you joke about very traumatic and vulnerable situations, about your own pain or hard things. We have that naturally in our family and with the women, my mother, my aunt, my aunt, my grandmother – everyone. Humor has always been close at hand despite all the sadness and pain that has existed in my family background, so I have always seen humor as a way to go. Humor and pain are best friends for me and one cannot do without the other, they have to support each other through life. Without pain, humor is not funny.