August 14, 2026 at Hoots @ The Apex, Hoot 5
Hajar J Woodland is a singer who’s doing comedy as a way to tell her story of how she got into that. It’s a reminder that comedians tend to be better if they’ve had another job, especially if they’ve had one recently or still do, so they can talk about life outside of what it’s like to be a stand-up. It’s even better if their other career is as a jobbing singer, because the audience gets to enjoy a comedy show with songs that are sung to a professional standard of quality.
She has an interesting story: raised in England by an Iranian Muslim father, was told not to show her hair or sing on stage for religious reasons, had to figure out her own relationship with religion and with womanhood as an adult. She demonstrates the phases of her life through a series of costume changes, showing how she dressed at different ages and different levels of religiosity. The costumes added a lot to the story, making the audience confront the different ways we can view the same person, depending what that person is wearing.
This isn’t a big flashy production – it’s a small room with a tiny stage, but she makes do impressively, and the DIY nature adds to the show’s charm. She finds creative ways to cover the costume changes, without a set to literally cover it. Her voice, loud and powerful, makes us feel like the room is ten times bigger when she fills it up with songs; she can make it seem like a rock concert when she gets the audience to sing along.
This show is honest and personal, about an experience that’s so often de-personalized in cultural conversations, turned into to the political issue of whether Muslim girls and women, especially those who wear hair or face or body coverings, are victims or empowered choice-makers. Hajar gives us a look at what it’s like to be an actual human in the middle of this political football, and I’d say her type of voice should be heard more often, even if her specific voice didn’t come with singing talent and funny jokes.
Luckily, this show also has singing talent and funny jokes. She also hands out chocolates to a lucky few audience members, as a practical way to demonstrate Iranian customs. There are so many reasons to see this show.
Dave Baillie