Shirley Souagnon

Shirley Souagnon is a French stand-up comedian, writer and producer of Franco-Ivorian heritage, born on October 3, 1986 in Clichy in the Hauts-de-Seine department. She started doing stand-up in Paris clubs in her late teens and gained nationwide visibility in 2010 thanks to her participation in the France 2 TV show On n'demande qu'à en rire. Openly lesbian and non-binary, she has consistently used her stage and platform to talk about identity, race, gender and the politics of the French entertainment industry.

Souagnon's breakthrough special was "Free! The One Woman Funky Show" (2014), a hybrid show mixing stand-up with live music performed alongside her band The Krooks. The same year she joined the cast of the Canal+ series Engrenages and founded her own production company On Time Productions. In October 2019 she opened the Barbès Comedy Club in northern Paris, the first comedy club in France launched by a female comedian, dedicated to nurturing diverse stand-up voices. She wrote on the Netflix series Drôle (also released internationally as Standing-Up) in 2022 and appeared in the Netflix anthology Comedians of the World (Humoristes du monde). Her solo show "Être Humain" toured France from 2021 onward and explores non-binary identity, daily life and self-acceptance. Beyond Paris, Souagnon has built an international touring routine she calls her World Comedy Clubs Tour, performing in Haiti, Côte d'Ivoire, London and other cities.

Shirley Souagnon performs regularly at her own venue, the Barbès Comedy Club in Paris, and tours her solo show across France and selected international cities. Her official website shirleysouagnon.com lists upcoming dates and tour news, and the Barbès Comedy Club programs both her own slots and other emerging French stand-up acts. Her Netflix writing credit on Drôle gives a strong sense of her comic voice for international audiences.