Comic Omid out to make sense of a crazy world
Controversial comedian Omid Djalili road-tested his latest hit show at last year’s Edinburgh Festival,
But since appearing in Scotland’s capital, there’s been a tsunami of social events which would have undoubtably have caught the comedic social commentator’s eye.
The rise of Donald J Trump for one, which may be no laughing matter for many people.
But it’s the earnest expressions of moral condemnation on the internet and in the mainstream media that have followed that are a source of constant amusement to the Iranian stand-up/actor.
Known for his gags about suicide bombers and crazy Nigerian accents, Big County comedy fans will get a chance to take in Djalili’s unique view of the world when he appears at Perth Concert Hall on February 22, one of an incredible 73 shows he’s playing the length and breadth of Britain between January 18 and May 20.
And the charismatic 51-year-old sees much of the reaction to the new leader of the free world as verging on the slapstick.
“It’s just so funny to me, this guy Trump’s indestructible,”Djalili laughs.
“Disney did a live action version of The Jungle Book and they’re doing one of Dumbo, which is amazing.
“But while they’re going into reality, Donald Trump is going into animation.
“He’s like a cartoon, he’s like the wolf in Road Runner or Tom in Tom and Jerry. Jerry throws a piano and he gets knocked out and his teeth become like the keyboards, then in the next shot he’s back.
“That’s Trump, but I have to say I’m sick and tired of people constantly having righteous indignation on Twitter, or you see a news report and someone speaks very earnestly and very seriously.
“We all know that once you use the sword of truth and the shield of irony you can get to the heart of the matter much quicker.
“I’m trying to do something because the world is so crazy. I’m going on tour just to try to make sense of it myself and to see if I can ask the right questions and provide the right answers.”
Djalili has appeared in a host of films, including Gladiator, The Mummy, The World Is Not Enough and Notting Hill, earning acclaim for his performance in Casanova, which also starred Heath Ledger and Jeremy Irons.
And it’s to cinema that he’s turned for the inspiration for his new show, Schmuck For A Night, which he describes as an attempt to make sense of‘serious’ situations where he finds humour.
“I’ve based the name of the show on the film The King of Comedy by Martin Scorsese, where Rupert Pupkin played by Robert De Niro is a comedian who kidnaps Jerry Lewis and goes on his talk show and does a comedy set.
“The very last line is when he says,‘It’s better to be a king for a night than a schmuck for a lifetime’.
“The word‘schmuck’ means fool or buffoon.
“As you get older and less schmucky, you find that your clowny sense becomes more heightened because it is just for a night, so that’s what I’m trying to do.
“But I’ll also be talking about social media and the power of it, and how comedians can end up in the newspapers because of one person’s righteous indignation.”
Politics is grist to the mill for Djalili who was nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award in 2002 for his show, Behind Enemy Lines, which leaned heavily on 9/11 for material.
Refreshingly, however, his flights of fancy are free from the partisanship that has hamstrung so many politicised stand-ups.
Typically, in a recent tweet, Djalili asked if the word‘Brexit’was derived from the name of a breakfast cereal for people with severe constipation, before mischievously adding,“If so where can I get it?”
‘Prepare to be surprised’appears to be the message to anyone going along to see this festival hit continue its natural evolution.
“I think the show will change even while I’m on stage,”Djalili maintains.
“It’ll be so current sometimes audiences won’t laugh until they get home and turn on theTV.
“I will say that I’m not party political, I have no party agenda. But I’ll talk about what’s going on around us.”
Actor and comedian Omid Djalili He may be proud to be a schmuck for a night - or for 73 nights to be precise - but Omid is certainly nobody’s fool. For ticket information, see www.horsecross.co. uk