Omid Djalali
Interview (Crackin' Magazine)
Omid Djalali is trying to finish his Thursday night set at the comedy store, and is perhaps the only man in history to be prevented from doing so by a Frenchman impersonating a Nigerian on coke. Still, the set has been a satire-fuelled bran tub of new material, germinating from thetragiceventsofseptembereleventh™ which, more than most comics, have defined Djalali’s comedic direction.
For the uninitiated, I’ll let him introduce himself: “I’m one of, actually THE ONLY Iranian comedian, which is still technically three more than Germany has.” His act is a case of “will the real Omid Djalali please (do) stand up” as he disarmingly careens between ranting middle-eastern stereotype and arch Islington media luvvie. Ethnicity and identity are his favoured topics, though he’s at his funniest when he takes politics head on, with some Hicksian stabs at Dubya Bush, and a delightful bit of dark poetry portraying Blair as firstly a capitulating simp, and then a drunken Glaswegian who anally violates Omar Bahkri. Nice.
Pre-Edinburgh, the material is coming together nicely considering the clanking shift it had to swerve when the twin towers went down. “Immediately there was a huge focus on me, and I had to change my material really quickly – like, within a couple of weeks,” he remembers, “I had to grow up. Suddenly there was a responsibility.” Strange time, and even stranger timing considering Djalali’s increased profile returning to the festival this year. Will his approach to Edinburgh be different this year? “More recently I’ve used Edinburgh as a chance to try things out, but now of course, the stakes are higher and I’m taking it very seriously. I’m trying to make sense of my own act.”
The seriousness belies an incredibly enthused and energetic set – surely his headline status must be intensifying that? “I’m going to LOVE having an hour. Using stand-up, music and dance to take the audiences to new places, using the great storytelling tradition of Iranian culture.” You’ll be eschewing the rapidity of the gag, gag, gag approach, then? “If you can be more sophisticated, the pay off is better.”
Annoyingly talented (he’s already a successful actor and documentary maker), Djalali is bound to be a big draw, no matter who your most hated war criminal, though as he points out in his act, “Milosevic is just nicking all Saddam’s ideas – parading two airmen around on TV the other year – that was SO 1991!” Well, nostalgia IS big at the moment, Omid.