| Short, dark, fat and funny >> Omid Djalilli brings British-Iranian absurdity to Globecom
Omid Djalili is Britain’s number one Iranian comic. This 37-year-old, U.K.-raised, Iran-inspired actor-comedian is England’s hottest funnyman and possibly the funniest thing to come out of Iran since blood-curdling shrieks of “Death to America.” Winner of the 2001 Time Out award for the best comedian in Britain, Djalili toured the U.K. with his sell-out shows, Arab and the Jew, Omid Djalili Is Ethnic and Short Fat Kebab Shop Owner’s Son and played an “Arab scumbag” (his words) in potboilers like The Mummy, Gladiator and Spy Game. The Mirror checked in with Djalili at his home full of screaming babies.
If you want to sum up my act, it’s a kind of roller coaster of characters. There’s incisive smart standup underpinned with absurdity. I’m one of those acts who you either really love or it just leaves you cold. It’s very madcap the kind of thing I do. And it’s not what you’d expect from a Middle Eastern person.
I’m a regular comedian, I won the Time Out comedy award! Hopefully that had nothing to do with my ethnicity at all. I would like to think it’s not “let’s give it to the poor ethnic bloke.” I don’t think I’m seen as ethnic at all—I play on my perception as a British Iranian. My comedy is a mixture between Iranian storytelling techniques and British irony. People may see me as that Iranian guy, but I’m born and raised in Britain. It’s
great they’ve got me flying the flag for Iran, but I think there’s
going to be a new wave of Iranian comics. Iranians are funny people.
There should be more Iranian comedians because there’s a big history
of storytelling in our culture, as you can see in Iranian cinema, which
wins international festival awards.
I talk about September 11, I’ve certainly not shied away from dealing with it, in a thoughtful and intelligent way, I hope. I take things seriously but the only way you can get your point across is by adding an impish absurdity. In the middle of something serious I’ll do an impression of Godzilla getting his toe stepped on—but I don’t want to give away too much. Ivor Dembina, who is a British Jewish comic, and I did a double act that we toured the country with. It was at the time seen as a very risky project. The Palestinian issue was hot and cold—whenever it was in the news we’d sell out, whenever it wasn’t no one would come out. I’m trying to deal with all the subjects around Palestine and September 11 in my solo act.
I play the archetypal one-dimensional Arab scumbag, the guy that nobody else wants to play. People say I’m getting typecast—it’s either slave trader or prison warden. You’ve got to go with what you look like. I am short, I am fat, I am dark and I’m not going to use that against me. But I’m hoping the good roles will come through for Middle Eastern looking people. I think Hollywood is ready for a Middle Eastern leading man, it’s just got to be the right kind of person. After Omar Sharif, there’s a very good-looking Israeli actor named Oded Fehr. If there’s any kind of fat slobbering guy whose needed for a lead scumbag part, that’s me.” Omid
Djalili will appear three times at the Globecom showcase, twice at Britcom,
and at Bubbling With Laughter and the Joan Rivers gala. Check hahaha.com
for show times and details. >> Other Globecom comics Martha E. Chaves This Nicaraguan-born local girl, who played a maid in three different Hollywood movies and is a veteran of eight JFL festivals, hosts Globecom. Judith Lucy Following in the tradition of Yahoo Serious, Paul Hogan and that “Tie Me Kangaroo Down” guy, Judith Lucy brings cutting-edge Australian comedy out of the billabong. Zenjiro
Like Cher or Madonna, this Japanese performer has only one name. He’s
a regular on four Japanese TV shows and his riffs on the idiosyncrasies
of Asian culture will leave you egg rolling in the aisles. The Globecom “It’s a Funny World Out There” shows run from July 14-16 at Comedyworks, 1238 Bishop. >> Stage Listings |
