“
...and Colin Firth, no less, raves that Omid provides, “The kind of laughter
that gives you digestive problems ”
So how did he come by the title of the new live show. ‘I put out a not- so-serious message on Twitter about what to call the show and I got about 200 responses, many of them very clever. I particularly liked "The Unbearable Lightness of Being Omid Djalili". It hadn't jumped out at me straight away but I saw the very first response back was "Tour of Duty" and I liked it. It reminded me of peace keeping forces and the fact someone once said I was a bridge between East and West and I thought "yes, I'm a bridge, and it's about time I started charging a toll. £1 for cars, £2 for lorries and £17 for Smart cars. See how smart they feel now".’
As always, Omid, a deep thinker about comedy, has worked hard on the structure of the show. ‘It’s based on an Eleanor Roosevelt quote about the different levels of thinking. She said, “Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds only talk about other people”.
‘In stand-up, you do all those things - you talk about other people, you make sense of events and you elevate lofty ideas. Once you have set up the concept that great minds think about ideas, then you can say things like, ‘Doesn’t Ed Milliband look like Wallace from Wallace and Grommit”?’
The comedian has equally wise things to say about the Middle East. In the wake of the seismic changes that have gripped the region during the so-called “Arab Spring,” Omid says, ‘There’s an awful lot to talk about. After 9/11, I was saying, “Hold your horses. Not everyone in the Middle East is a terrorist. Leave Sikh people alone. They’re being attacked just because they wear turbans! They’ve got nothing to do with it”. I was trying to find sanity in the madness.
‘There are so many different levels to what is happening in the Middle East now. With profound transformation in Egypt, Bahrain, Syria and Libya, the people of Dubai have a very British attitude to revolution: marching on the streets chanting "What do we want?’/ ‘Democracy!!’/ ‘When do we want it?’ /‘After Happy Hour!”
‘People are taking charge –
governments can’t get away with it anymore. In fact no one can get away with anything. You certainly can't get away with genocide in the age of Twitter - or at least I hope not. Alex Reid was trending the other day so you can never be too sure.
‘I imagine Sadat, Arafat and Mubarak in the afterlife being asked what killed them: Sadat, what brought you here? Bullets.
‘That's why I want people to come away with the feeling that yes, we’re all struggling,
individually, mentally,
emotionally, socially, spiritually, physically, as a society, culturally, globally... I've run out of 'ally's'... but we're struggling together. And that's a good thing. So why not dance or do something crazy at the end? I suppose it's just following traditions like a ceilidh or shows in the middle east that always end in a song or
Going Out Page 89
Arafat: Cancer. Mubarak: Facebook & Twitter.’
Making an audience think is one thing, but the Iranian comedian feels the natural showman in him feels duty bound to send his audiences home with a warm glow. ‘I think it's always important to ask yourself “what should the audience feel at the end?”. That's the showbiz in me talking.
‘When I first saw stand up comedy, watching a bloke in jeans and a T- shirt at the Comedy Store standing at the mic and talking, I used to think "Oh for God's sake do something! Dance, move around a little, change the lighting, use music, do a few accents, change the pace, sing, wear a dress". There was nothing wrong with stand up and it's a noble art form but I noticed every time I watched stand up my sense of art and creativity was always outraged.
dance, but leave the audience with something, anything. I'd shoot a cat out of my back side every night if I could make it work in the budget. ’
Talking about the philosophy of comedy Omid gets very involved and impassioned but checks himself.
‘Look. Everyone has problems: but for 90 mins it's good to have a laugh and forget it for a while - or put it into a context. That context being I'm struggling a little less than you are and collectively you should all come together and be happy for me. I'd like the audience to come and give thanks at the altar of the fat one.’
To book your seats at the altar of the fat one, contact the box office at the Jersey Opera House on 511115.
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