Shortly due in Galway for the Bulmers Comedy Festival, Omid Djalili has of late been performing a loose stand-up set, which he originally commenced working on with a view to undertaking a full tour late next year. However, as he explains, the development process has ended up a show in its own right.

    “It’ll be about 75 minutes of stand-up based on what I prepared at the Leicester Square theatre in May,” says Omid. “I did a month’s residency there to try and develop some material for my tour that I’ll do at the end of 2014. I didn’t think it would do that well, and then at the last minute I took it to Edinburgh and it sold out there. People seem to like it, and in comedy, people won’t come and see a show just based on the person. If Billy Connolly was doing crap, word would get out. So I did shows thinking it would be crap and no one would come, but the actual process of developing a show has been so much fun that people are booking me everywhere.
   “People seem to think the process itself is funny enough, cos a lot of it’s not very good at all. Crowds think it’s so funny to see someone struggle – the funniest bits are when the bits don’t work. I’m hoping that I’ll actually get less laughs when the show is better, because I can’t remember what the routine is, I go down the wrong avenues, I get distracted and start riffing on something that doesn’t work – and the audience piss themselves laughing cos it’s so bad.”
     Among the themes Omid tackles in the show is that of the arrogance which affects those experiencing celebrity for the first time. He freely admits that he himself is culpable in this regard, and he speaks of trying to entertain police officers as a means to escape driving fines. Bizarrely enough, last year Djalili found himself targeted by the Daily Mail, who scoffed that the comic had attempted to escape a driving fine by employing the services of a lawyer known as Mr Loophole.
    “That didn’t work at all – Mr Loophole got my licence taken away,” he groans. “That was a disaster. The judge said to me, ‘Mr Djalili, you have 54 points on your licence. You’re going to have your driving licence banned for six months. Have you got anything to say?’ And I said, ‘Can you give me a lift to the station?’ At which point he said, ‘That’s not funny’ and I dropped my head. That’s another thing; in court I often try and save it with some humour, but I immediately drop my head in shame.”
    An English comedian of Iranian descent, one of Djalili’s staple themes through his career has been exploring the identity of his ancestral homeland, and it’s a topic he returns to again in his latest show.
     “There are some things I talk about that I’m proud of,” he says. “I try and defend Arabs, and for me as an Iranian that’s a big thing. That’s like the Irish defending the English – the Arabs and the Iranians don’t really get on. I try and defend Arabs and talk about how I love them. I love people from the Middle East.
    “It’s like with the phrase ‘the British Isles’ – I used that at Vicar Street one time and people went nuts. Although everyone speaks the same language in Britain, in Iran we speak a different language; Farsi is very different to Arabic. All the other Middle Eastern countries speak a different version of Arabic, but Iran has its own specific language, which has lasted thousands of years.
    “Iranians see themselves as being very different to the rest of the Middle East. Historically speaking, Iran is the first point of civilisation in the Persian empire, and then also the first point of modernisation – in the ’40s and ’50s it became more modern like the west. Iranians I suppose see themselves as being very different to Arabs. A more stuck-up Iranian would say ‘better’, but I just think we’re very different.”
     Throughout his career, Djalili has made numerous notable film appearances, with roles in the likes of Notting Hill, The World Is Not Enough and Gladiator. Another notable credit on his CV is the Grand Theft Auto installment The Ballad Of Gay Tony. Djalili played Yusuf Amir, a gangster who liked to stroll around his gaudy penthouse in gold-embossed underwear whilst holding an Uzi, and who regularly indulged his fondness for hookers and coke.
    Of course, the latest offering in the series, GTA V, recently became the fastest selling entertainment product in history, grossing a cool one billion dollars in its first week on sale. How did Omid find working on the franchise?
     “I enjoyed it,” he enthuses. “They warned me beforehand, because the character was so outrageous. He said things like, ‘I’m so tired I have to fly to Vegas and bang bitches for two weeks to recover’.  It was all stuff like that, it was ridiculous, but I’ve had more tweets about Grand Theft Auto than anything else. And of course, sixteen year old boys with bum fluff hanging around me at school barbecues. It was a fun thing to do I have to say. We don’t see any of that money though, that’s the thing – don’t think we make much money from all of this!
   “But the pleasure is that a lot of people play them, and a lot of people give you props on Twitter and Facebook. The Rockstar Games people were great. I went to New York to record it, and it was very interesting. It was motion capture so you’ve got to wear this stupid suit and the camera’s on your head. You can watch yourself and they play back what you’ve done. They’re very appreciative – as a film set goes, I’ve never been more encouraged and complimented. Although their craft service stuff leaves a lot to be desired.”
 
Omid Djalili plays the G Suite at the G Hotel, Galway on October 27, as part of the Bulmers Galway Comedy Festival