SQUAREONE GIG OF THE WEEK

by Atholl Simpson

SquareOne Entertainment

Omid Djalili

10th March 2008, The Playhouse, Edinburgh

The self professed ‘Fat One’ is back with a new stand-up show following his recent outing on prime time BBC, and I was keen to see whether or not the Celebrated Iranian comic would live up to expectations. Proceedings kicked off ‘2001 Space Odyssey’ style; with total darkness and classical music setting the tone for what promised to be an epic show.

There were few ethnic groups that didn’t get the p__s ripped out of them, or at least receive a sly little comment. Whether it was a Korean footballer's dog eating skills, the Poles taking over Scotland or Nigerian traffic wardens, most stereotypes were there. His ‘Al Qaeda Christmas party’ was priceless: ‘No drinking, no dancing. But the fastest game of pass the parcel you have ever seen!’ Entertaining it was, fresh and inventive it wasn’t.

He might like to play with race, but the repetitive nature and volume of clichés he used slowed the show down. Djalili’s energy and loud-mouthed spurts seemed to cover up the lack of a fresh approach to already jaded views of the Middle East and show business world.

The festival of humour on display from this energetic, boisterous, little man did however reach a killer peak. He really does know how to end a show. The finale was a myriad of belly-dancing, painfully funny gymnastic attempts and fireworks that sent the audience off with a smile.