'I was cancelled before we had cancel culture'

Stand-up Omid Djalili talks to MARK WAREHAM ahead of his Midlands shows

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CAN you explain a bit about the new show Namaste? Well, I’ve always tried to be nice about people but this time I can’t. The world is in such a terrible state. When you talk about the means to an end, the means is comedy but the end is to actually make sense of what’s going on. And because I’m from the Middle East, I feel I do have some answers. People come to me as some kind of bridge, like a cultural stopgap, as someone to spread light on things. People don’t get what's going on. They don’t get the connection between Iran and what's going on in Gaza; they don’t get what's going on with Joe Biden attacking Syria and Iraq. It’s me trying to use comedy to make it more palatable for a British audience to understand what’s going on.

So it's a more considered, rational response, rather than a Mr Angry approach?

Yeah, the tour poster is a picture of me with steam coming out of my ears. I’m angry but it’s a controlled anger and it's considered. Audiences are really appreciative of that. So many people want to hang around afterwards. They say, 'Thank you, not, ‘Oh mate, that was hilarious!

Do the cancel culture warriors need to be on high alert for this tour?