EMMA DUNN catches up with a very busy man

OMID Djalili is a busy man. Even as we talk the comedian is riding his motorbike across London after playing tennis with Jonathan Ross.

“I’ve got the handset in my helmet just resting against my ear,” he explains. “Can you hear me okay?”

We had actually arranged to talk about his new show, Iranalamadingdong, which is coming to the Wyvern Theatre on Friday, October 10, but the sound of that tennis match has taken priority. “Who won?” I asked.

“We play every Friday but we still can’t beat each other. No one has won,” he said.

“We played two sets but we don’t have the physical energy to do a third. We played for two and a half hours but take breaks and have chats.

“We’ve even got a Wimbledon style scoreboard.

“All that’s missing is an audience. We both think there’s audiences watching us, that’s how egotistical we are.”

With the sounds of London traffic competing with Omid’s conversation, it’s not the easiest interview I have ever conducted.

Between car horns and engine noises, he reminisces about a previous performance in Swindon, in 2011, which he describes as the worst on the tour.

“There were people in the front two rows making a lot of noise and they really distracted me and distracted the crowd. It was going really well but then it all fell apart,” he said. “I couldn’t handle them and my funny switch was turned off.”

Despite this, the Time Out Stand-up Comedy Award winner is more determined than ever to have a good night when he returns to the Wyvern with a new show. “I always go back if I have done badly,” he said.

Omid is now on the eight-month, 98-date tour of Iranalamadingdong.

It follows a sell-out four-week West End residency and a sold-out season at the Edinburgh Festival.

He said the show is less about his Iranian background than his previous ones.

“I’m making a marker in my career. I’m someone who thought he always had to talk about being Iranian but actually I don’t need to,” he said.

“The show includes a little retrospective on how I actually became famous because it’s kind of extraordinary how someone like me became well known in England. It shouldn’t have happened but somehow it did.

“I also talk about celebrity and relationships. I have found the code to a long-term relationship... but you have to come and see the show to find out what it is.

“I also deal with the last comedy taboo, which I can’t talk about now. I have had people tell me they nearly died laughing.”

As well as stand-up, Omid has appeared in a number of films, including Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Gladiator, The Mummy and Sex and the City 2. He won the Best Actor award at the Turin Film Festival for his lead performance in The Infidel.

Comedy will always be his priority though.

“Stand-up is the best thing. It’s the connection with people and it’s how you grow,” he said.

“It’s only when you try things out and you have the courage to put your heart on your sleeve and put comedy ideas out there that it comes to life. Jokes are no good in your head.”

 Omid Djalili will be at the Wyvern Theatre at 8pm on Friday, October 10.

For tickets, which are £24, call 01793 524481 or visit swindontheatres.co.uk.