Omid Djalili

Omid Djalili to star in 'The Shawshank Redemption'

Omid Djalili tells James Rampton why he's tackling serious drama as well as stand-up at the Edinburgh Festival.

Review: Omid Djalili, Leicester Square Theatre

When I reviewed Omid Djalili's current show at the Leicester Square Theatre in the Evening Standard I gave it three stars, which might have suggested that I did not enjoy it a great deal. But I certainly enjoyed his high voltage performance more than I enjoyed the man next to me giving his girlfriend a virtual full-body massage during the interval.

Mark Thomas heads up Belarus Free Theatre benefit

Mark Thomas is bringing together a host of top names including Omid Djalili, Phill Jupitus, Isy Suttie and Imran Yusuf to the Comedy Store later this month to help raise funds for Belarus Free Theatre.

Preview: The Week Ahead April 29 - May 5

Previews of War On Want, Omid Djalili and Doc Brow.

Top 20 comedy shows in London - May

Featuring Eddie Izzard, Jack Dee, Micky Flanagan, Omid Djalili, Ed Byrne, a gig on a ship, charity fundraisers, the Funny Side, Invisible Dot, the Store and loads more.

Omid Djalili: 'I'm tapping into the alternative spirit'

Ahead of his month-long Leicester Square stand-up run, we talk to the comic-actor his relationship with the West End.

Omid Djalili hosts tonight's comedy session, treading what he calls "the fine line between entertaining and mental illness". On the entertainment side of that line are his impressive mashup of West End musicals and his Tommy Cooper pastiche of Obama meeting former Egyptian president Mubarak.

He's followed by Reginald D Hunter with some political comedy and then Julian Clary, who does a startlingly short set - though perhaps not short enough for Olympic cycling champion Geraint Thomas, who looks very uneasy when called up on stage.

Tonight's frolic down celebrity lane features the stand-up career born of a terrible one-man show about Al Pacino. Omid Djalili recalls how a tobacconist changed his life, and how he literally fell into comedy. Former EastEnder Ashley Kumar plays the 22-year-old Djalili as an aspiring actor trying to break out of overearnest-theatre-group hell. Fun and sweet-natured if sprinkled with cringe.

Tonight's first frolic down celebrity lane features a first-love story in hospital. A 12-year-old Jason Manford (Ellis Hollins) attracts female attention while waiting for what he tells them is a brain op (in fact a circumcision). Manford himself plays the boy's father, surgeon and nurse, inviting comparisons with Peter Kay.

The second features the stand-up career born of a terrible one-man show about Al Pacino. Omid Djalili recalls how a tobacconist changed his life, and how he literally fell into comedy. Former EastEnder Ashley Kumar plays the 22-year-old Djalili as an aspiring actor trying to break out of overearnest-theatre-group hell. Fun and sweet-natured if sprinkled with cringe.

A 12-year-old boy finds love on the eve of his circumcision. A failing young actor changes tack after a violent confrontation with the police. Yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas on Sky1, as tradition-in-the-making Little Crackers approaches the end of its third run of autobiographical comedy shorts. Jason Manford opens with the aforementioned tale of love and gross (and it really is gross) physical loss, helming a charming vignette that will warm the cockles of your heart. At 9.30pm, Omid Djalili tells a comforting and true tale of failure, involving a shambolic one-man show and a formative brush with the law. Shaky directorial debuts abound, at times to the point of distraction. But an amateurish wrapping job will always come second to what's inside it.