Omid Djalili has paid tribute to Ireland for his artistic awakening and opened up about his years living in the North in the 1980’s at the height of the Troubles.
Iranian-British actor, comedian, and writer, who has appeared in a number of big hits like Gladiator, The Mummy, Notting Hill and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, told Dublin Live that Ireland is a place that means a lot to him. He went to Ulster University for three years in the North in the 1980s.
He said: “Because I was with Triple Team - I played for the university football team - we travelled a lot. So we came to the South a number of times for the All Ireland Championships in Cork and in Dublin.
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“And I always loved Dublin. It was such a big [thing], in the eighties. We were all going to Dublin, it was like going to New York because we would go to Grafton Street and we would go to all the bars. And I mean, I don't drink, but I actually loved all the music and the ceilis and it was such a magical place in the 1980s.”
But Djalili found living in Belfast during the Troubles was a “confusing” experience. He said: “You see such a wonderful place, wonderful people and the Troubles and the wars that were going on the island is so crazy when you think about it.
“It's like Beirut, if you go to Beirut, the people are such party people, they stay up all night, they party ‘till seven in the morning. Then the party continues with breakfast. It's literally a 24 hour party, they're crazy. But then you see next to the bar where you're at, there's a building with terrible bullet holes still there.
“The images of war are really there. So, being in Dublin and being in Ireland at the time, it was such a juxtaposition of people who are crazy and funny and wonderful, but then this terrible war and this undercurrent of hatred was there.”
It was in Ireland where Omid found himself artistically and where he did his first standup gigs and public speaking. He explained: “When I come back to Ireland, it's almost like I'm paying homage to the place which created me because I never thought about being a standup comedian until I was around so many funny people.”
His first friends in the industry and the first people he gravitated towards were Irish comedians like Tommy Tiernan and Dara Ó Briain, both of whom he is still very good friends with. “These were the first people I gravitated towards and felt home with.”
His link to Ireland continues as his daughter married someone from Co Donegal. “I love my in-laws, I just spent the weekend with my in-laws in Letterkenny.”
Vicar Street, where his live show in October will take place, is “one of [his] favourite places”. He said: “Vicar Street is, I would say, one of the great comedy venues in the world – it's not just in Ireland, in the whole world. For those of us who are international acts, there's something about Vicar Street which is different to other places.”
This is true for bands as well, the comedian said, adding: “I was with Rick Wakeman who was in the band Yes - he lives in my area. And I said, oh we saw you in Vicar Street in Dublin in 2006.
"The venue only holds a thousand people but it was such a memorable night for him. Even he remembers it because there's something about the vibe and the way it's made, the stage, the venue, it really focuses on the artist like no other. So even people in big bands talk about it, and they've played stadiums, but they always talk about Dublin Vicar Street.”
The actor said he is excited to come to the venue, and the other Irish venues in Galway, Belfast and Derry for his tour, more than anywhere else. He said: “I am so excited to be coming because they are traditionally my favourite audiences because I lived there for three years and I can't wait to share some of my experiences both North and South of the border with the Irish people.”
He also told us a bit about what the audiences can expect for his show on October 26. The Good Times show started in 2021, inspired by the public discourses of the time like the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine. With time, it developed however, including the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution in Iran.
Mr Djalili said: “It's always difficult to get comedy out of the most serious subjects but that's something that we challenge ourselves with as comedians.” His show has changed over time and is basically a new show but it still retains “the best of the old” along with “the best of the new”.
He added: “I hope it'll be something that is relevant to all the discourses now. It’s not like an episode of I Got News for You. It's something that's been developing and evolving but I think at the heart of it is, life is absurd and let's laugh at it, otherwise we'll cry… It should be a good night out.”
One of the topics that will be included in the show will be identity politics and how that is changing with the society we are living in. He said: “I know for example, there was a time when I was auditioning for drama schools when I was in my early twenties in the late eighties. And they didn't know what to do with me.
"I got rejected everywhere. And they just said, just go ahead and do your own thing 'cause we don't know what to do with you. They knew what to do with black people. They'd seen a few Indian people, but the Middle Eastern look and the Middle Eastern persona and identity was something they'd never talked about in show business in the 1980s.
"It just wasn't there, other than bit parts. So they genuinely didn't know what to do with me and It was something that I had to navigate. So [the Vicar Street show] is about how identity politics has evolved in the last 20 to 30 years. And you can see it through comedy.”
A limited number of tickets are still available for Omid Djalili's Vicar Street gig through Ticketmaster.
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