Entertainment
Omid Djalili: People attend comedy shows just to be offended these days because of cancel culture-Aisha Nozari-Entertainment – Metro
Metro.co.uk spoke to the star.
Metro.co.uk spoke to Omid Djalili about his new partnership with EasyJet (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)
Omid Djalili has spoken thoughtfully about how cancel culture is impacting comedy.
The world-famous funnyman, 57, pointed out that these days, people rock up to comedy shows with the sole purpose of being offended.
When asked for his views on recent incidents – from performers being hit by objects to *that* Oscars slap – Omid admitted: ‘In the live arena we have to be a little bit careful what we say so we don’t attract nutbags.’
Earlier this month, it was revealed that one comedian at Edinburgh Fringe – a festival Omid’s performed at in the past – was socked in the face by an angry punter while performing in the Scottish city.
Sharing his thoughts on live performances while chatting to Metro.co.uk, Omid said: ‘We all need safe spaces but we have to be very careful what we say with cancel culture and [there are] a lot of people who come to be offended.’
He elaborated: ‘They all want to go viral, they know there are cameras. In the live arena, we have to be a little bit careful what we say so we don’t attract nutbags.’
The world-famous funnyman, 57, pointed out that these days, people rock up to comedy shows with the sole purpose of being offended (Picture: S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
What is cancel culture?
The term cancel culture is used to refer to the ‘cancelling’ of celebrities, brands and forms of entertainment (think movies, TV shows and music) that are considered to be problematic or offensive.
Omid went on: ‘But also, in the live arena, anything can happen. Lots of stuff has happened in my career and you have to sort of roll with it.
‘It teaches you to live in the moment, but if comedians are feeling unsafe, that’s something that should be addressed.’
Omid was chatting to us about his new partnership with EasyJet, Dad’s Club.
Billed as the world’s first in-hotel Dad’s Club – or, as EasyJet puts it, the ‘school of cool’ – the club can be found in the Spanish hotspot of Benalmádena and embarrassing dads can swing by to enjoy everything from air guitar and frisbee lessons to dancing and joke workshops.
Describing the club, dad-of-three Omid called it a ‘safe space for dads’.
‘Dad’s Club is for those dads who get too involved – too loud, too excited,’ he shared.
Omid raved about his new partnership with EasyJet, Dad’s Club (Picture: easyjet / BEEM)
Billed as the world’s first in-hotel Dad’s Club – or, as EasyJet puts it, the ‘school of cool’ – the club can be found in the Spanish hotspot of Benalmádena (Picture: easyjet / BEEM)
‘Dads can go away for a few hours and give the rest of the family some peace.
‘I think it’s a revolutionary idea.’
As for the most embarrassing thing Omid’s ever done on holiday? Let’s just say it’s a stone-cold ten on the Richter scale.
‘Once we arrived at Athens airport and the bags hadn’t come out for about half an hour,’ Omid began.
‘Everyone was getting restless. And so I thought I would entertain my kids by getting on the carousel.
‘So I got on the carousel and it was going around and I stood there with a heroic pose.’
Sharing his thoughts on live performances, Omid said: ‘We all need safe spaces’ (Picture: BBC)
The comedian went on: ‘It made all the passengers laugh, but as I went round, police were coming.
‘They grabbed me and they took me off the carousel and they marched me off to a room and my kids ran after me and said, “No, no, no, he’s an embarrassing person, he was trying to entertain us because the bags hadn’t come out” and they actually let me go.’
Omid had a role in Ridley Scott’s 2000 film Gladiator (Picture: Universal)
Gladiator starred Russell Crowe (Picture: Jaap Buitendijk/Dreamworks/Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
Of course, with news that Gladiator 2 is in production, we couldn’t let Omid go without asking him about the forthcoming film and whether he’s excited to see it – he did, after all, have a role in the first one.
Needless to say, Omid’s answer didn’t disappoint.
‘Yes, I am excited about Gladiator 2. I’m very surprised I wasn’t asked [to be in it],’ he quipped, adding: ‘It was a great experience [filming the first one].’
‘Yes, I am excited about Gladiator 2. I’m very surprised I wasn’t asked [to be in it],’quipped Omid (Picture: James Gourley/REX)
He continued: ‘I remember being on set, and there was a guy on set who was German, and I said, “What do you do?” and he goes, “I do the music” and I said, “What’s your name?” and he went, “Hans”.’
‘It was Hans Zimmer,’ Omid added for clarification.
‘I didn’t know who he was, he just said, “My name’s Hans”. And I said, “Have you done anything I might have heard of?” And he said, “Yeah there was a gameshow I did on the BBC in the 1980s with Henry Kelly called Going for Gold”.’
Omid added: ‘And I went, “Is the theme tune [sings theme tune]?” and he went “Yeah I wrote that” and I just thought, “F******g hell this film’s gonna be shit”.’
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