On Fire

Omid Djalili is desperate to convince me that comedy is not the be-all-and-end-all, and that compared to most comics it doesn’t set his world on fire.

His parts in Hollywood blockbusters The Mummy and Mr Nice certainly tally and with a US NBC TV series up his sleeve and more West End theatre work planned, his fame shows no sign of abating.

Financially the 46-year-old certainly doesn’t need to tour, and yet here he is in a Leeds hotel room talking about baring his soul every night as a stand-up for the first time in ages. “I think it’s going OK and I’m not slurring my words or mixing up my jokes. People seem to like the fact that the show isn’t polished but rather rambling and a bit shambolic. They think it’s quite charming,” he says.

But scratch under the surface and you realise that nothing is left to chance with Omid. Whatever he wants he goes after and gets, despite his love/hate relationship with stand-up. “I always said I wouldn’t tour until I had something to say and then the Arab Springs kicked off. So there is a string to my bow and while I want it to be a good night out I also want to be clear what I want to say. In fact I should have called it the Consciousness Tour.”

Even when filming his Hollywood blockbusters, Omid was battling his comedy demons, filming by day and gigging by night until he reached a point of no return. “When I was filming The Mummy we spent seven weeks in Morocco and the rest in Shepherds Bush, and I was always battling to leave the studios in time for my London gigs in the evenings, which was stupid because they got really hacked off with it. So now I clear my diary when filming because I’ve realised I can’t do everything.”

And then he tells me a great anecdote about how he put some mates on the guest list for his last gig while filming Jason and The Argonauts and they all turned up in costume. “Zeus and Hercules and all the other Greek gods were there in the audience at the comedy club with their long hair and beards,” he laughs.

Acting is right up there with comedy for Omid, and yet he’s still surprised by his blockbusting successes, regardless of a few turkeys: “There are definitely films I wouldn’t have done had I seen the script first,” he says. However, he still has an impressive line-up under his Anglo-Iranian belt.

Take The Mummy: “We didn’t think that it would be successful at the time,” Omid says. “We thought it would go straight to DVD because there were no stars in it. No one had heard of Rachel Weisz, Brendan Fraser or John Hannah then. And we had no idea what was going on behind the scenes, namely that The Mummy was Universal’s last chance saloon after a string of flops. So they cast unknowns and spent the money on special effects. But it grossed $680 million and saved Universal Studios.”

Mr Nice with Rhys Ifans followed: “We filmed the Afghanistan scenes in Eastern Spain and it was pretty grim actually because it was freezing and we had to sit in the car between takes to keep warm. But I have happy memories of that film because we were always in the bar by 6pm. And Mr Nice also helped me realise it’s all about precision, because it’s the same with jokes – the nuance is the difference between a chuckle and a laugh.”

But what Omid likes most is a good cameo role because then he’s not away from his London home, wife and three kids for too long, “Yes, the four months spent in Venice with Heath Ledger filming Casanova, that was too long,” Omid says, “so projects like Sex and The City 2 were ideal and I pounced on it when I heard I got to spend a week with SJP and the girls,” he grins, “because all I had to do was rush on set, film for a week and then go home again.”

Add in his recent West End award-winning stint in Oliver as Fagin, and you can see how full Omid’s cup is at the moment. “There is so much going on I can’t talk about it because it’s too much to think about. But it’s not bad for a short, fat, bald bloke is it?

“But then I also believe in making your own luck. People don’t say what they want in life, but I always had goals. I really wanted to tour and a show where people come away thinking about it, so I worked towards that. And I really wanted to be in a film so I got an agent, auditioned and got The Mummy. So I have generally manoeuvred myself to where I wanted to be in life.”

Which at the moment is on tour and coming to the New Theatre on Wednesday. “I love coming to Oxford because it’s always an intelligent crowd who keep me on my toes, so it’s always a good turn.”

So does Omid perhaps underestimate his love/hate relationship with stand-up? Omid Djalili sighs and then smiles: “I suppose so. Comedy is my first love and I always return to it.”

* Omid Djalili comes to the New Theatre Oxford for one night only on Wednesday.

Call the box office on 0844 8713020 or see newtheatre oxford.org.uk