Omid Djalili

Omid Djalili

Omid Djalili is an award-winning British-Iranian comedian, actor, television producer and writer.

Not only acclaimed as one of Britain's funniest stand up comedians, he has also featured in many films and television programmes. After great success at the Edinburgh Festivals of 1993 and 1994 with a one-man theatre piece, Omid became a festival favourite with a string of sell-out comedy shows year after year. 2005 saw Omid's his most successful festival show to date, ‘No Agenda’, with record breaking sales on the fringe totalling 16,500; this show then transferred to a total sell-out nationwide 40 date tour, including 2 shows at the London Palladium in 2006. He is one of the funniest, freshest and most original comedians in Britain today. In the same year he was invited to perform at the televised Tsunami Benefit alongside other great comedy luminaries. His international appeal is vast, having performed in recent years in Australia, Austria, the USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Slovakia and most recently he performed in Qatar for the Emir where he shared a stage with Bill Clinton. Omid was commissioned to do his own series for BBC1, ‘The Omid Djalili Show’ a mix of sketches and stand-up material which started on BBC1 in November 2007.  A second series was broadcast in 2009.

Other Work

Omid became the voice of Yusuf Amir in the popular gaming series Grand Theft Auto. He took up the role in the Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony spin-off game. In 2012, Djalili appeared in a Meltdown Festival concert[13] given by the Philharmonia Orchestra at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, performing the part of the narrator in 'Rubaiyat', a tone poem by American classical composer Alan Hovhaness which sets the words of Omar Khayyám to music. Also in 2012, he appeared on the Graham Norton alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Cuba Gooding Jr.. Voted in 2007 by the British public in the Channel 4 programmes The 100 Greatest Stand-Ups, Omid is one of the funniest, freshest and most original comedians in Britain.