Comedian Omid Djalili finds stand-up just as rewarding as he did in the 1990s, when he burst onto the scene with the success of his Edinburgh Fringe show Short, Fat Kebab Shop Owner’s Son.

Omid’s show, Namaste, which is touring until early December, is having quite the impact: the 60-year-old Anglo-Iranian comic can see it happening before his eyes.

When Omid recently performed a gig in the USA, the theatre staff initially ignored him, before reluctantly allowing him to do a soundcheck for his own show that evening.

‘They were almost racist in their attitude,’ Omid tells Metro over Zoom. ‘The security people were ignoring me, and I was talking to people. “Can I get water?” “No.” “Can I do a sound check?” “Okay, if you have to.” It was really bad,’ he reflects.

But through Omid’s show,

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