jens stoltenberg was speaking as leaders of nato countries prepare to meet at a summit in madrid on tuesday. now on bbc news, it s hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. what i find funny, you might find offensive. comedy challenges taste and convention and it can rouse strong reaction, as we saw at this year s 0scars when a joke earned comedian chris rock a slap in the face from the actor will smith. my guest today has spent more than 25 years finding laughs in sometimes unlikely places. 0mid djalili was born in london to iranian parents. he has thrived as a cross culture comedic chameleon, but is it possible to be funny without being mean? 0mid djalili, welcome to hardtalk. stephen sackur, my friend, my fellow presenter in the business of show, man who is so unbelievably good looking and thin that he walks into snooker hall, they start chalking his head. i am so happy to be here, this is one of my favourite shows. well, if you carry on like that, this won t be a
in sometimes unlikely places, omid djalili was born in london to iranian parents. he has thrived as a cross culture comedic chameleon, but is it possible to be funny without being mean? omid djalili, welcome to hardtalk. stephen sackur, my friend, my fellow presenter in the business of show, man who is so unbelievably good looking and thin that he walks into snooker hall, they start chalking his head. i am so happy to be here, this is one of my favourite shows. well, if you carry on like that, this won t be an interview, it will be a monologue! let me ask you this, you have been doing comedy for almost 30 years, do you find the same stuff funny today as you did back then? what a tricky question! what a way to start. that is such a tricky question. look, at the end of the day, it is a big subject now because we saw the oscars and we saw will smith smack chris rock. can i just tell you, just to speak personally, i saw the video the day after, and i bleary eyed woke up on monday
About an iranian listening to a joke about an irishman, an englishman, and a scotsman, the classic setupjoke for an english audience, and the iranians didn t get it, you said, because to him, that was just a hostage situation. yeah, thejoke is in britain, an englishman, an irishman, and a scotsman that is the beginning of a joke. for us, that is a hostage situation. yeah. you are not even muslim, we know that you are really talking about islamic terrorism, islamist terrorism, i should say, not islamic. islamist, fundamentalist, extremists who conduct or did conduct those sorts of operations in places like lebanon. it is a great example. you are not muslim so what right do you have to make that sort of gag? that is, first of all, a very good point. and i did a lot of those kinds ofjokes at the beginning, and i reflect on it now on my show, those are the jokes i needed to, i suppose, get into western liberal metropolitan society, for people to like me.
I don t even go there. but for me, that is the red line. i am just interested. i may mangle it, i probably will because i am not good atjoke telling, but there is one joke of yours which i recall which i wonder whether in retrospect you might think. oh, he is getting hard on me now, i love this. it was a line you said about an iranian listening to a joke about an irishman, an englishman, and a scotsman, the classic setupjoke for an english audience, and the iranians didn t get it, you said, because to him, that was just a hostage situation. yeah, thejoke is in britain, an englishman, an irishman, and a scotsman that is the beginning of a joke. for us, that is a hostage situation. yeah. you are not even muslim, we know that you are really talking about islamic terrorism, islamist terrorism, i should say, not islamic. islamist, fundamentalist, extremists who conduct or did conduct those sorts of operations in places like lebanon. it is a great example. you are not muslim so what right
It was a line you said about an iranian listening to a joke about an irishman, an englishman, and a scotsman, the classic setupjoke for an english audience, and the iranians didn t get it, you said, because to him, that was just a hostage situation. yeah, thejoke is in britain, an englishman, an irishman, and a scotsman that is the beginning of a joke. for us, that is a hostage situation. yeah. you are not even muslim, we know that you are really talking about islamic terrorism, islamist terrorism, i should say, not islamic. islamist, fundamentalist, extremists who conduct or did conduct those sorts of operations in places like lebanon. it is a great example. you are not muslim so what right do you have to make that sort of gag? that is, first of all, a very good point. and i did a lot of those kinds ofjokes at the beginning, and i reflect on it now on my show, those are the jokes i needed to, i suppose, get into western liberal metropolitan society, for people to like me. i actually