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
Celebrities were there and a famous snooker player was there. and i wanted to do a joke which i probably should have set up a bit better. ijust said this particular snooker player has recovered from his cancer because he had the operation where they took out one of his balls, polished it, and put it back in again. now, thatjoke got nothing on the night, but the snooker player himself laughed because he knew that it is good to laugh at these things. that is why i think chris rock was slightly misunderstood because he had heard, he knew very well what he was doing, and that was a joke that at the time i believe was cleared by the academy, because he is there to roast some of the nominees. you mean it was chris rock in sympathy. i think the idea is you are losing your hair but you look great, you look like gijane. let s go back a little bit to your beginnings. raised by iranian parents who had moved to london who then couldn t go back to iran, so you are a real genuine londoner but actual
Think it is funny now. so, now, if you do a joke that feels a bit mean, what you have to do is you have to cushion it. i ll give you an example. i did a testicular cancer benefit gig and some celebrities were there and the famous snooker player was there. and i wanted to do a joke which i probably should have set up a bit better. ijust said this particular snooker player has recovered from his cancer because he had the operation where they took out one of his balls, polished it, and put it back in again. now, thatjoke got nothing on the night, but the snooker player himself laughed because he knew that it is good to laugh at these things. that is why i think chris rock was slightly misunderstood because he had heard, he knew very well what he was doing, and that was a joke that at the time i believe was cleared by the academy, because he is there to roast some of the nominees. you mean it was chris rock in sympathy. i think the idea is you are
Of characters, and does that work today in the same way that it worked 30 years ago? it does, but you have to navigate it. when we talk about ethnic humour, we come from the age in the 60s and 70s when there were those awful irishjokes, you know, englishman, irishman, scotsmanjokes, and the idea was that we were at war with the ira so english people culturally were doing jokes to make irish people look stupid. and some white middle aged male comedians were doing jokes about africans and about other ethnic minorities, adopting silly voices and getting a laugh but it wasn t a laugh which was really with those characters they were portraying, it was at them. it was at them, and i have to say, did i find that funny? i didn t find it funny in those days, i still don t think it is funny now. so, now, if you do a joke that feels a bit mean, what you have to do is you have to cushion it. i ll give you an example. i did a testicular cancer benefit gig and some celebrities were there and the f