EDINBURGH REVIEWS: COMEDY Omid Djalili Pleasance

EDINBURGH REVIEWS: COMEDY

Omid Djalili

Pleasance, Venue 33 (0131-556 6550), 10.35pm, to 30 Aug

OMID DJALILI has added a Scottish dimension to his show this year. Nothing original there, you might think - almost every comic in town tartans themselves. But Djalili's "Middle-Eastern ceilidh" is an inspired means of raising his game - multi-ethnic confusion - to a new level of absurdity.

As usual, the Anglo-Iranian comedian (a "short, fat kebab-shop owner's son") trades with mischievous enthusiasm on the simple paradox that pc notions of "cross-cultural fertilisation" can often imply crude stereotypes. Dressed in a hideous shiny suit (the product of "Iran-Iraq chemical warfare"), he's joined by a musician called Kamal Mazoumi who plays Western classics (Bach, Spandau Ballet, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star") on the harp-like santoor. It's a never less than bizarrely entertaining hour.