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
i actually bring that gag up as a kind of gag i would never do now, and the audience laugh even more. and i talk about their white privilege as well. it was a gag which, it is very clear. that is what i am saying, that is why people need to know me as well because i am not a muslim, i am not a terrorist, but that was the kind ofjoke that would get me into the hearts of british people. sadly. so when fellow comedians like ricky gervais suggest that the comedy environment is becoming more and more difficult to operate in, do you agree? no, i don t think it is that difficult. for me, even cancel culture is an interesting one. there was an example of a guy called dapper laughs, who had a television show on itv, and he was cancelled. and then there was the all the stuff about how appalling he was, there was all this sexist humour, and then he was on newsnight and he was grilled, and it was really awful to watch. my question was, we never brought forward the people who gave him a television
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 bring that gag up as a kind of gag i would never do now, and the audience laugh even more. and i talk about their white privilege as well. it was a gag which, it is very clear. that is what i am saying, that is why people need to know me as well because i am not a muslim, i am not a terrorist, but that was the kind ofjoke that would get me into the hearts of british people. sadly. so when fellow comedians like ricky gervais suggest that the comedy environment is becoming more and more difficult to operate in, do you agree? no, i don t think it is that difficult. for me, even cancel culture is an interesting one. there was an example of a guy called dapper laughs, who had a television show on itv, and he was cancelled. and then there was the all the stuff about how appalli
and i talk about their white privilege as well. it was a gag which, it is very clear. that is what i am saying, that is why people need to know me as well because i am not a muslim, i am not a terrorist, but that was the kind ofjoke that would get me into the hearts of british people. sadly. so when fellow comedians like ricky gervais suggest that the comedy environment is becoming more and more difficult to operate in, do you agree? no, i don t think it is that difficult. for me, even cancel culture is an interesting one. there was an example of a guy called dapper laughs, who had a television show on itv, and he was cancelled. and then there was the all the stuff about how appalling he was, there was all this sexist humour, and then he was on newsnight and he was grilled, and it was really awful to watch. my question was, we never brought forward the people who gave him a television show in the first place, who thought that kind of humour was appropriate for white britain, to i suppo