Omid Djalili, who appears on Michael McIntyre's The Wheel on Saturday, November 15, has extended his tour into 2026 with lots more dates around the UK coming up. His latest show is entitled Namaste.
Namaste is typically a word associated with peace and tranquillity, but fiven the current state of the world Omid has decided he'll eschew tranquillity, and bow instead to his inner anger.
Djalili appears on The Wheel alongside fellow comedian Maisie Adam, Stacey Dooley, Oti Mabuse, Asim Chaudhry, Ricky Wilson and Joey Essex.
The UK-based comedian recently came in for criticism after performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. Djalili wrote an article in the Guardian explaining why he had chosen to gig there. He believed that performing stand-up comedy there was a step in the right direction wrote: 'After explaining that the restrictions on performing in Saudi were exactly the same as in Dubai – basically no jokes about the royal family, no disrespecting Islam and no humiliation of the government – a concerned friend texted me, “I think you’re at risk of invalidating your right to make jokes about anything important.” My show in Riyadh had a lot of material about the Saudis themselves.'
His explanation did not stop arguments about the rights and wrongs of being paid to perform by the Saudi Arabian government. After Djalili posted his article on Instgram, restaurant critic Jay Rayner replied: "No. Just no. If you had taken a booking (and money) from a Saudi promoter, then your line about engaging with a society in flux would just about have stood up. But you didn't. You took money from the Saudi Government...Taking that kind of booking does not bear the slightest examination...I was dissapointed when I saw your name among those who had taken the gig. Nothing in this piece changes that dissapointment."
If you want to make yp your own minds tickets and dates for Omid Djalili's Namaste tour are here.
Michael McIntyre's The Wheel With Maisie Adam, Omid Djalili, Stacey Dooley, Oti Mabuse, Asim Chaudhry, Ricky Wilson and Joey Essex. Saturday, November 15, 8pm, BBC One.
