the siege and eould hear it all going on.‘ he reealls. ‘\\'e were watehing it develop on the news and as soon as we heard the lirst e\plosion. w e ran out into the streets and the road was all cordoned oll. We heard gunlire and
everything and then it all died down. So we went baek to wateh the rest ol'
the snooker world linal.
‘I got a lot ol‘ trouble during the lran Remlution. whieh is wh_\ ll September has thrown me ol‘l'kilter a bit beeatIse it reminded me ol'tliat time when l was 14 and IS. I had been quite hapr about being Iranian at sehool and then it was like: “Iranian? .\'o no. I'm Bra/ilian.“ .'\nd the same thing has happened again. Somehow. Iran was in\'ol\'ed in I I September and all those Muslim fundamentalists just taint the uni\ersal eonseiousness about
Our weapon in the war on terrorism: Omld laughter bombs on the West
who )ou are. I don’t go around beating my ehest till it bleeds.‘
So. ()mid l)_ialili will eontinue to Upset the stereotype of the Middle liastern lanatie l'or as long as he ean. With liv/u'm/ line/Hr Linus. he'll be gi\ ing its a show that makes politieal points. but without preaehing or being too eoneeptual and remaining serapingl)‘ elose to the funny bone. lixeess is now his onl} eoneern. ‘I‘Ve now written too inueh material. and it‘s maybe too ll September heax‘}; But I will be underpinning it all with loads ol~ impressions ol‘ ( iod/iIIa and bursts ol‘ bell_\' daneing.~ Pleasance, 556 6550, 4-26 Aug, 7.30pm, 25-521 1; Queen’s Hall, 668 2019, 23 & 24 Aug, 10.30pm, £11 (£10).
~ it“: .‘ THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 15