'Hometown crowds expect more' - comedian Djalili

A comedian due to perform his critically acclaimed show in his hometown said the pressure was on, with local residents expecting more from him.

Omid Djalili, 59, has lived in Ipswich for the past four years and is due to stage his show Namaste at the town's Regent Theatre on Friday.

He joked that he avoided a Saturday show in case an Ipswich Town match led to a deflated audience.

He added that the home crowd had "high standards" that kept him on his toes.

"I love the fact there is a great sense of humour here," he explained.

"The main shopping centre is called the Buttermarket and they don't sell butter - that's a little joke they have here.

"Also, what I love about this place is the people - wherever you go they just talk to you.

"They talk to me like they know me and they talk to me like I'm an adopted son of Ipswich.

"I don't know if that would happen elsewhere, but it's certainly one of the reasons I'm still here."

Djalili added that he enjoyed testing his material on local people.

"I've got a postman who comes around and I try some of my jokes [on him]," he said.

"He just goes, 'Are you going to say that on stage? Is that it? It's not funny enough mate.'

"So the crowds here are very comedy savvy, which is great because I've been doing comedy for 30 years now and it's great they get it.

"I asked for a Friday night because on a Saturday night once, Ipswich Town had lost 4-0 and most of the crowd had come straight from Portman Road. It didn't go particularly well."

Djalili said he had not planned to leave Ipswich and praised it as "one of the best places right now to live in the whole of the country".

He explained he had a lot to say during his upcoming show that had a serious message about the world we live in.

Aside from his show, Djalili is also working on an Ipswich-based sitcom that he has finished filming the pilot episode for.

"Hopefully we'll sell that in February and while I'm doing this tour we can write the series," he said.

"It's very exciting and I think it's something that has very universal themes."

If it gets commissioned, he hopes filming can begin in the autumn, with the show coming out next year.

Djalili will also perform his Namaste show in Bury St Edmunds, Chelmsford, Southend-on-Sea, Norwich, Northampton and other locations.

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