★★★★★
Yesterday afternoon, Omid Djalili arrived in Edinburgh for the first of his five shows at this year's Fringe Festival with a 50-minute preview of his upcoming tour, Schmuck For A Night.
This month marks 21 years since his first appearance in Edinburgh and it's fitting that he's performing at the Pleasance Grand, a venue with a capacity at least seven times that of most Fringe venues.
Omid tackles all the big issues of the modern world, such as ISIS, Brexit, muslims and Peter Andre! Who doesn't come off particularly well, but he passes that off on his father who's a reviewer.
Also coming off badly is BBC One sitcom Citizen Khan which Omid is clearly not a fan of. He also finds the time to bring up Michael McIntyre, a comedian who he says is in disguise as "a big Chinese baby" - Seriously... what is it about this year's Fringe that Michael McIntyre is being spoken about almost as much as Brexit?!
You know what you're going to get when you go and see Omid and he didn't disappoint. His comedy was smart, relevant and engaging. He's also a very confident performer, not surprising considering that he has been at the top of his game for many years.
Never one to shy away from poking fun at himself, Omid calls himself a schmuck, mocks his appearance, his ethnicity and reveals that he's found it far easier to say "Yes" when asked if he's muslim, even though he's not! He also disappoints anyone expecting to see Stavros Flatley from Britain's Got Talent, and now he comes to mention it, there is a striking similarity between the two.
Omid finishes the criminally short set by saying "You've been a wonderful audience but I've been very funny" - There's nothing quite like modesty is there? But he's right. We were wonderful.
I would have loved a longer set, just as it really got going he was off. That's the constraints of the Fringe I guess, but at least there's the knowledge that he's going on tour if you too are left wanting more.