I ’m so sorry I’m late – I just had to stop at the side of the road to piss in a bottle.” It’s quite the introduction to comedian and actor Omid Djalili , who arrives at Soho House to meet me in a whirlwind of energy and apologies. He is indeed 20 minutes late; but it’s hard to stay mad at someone when they’ve made you burst out laughing within the first 20 seconds of meeting.
The bottle incident was necessitated after he got snarled up in a traffic jam on the way into London from Ipswich, and it was exacerbated by onlookers recognising The Mummy star mid-flow. “They started filming me taking a piss!” he continues indignantly. “So then I had to beg them not to put it on the internet if I agreed to pose for a selfie.
..” On that note, he dashes off to find the bathroom to finish what he started – “to squeeze the last bit out” – leaving me in no doubt that, however this interview goes, it’s not going to be boring.
Being filmed while pissing in a bottle is unfortunately an occupational hazard when you’re as instantly recognisable a character as Djalili. While you may not immediately be familiar with his name, you likely will be with his striking, expressive face. The 58-year-old Iranian-British performer has managed to sneak into an impressive number of blockbuster films over the past 25 years, alongside his steady stand-up comedy career and stellar TV credits including His Dark Materials (playing a diplomatic witches’ consul)and Dickensian (as.