Iranian-born Omid Djalili has recently been in the news over a Jewish joke to which BBC3 controller Danny Cohen took exception.
However, in his BBC1 show this week, Djalili reminded viewers of his Jewish credentials. Back in the ’90s he performed a show called The Arab and the Jew with Ivor Dembina.
He said: “The Jewish Chronicle called it a beacon of light in an otherwise hopeless situation.” But The Scotsman was not so complimentary. “They said the Arab is better than the Jew but only in the sense that emphysema is better than full-blown lung cancer.”