When Anglo-Iranian comic Omid Djalili played London's Bloomsbury Theatre three weeks after September 11 last year, his privileged perspective on the west, the east and the relationship between the two acquired an unexpected urgency. Inevitably, that urgency feels slightly diluted now, but Djalili still has a shrewd take on the ways in which west and east refuse to understand one another. Unnecessarily, as far as I'm concerned, Djalili apologises mid-set to his audience for "getting too heavy". In fact, politics-phobes have nothing to fear: his act is as full of gleefully silly tomfoolery as it is sharp-eyed insights into the state of the world.
Part of Djalili's appeal is that he both exploits and subverts stereotypes. His opening line is a killer. "Keep the laughs coming," he says. "They help with my asylum application." His stage persona skips between just-off-the-boat Iranian emigre and, to keep us guessing, Sloaney management consultant. To punters who leave their seats mid-act, he threatens to detonate "the device" he has strapped under his shirt. He has an impressively keen eye for defining cultural characteristics, and the skill at accents - American, Scots, English - to make the observations flesh. Which, incidentally, he has plenty of, as his frequent belly-dancing interludes make ridiculously clear.
I think Djalili could commit more to the heavyweight material. When he takes his foot off the comic pedal, he can very informative, as when he questions the connection made between Afghanistan and al-Qaida on the basis that Afghans don't speak Arabic. But his preference is to keep things frothy - and why not, when he can do this so entertainingly? His gobbledygook snapshot of Iranian cinema is terrific; likewise, an eloquent mime in which he tries, and fails, to unite the warring world in peace. If comedy has any contribution to make to that struggle, Djalili's the likely candidate to make it.
· Until August 26. Box office: 0131-556 6550.
