NEVER mind opening the Comedy Festival with a bang, Omid Djalili kicked off this year's event in explosive style.

But the only tears were of laughter and the only carnage the entrenched stereotypes of culture, as he rocketed through 100 minutes of the highest level of entertainment you could hope for on a Saturday night.

The world's best and, indeed, only British-Iranian comedian, propelled himself on to the stage with an introduction that labelled him as the "undisputed Les Dennis of the Middle East", followed swiftly by some belly dancing, dodgy ethnic jokes and cheesy renditions of club classics to cover it up.

Hidden beneath the comedy was the moral of the story - that we are all different. Not necessarily better or worse, just different, with oh-so- different perspectives of the world.

Anyone wanting to know why suicide bombing is so popular or the exact reasons for the attack on the Twin Towers may have been disappointed. But they would have gone home with a few different ideas and a smile on their face.

Oh, and an image of King Kong and Godzilla making out...

Part of Djalili's appeal is that he doesn't offer judgement, explanation or solutions in an in-your-face Mark Thomas way. What you do get is a different perspective in a blunt, non-PC manner - and a very funny evening out

It is hard to knock a man with such charisma and unswerving comic timing, but anyone having had the pleasure of seeing him on stage before would have been disappointed at the lack of new material.

But why change a winning formula? I still ended up clutching my sides with laughter despite having seen 90 per cent of his act two years ago, such was his delivery.

Play-along games such as "Cultural Catchphrase" reinforced his message that we are all, basically, as quirky, mad and insane as everyone else in the world.

And then there was a bit of universal disco dancing to wrap things up.

It's powerful stuff, laughter.

Harry Potter fans who have seen the newly- released Prisoner Of Azkaban will know that the best way to overpower the thing you fear the most is to make it funny and laugh at it.

If there were more people like Djalili prepared to put that theory into practice on the big issues, then maybe there would come a time when the only explosions were of the laughter variety.

And if the rest of the Comedy Festival is as entertaining and funny as this opening, then we're in for a corker.

Updated: 08:59 Monday, June 07, 2004