According to Omid Djalili, the best thing to come out of landing his recent primetime BBC1 sketch series was "a British passport". It is a strong early joke in a show that swings from the sharply satirical to the pretty lumpy. Luckily the peaks easily outweigh the saggy moments.

The self-described British Iranian called his last tour No Agenda, but the problem with this one is that it almost has too much agenda. As the opening salvo above suggests, he wants to be a populist clown who also tackles race issues. And while he is at it, he also wants to get inside the minds of suicide bombers. Les Dennis he ain't.

At his best, this belly-dancing dynamo certainly delivers. His tart observation that we are obsessed with the US elections because we want to know who our next leader will be is on the money. He also has a well-enacted anecdote about Prince Charles praising his Godzilla impression.

Alongside familiar gags about soccer chants and Polish builders, he neatly shoehorns in some topical ones, noting that the recent Heathrow incident was the "most British crash in history - a bit of a bump and everybody had a go on the slide". His outsider's eye gives him a clear view of this country's love of losing, or "onedownmanship".

As mainstream stars go, Djalili is a complex proposition, an effervescently funny man who adds a serious edge to smiley showbiz patter, championing multiculturalism while ironically mocking Nigerian traffic wardens. The juggling act does not always work but full marks for even getting all those balls in the air.