Issue 147

Jimmy Carr Interview

23rd October 2006

Jimmy Carr likes Swansea, it's official. When Front caught up with him after his recent show at the Grand he said, ""Swansea's a really nice town; it feels quite small, but just the right size. People go to more stuff than in London, because there's not much going on, so there's more of a focus on what is happening. When you're at a little old theatre like the Grand, everyone feels quite close."

During the latest leg of his UK tour, Carr made reference to "the shocker", a hand formation with the clarification, 'Two in the pinkie, one in the stinky" or "One in the poo, two in the goo," which we trust does not require any further explaining, and I brazenly wonder aloud if he has ever tried this out? "Have you?" He fires back, super quick, after disputing the personal nature of such a question. As I squirm, he cunningly avoids an answer, by adding "There's nothing the matter with a little bit of bum fun. Pretty much everyone does it; we all wonder 'Could I get away with going up there?'"

Front goes on to ask about a young drama student, whom Carr singled out in the audience for ridicule during the show, "I've got nothing against drama students!" he insists, "I hope people realise how much irony is there, but you've got to take the piss out of someone!" Carr himself, as a Cambridge Graduate, concedes that his degree in Social and Political Science is "only one step up from Drama, like a degree in general knowledge. But it does make me good at pub quizzes." He says he went to university because he had "nothing better to do than homework – like most people I guess." From there, he entered a career in marketing and reasons that having had a normal nine to five job helps ground him and enables him to appreciate where he has got to; "I'm tremendously lucky," he acknowledges, "It's that old cliché that it's partly hard work, but so much luck. I'm just lucky that people come to see my shows."

Carr admits that, as a child, he didn't know what he wanted to do, "I followed a line of leached resistance, like a lot of middle-class, overeducated kids, where you end up doing something in a big company because you can, not because you want to. It's an assumption, not a decision."

He goes on to say that he would probably still be in marketing – "Or I might have moved into advertising," had he not made a career as a comic. "I've been in the game for a long time now though," he recognizes, "So I think I'll stay in it. If I ever stop performing, I'll probably become a writer."

Speaking of writing Carr writes all the jokes for his hit show, 8 out of 10 cats, although the producers choose the guests. "We get a great mix," Carr champions, "It was an honour to have Joan Rivers on. David Walliams is always good, as is Vic Reeves. We have a lot of favourites, who keep coming back, and they're all great – they all bring something to the show. Sean Lock and Dave Spikey [resident team captains] are my favourites, because they're there week in, week out. I [also] like it when someone comes on and takes over a bit."

Remembering the 8 out of 10 cats Big Brother special done this year, on the same night as the finale, I wonder if Carr took pleasure in having such easy targets for ridicule on the show. "I don't like that idea of inviting people on specifically to take the piss," he defends, "We aren't being sneary or looking down our noses at anyone. We're doing it all in a good humoured way." He is adamant that he has nothing against reality TV, "It's fantastic, I like it and I watch it. You won't find me complaining."

"There's so much great TV on at the moment," he continues, "I love Scrubs, and The Sopranos , Mitchell andWebb, and I always watch Jonathan [Ross]." Carr did extremely well when he appeared on Top Gear earlier this year as the 'star in a reasonably priced car'.

" I "There's nothing the matter with a little bit of bum fun...we all wonder" really love that show," he enthuses, "There's that childlike sense of wonder, racing around in cars. I really like all three of those boys."

Carr himself drives a Golf GTI, "It's a bit boy racer, but y ' know. [Anyway], I couldn't give a fuck [what J e r e m y Clarkson thinks of my car]."

Jimmy recently went to watch the Little Britain show to support friends, and fellow comedians, David Walliams and Matt Lucas, "It was fantastic," he raves. Carr says he hangs out with a lot of famous friends, but is reluctant to elaborate on whom. "I have other comedians as friends," he confesses, "I don't see them as rivals. It's an unusual thing to do as a living, so we support each other." He admits that he still gets star struck quite a lot, "It hasn't settled down, it's still like 'Oooh hello! You're off the telly!' It's very weird, there's this odd familiarity between people off TV, and you feel like you know them, even if you don't."

He says he enjoys seeing other comedians perform on his nights off, such as Doug Stanhope, Russell Howard and Demetri Martin. He recognizes that not everyone will understand his jokes, but is adamant that Americans responded well to his recent tour, "I do exactly what it says on the tin," he says unassumingly, describing his own brand of comedy as "Somewhere between Mr Bean and Hugh Grant."

"A lot of what I do is word play," he goes on, "I'm just telling jokes, there are no opinions. I've got no agenda and I'm suspicious of people who do use comedy to get their point across. I don't think it's the right medium for that." Carr appears to always get the last laugh when it comes to his audience; "The vast majority of my stand-up is rehearsed, it's just about telling a lot of jokes. Why take the chance of going out there with nothing written? The improvisation is just the icing on the cake. It's just about showing off."

There must be times when he stops acting the prankster? "Most of my friends have a similar sense of humour to me and like the same jokes. I don't try to be funny all the time, but then I'm not trying to impress them in the same way as I suppose I am the public. I'm not trying to hide that side of me from the public, it's more that I don't think I'm very funny just sitting around, drinking tea." He says that he unwinds by writing books about jokes, such as his forth-coming book, – The Naked Jape: Uncovering the hidden world of jokes' co-written with Lucy Greeves, "I sit around the house writing," he insists.

Carr admits, however, that when it comes to acting, he doesn't have much of a range. When talking about the British romantic comedy, Confetti, he says it was great to work on "an entirely improvised project, where the actors were in charge. I'm cast as myself but I wouldn't be as good otherwise. If they."

He says he's quite happy to continue doing stand-up, "Though there's this assumption that you always want to do something new or bigger." He's in the middle of his UK tour, has a new series of 8 out of 10 cats airing in the next couple of weeks, his book is out at Christmas time, and he's doing more touring in the new year, including further shows in Swansea in January; "I think that's ambitious enough for now, don't you?" In agreement, I thank him for his time and mention how much I enjoyed his show at the Grand. "That's very sweet of you," he says, sincerely appreciative. That's definitely not the sort of thing I'd have imagined Jimmy Carr to say before this interview, and I am left wondering if there is another side to him after all. Whatever that answer may be, there is no doubt that he is a supremely talented, hugely hilarious, and genuinely nice guy. See him live in January, I highly recommend it.

Jimmy presents the Sunday morning show on 104.9 XFM. Visit Jimmycarr.com for information about live tour dates, merchandise, and video clips.

Kate Fletcher