The Edge Breakfast - EXCLUSIVE: Jimmy Carr Full Interview

Episode Date: April 13, 2025

This is a podcast from Rover. Jimmy Carr! Well, I can't believe you're luck, Lynn. It's me. My producer just went, I can't believe I was just talking to Jimmy Carr. And I was like, mate, piss off. You're eating into my time. Listen, it's a pleasure to be on with you. Thank you very much. I'm shilling a tour is what I'm doing.

I'm really telling people I'm coming to New Zealand next year. And I'm going everywhere as well. I've been to more of New Zealand than anyone I've ever met from New Zealand. Yeah, well, I know you're a bit of a workaholic. You did 50 countries and 300 shows in 2023. What did 2024 look like for you? About the same. I mean, you know, I work a couple of hours a night.

It's easy. And all I do is tell jokes. I mean, everyone else does that to relax. Here's my problem with work, right? People say you're a workaholic. Work is more fun than fun. I can't go bowling. I can't go bowling.

An average night for me at the office is 300 laughs and a couple of thousand people. I've got no other options. What can I do? And then when you're not doing that, you're hosting shows like Last One Laughing. Amazon Prime, I just got stuck into that. and I've been seeing all the videos on TikTok. It's such a great show. So you must be just doing the most. Well, I mean, I think that show was, it's on Amazon Prime, so I think you can watch it kind of all around the world.

But it's a very joyful show. And it feels like, I very rarely think what we do as comedians is terribly important but it does feel like people it feels like i don't know if you used to watch the apprentice with the guy used to be hosted by a guy called donald trump yeah he's got a new show he's got a new show i don't know if you've seen it it's called the news and it is terrifying and it's on 24 hours a day and it is messing with people's minds because it's got too much story in it.

There are too many things happening too much of the time and sometimes you just need to switch off and go, right, I just need some fun now. There's more stuff that seems to happen in a day now than it would have been a slow decade. It's crazy. But I mean, I've heard his review of how he's doing, and it's the best ever that anyone's ever done.

Oh, that's a bit of good news, isn't it? Yeah. Hey, Jimmy, I am a big fan of one of your good friends, Neil Brennan, who has the podcast Blocks. Oh, hey, that was my idea. Yeah, I know. I mean, I think he only credited it to the day he had you on the podcast and then you ended up, I think, interviewing him in another episode a few months later.

I mean, he's such a wonderful man. The thing I would recommend for listeners is he did his first special. It's the Gateway Drug. It's called Three Mikes. So he did this special. He co-created Chappelle's show with Dave Chappelle. Yeah. And he's an incredibly talented man. But he did this show where the first mic is jokes right one-liners kind of what i do second

and mike is stand-up great slightly longer bits a bit more philosophy in them and the third mic is the truth and you kind of start the show going yeah tell me jokes jokes are fun and then halfway through you're like yeah stand-up's kind of great and then by the end of it you just go just tell me what happened with your dad it's like amazing yeah and it's also like sometimes you're like am I supposed to be laughing at this like but he ties it in with so much synergy at the end he's such such a talented guy but I really love the episode when you were on with him because so often I imagine there's this pressure on you to be funny in every situation you're in but a lot of podcasts that I've heard you on, you're actually a really intelligent and deep philosophical guy. Well, I think it's nice to have... I've got a fastball. I do what I do on stage,

and I like to think I'm in the service industry. People want to come out, and they want to laugh for two hours, and I'm the drug dealer, right? They've got dopamine and serotonin on them, and I'm able to release that drug. Fabulous, right? That's what I do for a living. I make something people want. I make them happy. And, you know, it's always that thing of, like,

people never remember what you say, but they remember how you made them feel. So every one of my shows is an advert for the next tour. I've already got the money for this tour. So you go, right, come and see the show, laugh a lot, feel great a lot feel great and when I come back you go right I'm going to buy another ticket that's the that's the secret sauce and then when I do a podcast or whatever if it's long form you allow yourself to go well I'll talk about what I think about life and I I think there's something about as a man like I kind of felt like a kid before I had kids and now I feel like okay I'm

an older guy I know a thing or two I can talk you know I'll talk about what I think um yeah I know there was something you were talking about which I imagine probably comes up with you a lot where you're talking about how to survive uh cancellation attempts and some of the risky jokes and I imagine how the landscape has changed over the last few years especially uh with. And you don't seem to really give two shits whether people like it or not. And I'm wondering whether that is actually the reality or just the perception of people watching.

Well, I think it's like, comics are, we're showbiz adjacent. Here's a very name-droppy story. Okay, so Robbie Williams is a mate of mine and he has this line. He says, I'm an entertainer in the true sense. If you don't love me, I don't love me. And it's heartbreaking for a friend to hear that and to go, you really mean that.

If the audience don't love you, you've got nothing. So for me, it's like comics are entertainment adjacent. We're sort of one foot in entertainment, but also we want to be loved desperately but only on our terms so it's like i can't sing a song that i don't love i can't tell a joke that i don't think is funny it's it's got to be kind of that singer-songwriter thing of like i think this is hilarious and you're performing and you're sharing it with other people but i've got i think it's funny first and my sense of humor is quite dark. So it's not, it's strange, your sense of humor, because it's kind of like your taste in food

or your sexual preferences. Some people like it spicy. Some people like the mild stuff. I am a bondage vindaloo. I love that. I feel like you and Ricky Gervais are the two people who give the least shits about what people think about whether they like your comedy or not.

You're like, this is what I'm doing. And if you don't like it, it's not for you. Like Ricky Gervais tells that joke about now jokes almost being, or comedy and people having an opinion is like seeing someone offering guitar lessons and you calling the number and saying, but I don't want guitar lessons. And it's like not everything is for everyone. i think it's i think it's a big difference like cancellation for me is saying not only do i not like this thing i don't think anyone else should be allowed to enjoy this thing and anyone defending this thing is also guilty of the same crime it's when when all those things happen

at once then you're being cancelled but i think you can only be cancelled if your own audience turn on you if you've got your audience if you're in a privileged But I think you can only be canceled if your own audience turn on you. If you've got your audience, if you're in a privileged position where you've built your audience, if they stick by you, you're going to be okay. But, you know, occasionally, it's context collapse is what happens. A joke escapes from a comedy show

and a journalist who probably, I mean, we all know journalists. They're a great bunch. They've got a great sense of humor, most of them. And what they do is they pretend, oh, this joke, let's pretend it's a statement and cause a fuss. And they've got a great little story. Yeah, fine. But let's let's you got to you know, there's a great if you do a bit of therapy. There's a great phrase they use in therapy, which is we've got to right-size this, right? So whenever I get cancelled, I would phone my mate and he always goes, you told a joke and some people didn't like it.

That's it. Yeah. That's what happened. Let's calm down. There's real problems in the world. I feel like you're one of the greatest at, and I don't even know why people do this, when people neg you and people try to, I don't know,

shout things out during a show. Anyone who's going to one of your 13 shows in New Zealand, I would suggest you don't throw shade at Jimmy Carr. But there was someone who I work with here, Dan, and unfortunately he's down the other end of the country, who's so gutted about not speaking with you because that's what he wanted you to do to him. He wanted you to just roast him and give him shit.

Like people like it. People like to join in, right? I kind of figured this out years ago in a comedy show of going, look, asking people to deal with heckles, you know, it's like I've written the show. I've written, I think, the best set I've ever written in terms of jokes. And then I go, look, just heckle me. Come at me with anything.

And it's like asking a magician to do real magic because you're doing it kind of in real time. But then you've had so much time in the gym on stage, you're just used to working that muscle. And everyone's shouting stuff out. Even if they misjudge it and it's a bit aggressive, you go, yeah, but they're trying to join in and have fun. And maybe they haven't done this before.

Cut them some slack. It's all fun. I hope they don't get bent out of shape when you win, fine. Dan, who I co-host the show with, wants to go there. I wonder if we could call him quickly and you could say hi to him and give him a bit of a roasting. Oh, no problem at all. Well, I'll place a call to him now.

I'm hoping he hasn't jumped on a plane to make his way back to Auckland because he's in Dunedin. Hello, Daniel speaking. Oh, hi, Daniel. Hello, it's Dunedin. Hello, Daniel speaking. Oh, hi, Daniel. Hello, it's Jimmy Carr calling. Hello, hello. Are you on a flight back from Dunedin? Yes. I think maybe

you should stay in Dunedin. There's a lot of people there that are more, I don't want to be rude to the people of Dunedin, but they're more your speed. The kind of people that would make love to a Hoover. Maybe inbred people that are missing the top lip. That kind of thing.

Like proper, there's a very butch lesbian community there. I just think you would fit in. Look, the reason I'm telling you this is to sugar the pill slightly. I'm going to step in and co-host the show. We don't need your services anymore. This has been my dream to be roasted by Jimmy Carr.

Look, that is an absolute joy. You know what? You've ticked off some bucket list things for me, Jimmy. Bless you. Thank you, guys. This has been a real uplifter. Jimmy, do you know, on the way down, Dan's one of those guys. I think I've got the audio here. This is what Dan did when the plane landed

all right round of applause for the pilots come on oh that's oh that's adorable isn't it i'll be honest with you i imagine he does a similar thing in an uber just to finish jimmy car i'm going to hit you with what you said is the greatest question to ask anybody. That might be a nice way to wrap it up. What was the last thing you changed your mind about? Oh, that is a great question. Otherwise, you know, have you really

been thinking? Have you just been rearranging your prejudices? I don't know. I'm just trying to think what the last thing I changed my mind about. I think maybe that Daniel guy. Maybe he's not so bad. He is actually, he's quite a quiet taste once you do get to know him. He is actually like

one of those people that if he's going to be at the thing that you're all meeting up at, if he's there, everyone's going to have a better time because through sometimes fault of his own makes every situation more interesting and more funny and more memorable for sure. Yeah, I think he's the, you know what he is?

In the sitcom of life, he's the wacky neighbor. Yes, yes. He's your Kramer. You need a Kramer. He is. We can't all be Seinfeld. Someone's got to be Kramer. It's like you've actually hung out with him before.

You've really got to read on him in the few minutes you spoke to him. I think we need to keep this guy on. Obviously, we've got to cut his wages, but let's keep him on. Okay, great. He's the best in his price range for sure. At least that's what I hear. The best in his price range is a great tagline. Please welcome Daniel, best in his price range.