Jimmy Carr // About

About Jimmy

Jimmy Carr is an award-winning comedian, writer and television host, famous for his dark humour and one-line jokes. You can think of him as either a politically incorrect equal opportunities offender or a fake-toothed donkey-laugh plastic-haired comedy mannequin. Either way he was scientifically proven to be the funniest comedian in the UK.

Getting to Know Jimmy…

The best way to get to know the man behind the jokes is to listen to his interviews. The selection below showcases his kinder, more thoughtful side and will also give you a recommended reading list (from a very well-read man).

In 2021’s Diary of a CEO he talked about topics like depression, flow state, happiness, the meaning of life and being a new father.

Jimmy is obsessed with music and you can get a feel for his musical tastes from his selection on Desert Island Discs

Ask yourself “what do you want” is a strong takeaway from the Modern Wisdom podcast that covers discussions about the modern obsession with the individual, young men in crisis, cancellation, kindness, quarter life crises in men and much more.

Appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience Jimmy gives his thoughts on, amongst other things, gratitude, JFK, Nuclear power, religion, his love for comedy and how he’d like to see it taught in schools, to help children find their voice.

Touring

One of the biggest-selling comedy acts in the world, Jimmy consistently performs stand up to sell-out crowds across the globe, soliciting gasps and giggles in over fifty countries (so far).

His last tour, Terribly Funny 2.0, sold over 1m tickets globally and has had him venturing, at last, into American theatres.

In a bid to retain his title of “Hardest Working Man in Comedy” 2023 saw him travel to 145 cities, in 12 countries, on 4 continents – to perform a whopping 293 shows!

His new tour, Laughs Funny, starts its American invasion on May 8th, with a trip to LA to appear at the Netflix is a Joke Festival. In November he will return to participate, for a 3rd time, in the Stand Up for Heroes celebration of veterans.

If you’ve not seen him live before – then be ready for a bit of banter from the stage (only the very brave sit in the front row). He loves a bit of audience interaction – check out this compilation

Television

Jimmy is a household name in UK television, well known for hosting Channel 4’s 8 Out Of 10 Cats, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Big Fat Quiz Of The Year, in addition to presenting Comedy Central’s Roast Battle UK and Your Face Or Mine. He is a regular on all the top UK panel shows, including QI and A League Of Their Own, has performed as part of The Royal Variety Performance three times, is a judge on hit BBC1 entertainment series I Can See Your Voice and the host of Channel 4 gameshow I Literally Just Told You.

Since 2002 he’s been regularly popping up as a guest on a number of American late-night shows. His earliest appearance was on Late Night With Conan O’Brien (returning in 2006 and 2008) and he has also repeatedly appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon and The Late Late Show With James Corden.

Netflix and JFL

He was the first UK comedian to sign a stand-up deal with streaming behemoth Netflix in 2015, releasing three specials on the platform, Funny Business (2016) and Best Of Ultimate Gold Greatest Hits (2017) and His Dark Material (2021 – taken from an early iteration of his Terribly Funny tour).

Netflix launched his 4th special, Natural Born Killer, on 16th April 2024 and it held Top 10 positions in 29 countries.

He also presented and produced an original panel show format for Netflix, The Fix.

He has performed at the Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival 17 times since 2002 (2020 was a virtual festival) with more appearances than any other UK act in that time. He can regularly be seen on The Nasty Show, Kill Tony and Midnight Surprise – and is a feared Roast Battle competitor.

Books

Jimmy is also a published author and he co-wrote The Naked Jape: Uncovering the Hidden World of Jokes in 2006 (released in the US as Only Joking: What’s So Funny About Making People Laugh?).

His highly anticipated memoir and self-help manual, Before & Laughter, was released in September 2021, making the The Sunday Times Bestsellers list. Reviewers of all ages have described it as brutally honest, insightful, inspirational and relatable (as well as being a bit sweary and having a smattering of jokes throughout). If you like hearing Jimmy’s more serious side, on podcasts, then you will love the positive advice and wisdom in this book.

DVDs

Before making the move to streaming, Jimmy was one of the bestselling acts in the comedy DVD market. These shows are now all available on Jimmy’s YouTube channel, where he has accrued over 963,000 subscribers and 300 million views, since launching in 2018. New video content is posted daily and also includes 8 Out of 10 Cats episodes, Big Fat Quizzes and interviews.