Jimmy Carr

For the Canadian politician, see Jim Carr; for the American computer professional, see Jim Carr (US); for the football player of the same name see Jimmy Carr (football player).

Jimmy Carr
Born	(1972-09-15) September 15, 1972 Slough, England
Notable works and roles	8 Out of 10 Cats

James "Jimmy" Anthony Patrick Carr (born September 15, 1972) is an English comedian known for his deadpan, satirical humour.

Early life

Carr was born in Slough, England. He was educated at Burnham Grammar School in south Buckinghamshire and later at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe where he achieved 4 A grades at A-level, before going on to receive a first in Social and Political Sciences from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. After leaving Cambridge, Carr was hired by the oil company Shell as a marketing executive, a job which he described as "the easiest job in the world". Less than two years afterwards, he took redundancy and joined JC Productions Ltd in order to begin a career in stand-up comedy. Whilst working at JC Productions with his father, Carr made his first film at Pinewood starring Craig Charles and Roy Dotrice. The film, The Colour of Funny, was a flop and this failure motivated him to try his hand at comic writing and stand-up. Carr eventually gained recognition at the Royal Variety Performance, and was chosen by Channel 4 to host game shows such as Distraction and Your Face or Mine? In 2004 he released his first stand up DVD titled simply Jimmy Carr Live, and the following year (2005) his second was released, Jimmy Carr Stand Up. He currently presents 8 Out of 10 Cats on Channel 4.

Career

Television work

Carr was a guest presenter for one episode of Have I Got News For You and has appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks twice, as well as on Stephen Fry's QI. He has presented many 100s programmes for Channel 4: 100 Worst Pop Records, 100 Worst Britons, 100 Greatest Cartoon Characters and 100 Scary Moments.

In 2004, it was announced Carr would host a U.S. version of Distraction for Comedy Central. On January 10, 2006, the second season of the US version of Distraction debuted on Comedy Central, with Carr continuing his hosting duties. Carr was shortlisted for the 2006 Rose d'Or award for best game show host. He co-hosted the first series of the Channel 4 show The Friday Night Project In 2005, as well as the quiz show 8 Out of 10 Cats.

During his guest appearance on the BBC motoring show Top Gear, Carr set a new celebrity test track lap record on the 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' segment. Driving the show's Suzuki Liana, he knocked Simon Cowell off the top spot, with a time of 1:46.9, despite having been quoted by host, Jeremy Clarkson, that Carr had "the world's luckiest lap". He was also described as "the worst driver we've ever had" and "the luckiest man alive" by Top Gear's test driver The Stig, who also apparently said that he never met anyone who "dicks about" as much. His time was later beaten by Ellen MacArthur. He also was given the nickname of 'Jimmy Carr-nage' and 'The Carrminator' (referring to The Terminator). His re-appearance on Top Gear in May 2006 placed him last in the brand new Reasonably Priced Car, with the slowest time ever (even slower than the late Richard Whiteley), due to a spin entering the Gambon corner caused by attacking the second-to-last corner too aggressively. All his appearances had, ironically, Carl Orff's "O Fortuna" playing in the background, with the finale being played when Clarkson announced the lap time. Carr also hosted a highlights edition of the show.

Carr is a prolific writer as well as performer, with writing credits including Bo' Selecta! (C4) & Meet Ricky Gervais (C4) as well as writing for Lily Savage and Frank Skinner. In the U.S., Carr has appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien twice and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno three times. In December 2006, Carr presented the third Big Fat Quiz of the Year on Channel 4, having also presented the first and second. Carr has also appeared on the Irish Topical News Comedy show The Panel.

He appears at the end credits of Ross Noble's Randomist DVD, where he punches Ross on his way back to the dressing room. The joke was that Ross said in his show how Jimmy only performed for a "weak" 1 hour 20 minutes, as opposed to Ross's 2 and a half hour show.

Radio

Carr is a regular guest and interviewer on Loose Ends (BBC Radio 4) and The Fred MacAulay Show (BBC Radio Scotland). In January 2005, Carr hosted 'It's Been a Terrible Year' — a comedy review of 2004, on BBC Radio 2. Up until July 2006, he had a Sunday morning radio show on XFM, with the mercurial comedian Iain Morris. The show had a strong emphasis on toilet humour, and regularly focused on discussing men that Morris 'accidentally' kissed during the previous week, despite being avowedly heterosexual. Morris also recently announced plans on air to venture into the world of male escorting, but his rates were never confirmed.

Features, of varying popularity, have included: Goth Classics — Item lasting about four weeks in which The Sisters of Mercy track 'This Corrosion' was played twice. Now That's What I Call A Jukebox — Long running item invented by Iain Morris where a number of songs are selected from a Now That's What I Call Music album, and are put to a vote. The song with the most votes is played. The Songs You Should Like And The Songs You Do Like (But You Like The Song You Should Like As Well) — This catchy-titled item consists of playing in sequence one credible but underrated or overlooked song (The first was 'Touch Sensitive' by The Fall) and one guilty pleasure (Liberty X's 'Just A Little Bit' followed) On the 9th of July 2006, the item was renamed 'A Song to Patronise, A Song To Sanatise.' Traditionally, items are carried out with little professionalism, presumably to match the rest of the show content.

In january 2006, Carr made a joke on Radio 4's Loose Ends, the punchline of which implied that Gypsy women smelled. Although the BBC issued an apology, Carr refused and continues to use the joke during his acts.

Stand-up comedy

2004 was a successful year for Carr's live work. In 2003 he sold out an entire month's performances of his Edinburgh Festival show Charm Offensive by the second day of the festival, and received 5-star reviews from four major newspapers. In 2004 he performed sold out solo shows at Dublin's Vicar Street, Leicester's Comedy Festival, Glasgow Festival, Kilkenny Cat Laughs and the Galway Festival along with appearances at The Bloomsbury Theatre where he filmed his first live DVD. Also in 2004 he threatened to sue fellow comedian Jim Davidson for using a joke that Carr considered 'his'. The matter was dropped when it became apparent that the joke in question was an old one used for decades by many different comedians, most notably the radio shows of Victor Lewis-Smith. He toured the country with his show, A Public Display of Affection, starting on 9 April 2005 at the Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury. He also appeared at the EICC during the Edinburgh Festival in August 2005 with his 'Off The Telly' show. Later on in the year, in late November, he released his second DVD Jimmy Carr: Stand Up.

In August 2006, he commenced a new tour, Gag Reflex, for which he recently won the 2006 British Comedy Award for 'Best Live Stand up'. He also performed at the 2006 Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, as well as making a return visit to the Newbury Comedy Festival. He was announced "Funniest Man Alive Ever I Swear" in a recent poll by the Mail On Sunday. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In 2007, a poll on the Channel 4 website for 100 Greatest Stand Ups concluded Jimmy Carr was the 12th. A new national tour will commence in Autumn 2007 'Repeat Offender' which kicks off at this year's Edinburgh Festival.

Personal life

In March 2004, Carr's father Jim was arrested by the Metropolitan Police after Jimmy Carr and his brother Colin accused their father of harassment. Mr. Carr senior was later acquitted of all charges and awarded costs by the Court. Mr. Carr's acquittal was followed by a written apology from the CPS. Later the Metropolitan Police also apologised and paid him substantial damages in an out of court settlement of the false arrest and false prosecution charge.

Carr admitted on a Channel 4 advertisement, and then later clarified on BBC One comedy panel show, Would I Lie To You?, that he lost his virginity at the age of 26. He attributed the lateness of his deflowering to the strict religious beliefs he adhered to in his younger years.

Despite occasional references in his shows that he is the brother of British comedian Alan Carr, this is untrue.

Filmography

Movie	Role
Alien Autopsy	Gary's manager
Confetti	Antoni
Stormbreaker	John Crawford
I Want Candy	Video Shop Guy

Books

On November 2, Carr, together with advertising copy-writer friend Lucy Greeves, released a book called The Naked Jape (the U.S. version, re-titled Only Joking, was released on September 21), a discussion of the art and history of joking. It includes a selection of over 400 of the best jokes ever told.

Second Life

On December 21, 2006, Jimmy announced plans to become the first major comedian to perform in the virtual reality world of Second Life. This was confirmed on his MySpace on January 3, 2007, and a competition launched to choose a select audience from the list of his MySpace friends.

Carr's Second Life show took place on Saturday, February 3 at 7pm, at Adam Street Bar and Members Club in central London. Fifty MySpace friends made up his live audience, with 100 virtual attendees in Second Life itself. The show was enjoyed by both sets of audiences, with excellent feedback received on both Jimmy's MySpace profile and within Second Life.

Carr hinted at the show that he may perform future shows in Second Life.

World record

In March 2007, Laura Jackson from the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that Jimmy had obtained the world record for being the first comedian in cyberspace, following on from his Second Life show.

Quotations

• "The way to tell whether a joke is taboo or not is whether you have to look over your shoulder before telling it. If you have to, then don't tell the joke. I imagine Jim Davidson has to look over his shoulder a lot. There's no need for an announcement at the beginning of my show: 'Postmodern irony will be used throughout, please pay close attention. The comedian you are about to watch is neither racist nor homophobic nor misogynistic. He has a liberal arts degree.'"
• "I was very religious when I was growing up, until I was about 26. And then I was all about the poontang."
• "If we're all God's children, what's so special about Jesus?"
• "You're probably all wondering about my accent. Actually, I don't have an accent. I'm from England. This is just the way things sound when they are pronounced properly." as quoted from a Just For Laughs repeat.

Awards

• British Comedy Awards 2006 - Best Live Stand Up
• Loaded Lafta Award 2004 - Best Stand Up
• Royal Television Society Award Winner: Best On-Screen Newcomer 2003
• Perrier Award Nominee: 2002
• Time Out Award Winner: Best Stand Up 2002

External links

• Official website
• Jimmy Carr at IMDb