Jimmy Carr's comedy is cruel but often inspired
Paul Whitelaw|Metro10 April 2012

The last time Jimmy Carr was on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, he sat next to Cameron Diaz. Just days later, he was on the set of his wilfully tawdry game show, Distraction, watching a man drinking his own urine.

Rarely has a comedian straddled such a seismic divide, seemingly as comfortable on Des O'Connor's couch as he is at Late'n'Live.

'The TV I've done has been unashamedly populist,' he admits, 'but I don't think they're particularly easy. They're accessible but they're still quite out there. I just like to think it's quite funny, never mind anything else.'


Carr has become a recognisable TV presence, a comedian liked by mums, dogs and students alike. Not bad going, considering he was barely known two years ago when he was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Awards.

Carr dresses like a Savile Row dandy, his material and delivery as measured and deadly as a snake in a smoking jacket. His comedy is cruel but often quite inspired, his meticulous two-line jabs a model of comedic economy. And he's certainly distinctive-looking. A friend of mine thinks he looks like a flustered baby.

'A what? Oh, I thought you said foster baby, like the kind of baby where the birth mother looks down and thinks: "No, to be honest, I'm not really sure if I want this".'

T'wasn't ever thus. Back in his student days, Carr sported long hair and a beard.

'It wasn't quite Che Guevara, it was a leader of another kind.' Did he attract followers? 'I did but invariably they'd only be looking for drugs.'

Next on his inexorable rise is a special for US channel Comedy Central, an American version of Distraction, a live DVD and the announcement that Jesus is to be written out of the Bible and replaced with a new JC. His cult marches on.

Jimmy Carr: Public Display Of Affection is at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre this Friday and Saturday, then Aug 26 to 29. www.edfringe.com

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