Carr geared up for NZ tour
British comedian Jimmy Carr talks to James Croot about comedy, Conchords and having a carbon footprint of a Wookie.
Jimmy Carr is looking forward to bring his distinctive brand of comedy to a wider New Zealand audience in January. The 45-year-old British comedian, best-known as the host of TV shows like Distraction and 8 Out of 10 Cats, last visited our shores in early 2016. However, while Funny Business only visited Auckland, Wellington
and Christchurch, his Best of, Ultimate, Gold, Greatest Hits World
Tour is set to also include trips to Hamilton, Napier, New Plymouth and Dunedin. Speaking on the phone straight after a recent gig in the UK, the affable Carr says while Napier was on his personal wishlist, he had other reasons for a Kiwi tour expansion. ‘‘I’ve got a carbon footprint like a wookie. I am doing 40 countries next year – I’m going everywhere man – and sometimes its easier for me to go to you, rather than you come to me.
‘‘I also think I’ve got quite a lot of young fans – 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds – and it’s an expensive show to come and see without having to fly somewhere as well.’’
Carr’s ‘‘man-of-the-people’’ vibe also extends to the content of the show.
He says audiences were the ones who chose what jokes out of his more than 15-year stand-up career made the cut for this greatest hits package.
‘‘This is the one where I went out there and told all my favourite jokes and the audience went, ‘those are the best ones – those are the really good ones’.
‘‘Obviously there’s a lot of material to choose from, I’ve had nine specials over the last 15, 16 years. It is nice to go back and go, ‘What could I perform better now? How rude and outrageous can I be?’
‘‘You get better at this job. It’s not like you are who you are on the first day, you kind of grow up In public. I think I’m better at telling jokes now than I was. I’m better at putting on a show.’’
Carr also has a reputation for sailing somewhat close to the wind, telling gags that test the boundaries. I mention that recently Kiwi actor Russell Crowe ran a competition asking for the most offensive Jimmy Carr joke.
‘‘Yeah, I was slightly annoyed by that because I was there and I didn’t win. That seems all kinds of wrong doesn’t it?’’
But does he think audience tastes and sensibilities have changed since the early noughties?
‘‘I think things have shifted. Not so much with the kind of comedy that I do, but rather society itself. In most of the world it has been very much much for the better – Trump aside.
‘‘It feels to me like comedy has become a safe space – a place to say the unsayable, where you can be crazy, say anything.’’
Carr admits that he and the other modern comedians selling out venues around the globe owe a huge debt to the likes of Billy Connolly who introduced the whole concept of live touring back the 1970s.
‘‘We’re all standing on the shoulders of giants as far as I’m concerned in terms of comedy. When he [Connolly] first did it, people were going like, ‘what, he doesn’t play the banjo, he just tells jokes for an hour-and-a-half? What are we watching?’ Because there was no one doing it. It [touring] feels like an American thing, but it
was actually invented by a whole lot of people simultaneously around the world.’’
And yes he also thinks British comedy panel shows like QI, 8 Out
of 10 Cats, Insert Name Here and Have I Got News For You? Have helped raise the profile of him and others of his ilk.
‘‘I think they are a really lovely way of comedians being funny without kind of eating material. It used to be old vaudevillians would have 20 minutes of stuff and that would be it for their career. We generate a lot of material.
‘‘TV is a nice place for a comedian to play and it also scratches that itch people who watch late night TV have. It’s good company. Whenever I watch an episode of QI, I think that’s half-anhour spent in good company. It feels like a conversation .Even as a viewer, I feel like a part of it.’’
So is there any show that has desperately waiting for an invite for? ‘‘To Catch a Predator?
America’s Most Wanted?’’ Carr deadpans. ‘‘Sometimes it’s difficult because you look at a show and think, ‘oh my God, it’s the most amazing comedy and I’m glad I don’t have aspirations’. I have got a lot of friends who are actors and they can’t watch something because as soon as they do they go, ‘I could have done that role’.
‘‘I’ve got really kind of Catholic tastes. I watch everything comedic that comes out. I’ll watch an episode of Modern Family and think it’s just the best acting I’ve ever seen - it’s just superb. I wouldn’t want to be in that though, I’d ruin it.’’
One of Carr’s latest TV projects is actually a revival of a series he did back in 2002-03. Co-hosted by Canadian comedienne Katherine Ryan, Your Face or Mine sees couples judging other people and each other on their looks.
‘‘It’s a good format. I also think it’s one of those TV shows that if you get it right you can bring it back at any stage. One that I’d love to do again is Distraction. I’m trying to put a deal together to do that again because I loved it.’’
Admitting that he would love to make some TV down here, Carr says he’s a big fan of New Zealand’s own Flight of the Conchords, even appearing on a couple of episodes of their original BBC radio series.
‘‘Ah, that was only because I was with Bret [McKenzie] and Jemaine [Clement] for their firstever Edinburgh Festival. I saw them at their second-ever gig outside of NZ. Ross Noble was at their first-ever gig and he said to me ‘you got to check out these guys, they are very funny’.
‘‘So I went to the second night and the next four as well. We became friends and I still see those boys whenever I can, they’re amazing. That early stuff they did has still lasted, it’s really funny. Normally only drama matures, comedy rots, but their stuff just gets better and better – it’s kind of cool.’’
Based on that and previous tours here then, does Carr think Kiwi audiences have a distinctive sense of humour?
‘‘I don’t think there’s anything that stands out. When I think about New Zealand, I think about how friendly it is. It is very difficult to go for breakfast and not talk to someone. You actively have to scowl to stop people having a conversation about what you’re doing and recommending a place for lunch.
‘‘It’s a kind of uber friendly, vaguely Stepford Wives-ish sort of place. If the story broke tomorrow that everyone in New Zealand are robots, you’d go – ‘oh yeah, that makes more sense’. Everyone seems pretty chipper most of the time.’’.