Carr’s ultimate greatest hits goes for gold
Jimmy Carr has jokes about our biltong. None of them will make it into his brand new one-man show!
BUT back to the biltong. “I don’t mind the biltong,” he says with a slight chuckle. “You know South Africans like to go on about how they have the best biltong in the world? You’re the only ones who even make biltong. No one else thinks to take a beautiful piece of meat and goes: ‘you know what? I think I might leave this in the sun for days.’”
Food aside, Carr loves this country. “I have been coming to South Africa since early on in my career,” he says in his signature fast-paced manner.
“The first ever overseas gig was doing a comedy festival in Cape Town. It was so much fun! It’s a happy place for me.
“The last time I came there on tour, I thought I knew South Africa because
I’d been to Joburg and Cape Town, but I remember that was the first time I had been to Durban. Totally different culture, place, just fabulous and fun.”
This weekend and next, he’ll be bringing the fun and laughter to Jozi and the Mother City.
Carr’s curiously titled show is an amalgamation of the best gags of his 15-year-long career. “It was a rock n roll kind of thing,” Carr says.
“I wanted to do a best of tour and just wanted to get on stage, be an entertainer, just tell all my best jokes.
“The night is about telling my best-ever jokes.
“Three or four gags a minute at a relentless pace. I wanted it to be very clear what I was doing with this tour. And I didn’t want to just call that a Best of Tour.”
“I went back and watched my old stuff and came up with a long list of jokes. Ultimately, the audience is the genius. They decide what’s funny. I tell the jokes, but the ones the audience laughs at the loudest are the ones that make this show.”
This greatest hits approach to a show hasn’t stopped Carr from working on new material.
“I am about halfway through writing a new show. I’m still really enjoying performing and really get a kick out of being on stage. It’s no hardship to be on this tour.”
Catch Jimmy Carr’s The Best Of, Ultimate, Gold, Greatest Hits World Tour at Montecasino today and tomorrow.
He’ll be at the Grand Arena in Cape Town on September 29. Tickets at Computicket.