Anything could happen on a night with Jimeoin
As comedian Jimeoin continues his latest tour, Result!, he tells MARK WAREHAM why keeping it loose and unstructured on stage works best, and why there’s nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned fart gag
JIMEOIN wanders on stage in a colourful shirt, chuckling to himself, and, to wild applause, performs a burst of deeply dodgy dad dancing. ‘‘You keep laughing, I’ll keep doing it,’’ he admonishes.
Born in Leamington Spa into an Irish family, the twinkly eyed performer emigrated to Australia 30 years ago and fell into comedy shortly afterwards when, on the spur of the moment, a mate put his name down for an open spot in the pub and he thought, ‘‘Why not?’’
One minute he was playing pool, the next he was up on stage, never having seen a live comedy show in his life, let alone performed one. And he took to it like a natural, unplanned and unrehearsed, cracking gags off the cuff. And it’s been pretty much that way ever since.
Jimeoin is decidedly old-school in his approach to comedy. Particularly at the Edinburgh Fringe, where he has recently celebrated his 25th year. He seems like the traditional jester wandering amid a sea of angry young comics.
‘‘The opposite of being slick is my angle,’’ he explains. ‘‘To look vulnerable and idiotic as opposed to snarling and spitting and full of confidence, which grates with me. If it annoys you in a social environment when you see that sort of behaviour, then it’s annoying when you see it up on stage. I guess people want to see someone ruling it. Like a rock star striking a pose. But it’s not what I do.’’
In a similar vein, Jimeoin specialises in a kind of anti-banter, feigning that he can’t talk to his audience. Not for him the clichéd ‘‘what’s your name, where do you come from’’ chat with the front row.
‘‘I do find people talking to the audience leaves me a bit stale. You’re at the back and you can’t even see the person who’s being spoken to. All you can see is the back of this person’s head and you’ve no idea what they’re saying.’’
At the start of his new show, Result! – which stopped off at Birmingham Town Hall for the Birmingham Comedy Festival in the autumn and now returns to the region for a date at Warwick Arts Centre on February 23 – he deals with current affairs in one fell swoop: ‘‘Trump’s a bit of an idiot and Brexit’s a bad idea.’’
That done, he can get on with the main business in hand… having a laugh.
‘‘Sometimes I see a show that does really well in Edinburgh, a political show with a message, and you think, that’s not going to translate to Southampton. They just want a good night out. So that’s what I give them.
‘‘Not everything has to have a narrative. When you go out with your mates for the evening you don’t think, I’ll have this conversation, then that one and then I’ll put everything I’ve said into context. You just go with the flow. And that ends up being the narrative! I’m not trying to structure anything.’’
The randomness of a Jimeoin show is a huge part of his appeal. Dancing, impressions, visual gags, one liners, non sequiturs, stories, songs... In a word, variety. All of comedy is here, all seemingly conjured out of the ether. Oh and, lest we forget, fart gags – completely ignored by most comics and yet, in the right hands, downright hilarious.
‘‘What are they thinking?’ he laughs. ‘‘It’s staring you in the face. You’ve got to go for the jugular every once in a while. It’s about light and shade.’’
The visual gags are a particular Jimeoin hallmark. With the most expressive of faces and his trademark dancing eyebrows, he at times RESTAURANT booking service comes on like a borderline gurner. OpenTable has revealed Birmingham’s
A typical impression might be the most romantic restaurant. look on his wife’s face when she
doing Michael McIntyre’s Comedy And, reckons Jimeoin, touring, with Based on reviews left by diners in sees a woman with a nice handbag.
Roadshow and Live At The Apollo. its in-built safety valve of an celebration of Valentine’s Day it’s But the more surreal impressions
Though with typical humility, interval, works well for his type of Italian restaurant Cielo in Oozells are his speciality, like a cow
Jimeoin puts his breakthrough comedy and his kind of audience. Square, Brindley Place. standing in the rain or, memorably,
down to good fortune. ‘‘I’m starting to feel that an hour It was the only Birmingham a moth struggling to flap its way up
‘‘It was a fluke really. The first year might be too long. Concentration restaurant to make OpenTable’s top 50 to the moon. You certainly don’tlist.
I played the Edinburgh Internaspans are getting shorter. An hour’s see anyone else on the circuitO doing
tional Conference Centre I had a pushing it, especially when it’s ne gushing reviewer wrote: “We this kind of stuff.
6pm timeslot, which is no good at nonsensical stuff.’’ celebrated our anniversary here and Jimeoin has been touring
all. But the London Olympics were Thirty years on, Jimeoin is still the food was to die for! A class service annually in the UK for some years
on and the big primetime acts were that bloke down the pub cracking with beautiful decor. I’ll most and was the first act to be signed up
struggling as everyone was in the up his mates. Only now he’s doing it definitely be back!” by entertainment giant Live Nation
parks watching the big screens. But in theatres for thousands of fans. Another bowled over reviewer said: when they started touring comics.
at 6pm they were flocking in and I “The food was outstanding, the service Although he’s always been a big
had my best year, selling out 1,200 was excellent and very polite. The noise in Australia, where he’s had
at weekends. So that tipped me on atmosphere was perfect – not too primetime TV shows, it’s only in the
to telly and I was off.’’ noisy and not too quiet. Me and my past decade that he’s properly
The new tour comprises the best wife went there for our wedding broken through over here after
of his two latest Edinburgh hours. anniversary.”
Jimeoin is at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on Saturday, February 23. For tickets call 024 7652 4524 or see www.warwickartscentre.co.uk