Jim Jeffries is one of Australia’s most successful stand up comedians, and yet few Australians know who he is. He has played to audiences in the USA, Canada, India, Bahrain, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, South Africa, Sweden, Singapore, Dubai, Norway, France, Holland and the UK. He has also appeared on numerous top rating UK comedy panel shows including Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News For You, Heaven and Earth and 8 out of 10 Cats. And yet few Australians know who he is.
Well, for a start, Jim is the first Australian ever to have a HBO special in the US. I asked him how this would potentially affect his career. What will it do for my career… I really don’t know until it airs, says Jim, the hope is that people will dig it and it will make my fan base a lot bigger and I might get more telly. But I’m not looking that far ahead, I’m just happy to have done it at the moment. Does he think this will help carve out a path in the US for other Aussie comics? If it does help other Aussies that’s great, but from what I can see not many Aussies have tried their luck in the US as comics and I think now the Americans a far more open to foreign acts at the moment, the Flight of the Conchords really set the ball rolling (New Zealand but the same thing as far as the Americans are concerned).
Jim is also soon to record his own sitcom. As a comedian who tours live extensively, as he does, I wondered if these developments mark a move away from live work to concentrate more on television work. I love being a stand up, he says, I’m really passionate about it and would work for free if I didn’t have to travel more than 5 kms every day, but I have been travelling the world solid for 8 years straight and it’s killing me, I would not care if I never got on a plane again for the rest of my life, it’s hard to keep a girlfriend and hotels do your head in and that’s why it’s a job, so doing a sitcom or being in movies means I would be in the same place for a long time and that sounds like heaven to me. But I would still try to find some pub to do a gig in every week. Doing stand up is what I really love.
In late 2006 Jim travelled to Afghanistan to entertain the troops. Does he think there are political implications in such a trip or is it simply a case of entertainer/audience? I’m a entertainer/audience guy…but it’s hard not to get caught up in the politics of the whole thing. I don’t personally agree with the war, but I do think the solders should be entertained, and a lot of my views on the war are probably ill formed and basic so it’s best I just tell my jokes.
Jim hit the headlines in 2007 with an onstage incident in which he was punched onstage. He has a notoriously confrontational nature to his work so I asked him if incidents such as these make him want to tone it down, or is the reverse true. I like a little danger, he says, it makes me feel like I’m in the right direction. I don’t mean to be confrontational. I’m just telling stories about myself mostly. I have never understood why people get so upset about blue comedy, it’s been going on since the being of stand up. Lenny Bruce went too far….Richard Pryor went too far….even Rodney rude went too far. So how far will it go? The answer is that it hasn’t gotten any worse, it’s the same, we just dress it up different and people are stupid enough to still get upset and fuel the fire. If things have gotten worse there would be a raped dead cancer patient as someone’s prop by now.
Jim also invited controversy when he insulted Kelly Osbourne onstage at the NME Awards in the USA. Kelly spat at him and, reportedly, her mother, Sharon Osbourne sent him a ‘poisonous pen’ email. I quite like the Osbourne’s they just hate me, says Jim, adding however, I was on a plane with [Kelly] about a week ago, I had to hide from her at the baggage carousel so she would not spit on me again.
Jim grew up in Australia but he is now based in the UK . The Brits are more vocal, Jim says of British audiences, and watch a lot more stand up than the Aussies. One of the casualties of Jim’s ex-pat status is potentially a lack of recognition in his home country. No one knows I’m in Australia, he says, its my fault, I was gigging overseas the whole time. I hope this will change. So what can Aussies audiences expect from one of Jim’s shows? I promise it will be funny, he says, don’t expect just cock jokes, Its mostly stories. And a little bit of mayhem.
Sydney: Jim will be appearing at the Comedy Store Sydney from Thurs19 March – Sat 28 March (2 week season), 8:30pm (Bar opens 7pm); two hours featuring supports. For Bookings ring the Comedy Store Sydney Box Office 02 9357 1419, www.comedystore.com.au Tix: Tues & Wed $15.00/ $10.00 conc, Thurs $20.00 / $15.00 conc, Friday & Saturday $30
Melbourne: Jim will be appearing at the Melbourne Comedy Festival from the 2nd to the 26th April. For booking details go to “Jim Jeffries – Hellbound”: http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/season/2009/show/jim-jeffries-hellbound/
Thanks to Jim Jeffries