JIMMY CARR ‘ FUNNY BUSINESS ‘ TOUR July 2015
At the PLAYHOUSE THEATRE Edinburgh , Sunday July 6 2015
I have enjoyed Jimmy Carr’s work for some years and have several of his DVD’s which are live recordings of each Tour show. My favourite is the recent show he did in Glasgow.
Famously, Glasgow is known as the ‘Comedian’s Graveyard’. All the venerable stand-up comics of yesteryear – Bob Monkhouse, Ken Dodd, Max Wall, Max Miller (who favoured suits made from flowery curtains) had terrifying tales of ‘Dying’ on the stage – i.e. a frozen laughterless silence broken by foul abuse, a beer bottle
thrown from the stalls followed by a half-eaten scotch pie. English comedians went to Glasgow – where Angels Fear to Tread. They had no choice because they had a contract for the Season to tour each of the Theatre Chain’s halls – from Birmingham to Aberdeen, from Durham to Dundee.
However –(or so they would always claim when telling these old chestnuts on the Parkinson Show) they would persevere until they finally got a laugh – then they knew they had cracked that audience. It’s fair to say that the old trouper Ken Dodd became a nuttynational treasure to audiences at the ‘PAVILION’ and the ‘ALHAMBRA’ because his daft child-like humor was easy to grasp, even by a drunk Clydeside panel-beater and his wife. Also he gave value for money – Ken Dodd knows more jokes than all other British comedians collectively – so his Show would routinely run overtime till well past midnight.
Jimmy Carr actually did not “DIE” in Glasgow that night in spite of (in his very polite Car Salesman manner) verbally vomiting onto his audience’s laps a catalogue of every insulting prejudice and horrid myth about Glaswegians – as the workshy Buckfast –swilling Black Sheep of our industrious and aspirational U. of K.
Last Sunday Mr Carr rose somewhat to the level of the more fragrant Edinburgh Folk – “are there any STUDENTS with us tonight? “ opened a gently entertaining dialogue with several half – cut lassies near the front who didn’t seem to be able to remember what they were studying – and who all seemed to be “on holiday just now”. Jimmy’s show used the format of interacting with different professions – on this night – Students, NHS Nurses, Police Officers and Teachers – “I tell you who I blame for all the drugs in schools – the Supply Teachers.”
At one point he referred to some of his past controversies. His avoidance of paying
Taxes was publicly criticised by the Prime Minister David Cameron on the lawn of the G8 Summit at Gleneagles, flanked by Barack Obama on one side and Kanzler Angela Merkel on the other. What a CHEEK! Good Luck Jimmy, you’ve earned every penny with the sweat of your brow, toiling in the vineyards of Comedy. After all, Ken Dodd himself refused checks after gigs, preferring a wad of banknotes(Bank of England only). Subsequent investigations by the Tax Squad revealed that there were several suitcases full of banknotes hidden in his garden shed in Bootle.
Jimmy also explained the background to the notorious joke about amputee soldiers
“…it’s tragic – young superfit guys average age – 22 sent to Iraq blown up – lost Limbs…… what prospect has a 22 year old guy with no legs have of marriage and a family let alone progressing with his military career which he loved or a meaningful job other than a car park attendant? The upside is we’ll have a gold-winning Paralympics Team at the next Olympic Games.”
This caused huge outrage in 2008 – the ‘DAILY MAIL’ hounded him for weeksand campaigned to have him banned for life from British Television.
Jimmy explained that before telling this joke in public he had been visiting Hedley Court where amputee Soldiers recover, to give encouragement and the therapy of humour. Jimmy told them the notorious joke – the amputees loved it! They were actually the first people to hear that joke!
p.s. “I saw a transvestite in a miniskirt – I thought . . . That shows a lot of balls”.(J.Carr).
Story submitted by
G.H. 2015.
