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Jimmy Carr review – does he enjoy being himself? Jimmy Carr review – does he enjoy being himself?
(35 minutes later)
Does Jimmy Carr enjoy being Jimmy Carr? As an intelligent 41-year-old, a scholar of comedy who's written a book on the art of humour , can he really derive much pleasure from his own act? His current show Funny Business follows its recent predecessors' formula with relentless jokes about anal sex and child abuse, the calling into question of the sexuality of his hecklers and attempts to make the word "spastic" funny. Fair enough, you might say – brilliant standup can derive from base subject matter. But that's seldom the case here at Dorking Halls: the good jokes are often mechanical, the bad ones barely distinguishable from playground name-calling.Does Jimmy Carr enjoy being Jimmy Carr? As an intelligent 41-year-old, a scholar of comedy who's written a book on the art of humour , can he really derive much pleasure from his own act? His current show Funny Business follows its recent predecessors' formula with relentless jokes about anal sex and child abuse, the calling into question of the sexuality of his hecklers and attempts to make the word "spastic" funny. Fair enough, you might say – brilliant standup can derive from base subject matter. But that's seldom the case here at Dorking Halls: the good jokes are often mechanical, the bad ones barely distinguishable from playground name-calling.
I know, I know – that's the point. Carr knows he's being "just a dick" (his words), and we're all here to celebrate the transgressive frisson of giving rein to our inner schoolyard bully. But after 15 years of Carr's career, and after 15 minutes on stage, it stops feeling transgressive, and just looks like a rich and clever man making all the usual cruel remarks about Polish people, lesbians and rape victims. The laughter comes less from shock – what's shocking about Jimmy Carr telling jokes like these? – than from Carr's childish glee at outdoing himself with another dropping of bigotry or lurid deviance.I know, I know – that's the point. Carr knows he's being "just a dick" (his words), and we're all here to celebrate the transgressive frisson of giving rein to our inner schoolyard bully. But after 15 years of Carr's career, and after 15 minutes on stage, it stops feeling transgressive, and just looks like a rich and clever man making all the usual cruel remarks about Polish people, lesbians and rape victims. The laughter comes less from shock – what's shocking about Jimmy Carr telling jokes like these? – than from Carr's childish glee at outdoing himself with another dropping of bigotry or lurid deviance.
As Carr solicits heckles from the crowd, then responds with barbs about the heckler's mum being a slag, it's impossible not to wonder what's in it for him. (Insert tax joke here; Carr has several of them.) That speculation is encouraged by his self-effacement: no suggestion of who Carr really is or what he stands for is glimpsed behind the prim gag-man emitting jokes like ticker tape. All we know is he's a connoisseur of joke construction; of the springs and levers that make his one-liners maximally effective. His best puns go off with a terrific retroactive bang in the imagination of the listener. "I talked to an African woman, for hours, in her own language," one of them runs: "we just clicked." When your joke-making is as adept as this, who needs abuse?As Carr solicits heckles from the crowd, then responds with barbs about the heckler's mum being a slag, it's impossible not to wonder what's in it for him. (Insert tax joke here; Carr has several of them.) That speculation is encouraged by his self-effacement: no suggestion of who Carr really is or what he stands for is glimpsed behind the prim gag-man emitting jokes like ticker tape. All we know is he's a connoisseur of joke construction; of the springs and levers that make his one-liners maximally effective. His best puns go off with a terrific retroactive bang in the imagination of the listener. "I talked to an African woman, for hours, in her own language," one of them runs: "we just clicked." When your joke-making is as adept as this, who needs abuse?
He obviously loves the forbidden laugh, too, and gets big ones with his Oscar Pistorius material, and a fine crack about the Malaysian Airlines mystery. Here, the bad taste material works, because the subjects are ripe, the punchlines unexpected, and the jokes don't bludgeon the vulnerable. The problem is with Carr's generic chauvinist material, as he bad-mouths fat people, sneers at a picture of an old woman naked, and pretends he's a paedophile. Some jokes are sloppy in the extreme: "I'm not homophobic. Some of my best friends are faggots." (Really?! From a professional comedian?!) Later, he calls a sunny Australian day a "milf", because it's "44 and hot". But in temperature terms, you can't be "44 and hot". 44 /is/ hot. He obviously loves the forbidden laugh, too, and gets big ones with his Oscar Pistorius material, and a fine crack about the Malaysian Airlines mystery. Here, the bad taste material works, because the subjects are ripe, the punchlines unexpected, and the jokes don't bludgeon the vulnerable. The problem is with Carr's generic chauvinist material, as he bad-mouths fat people, sneers at a picture of an old woman naked, and pretends he's a paedophile. Some jokes are sloppy in the extreme: "I'm not homophobic. Some of my best friends are faggots." (Really?! From a professional comedian?!) Later, he calls a sunny Australian day a "milf", because it's "44 and hot". But in temperature terms, you can't be "44 and hot". 44 is hot.
There's less effort than in previous shows to vary the metronomic rhythm. The interactive sections mix things up; when Carr elicits sex stories from the crowd, the best of them have more life about them than his material, and are less crude too. So, there are laughs to be had – Carr's a skilled provocateur and ad libber, and the next cracking one-liner is never far away. But there's so much dross, too, and a wearying desperation to seem outré and beyond the pale. There's nothing necessarily wrong with being "offensive" in comedy – but there are more creative ways to do it than this.There's less effort than in previous shows to vary the metronomic rhythm. The interactive sections mix things up; when Carr elicits sex stories from the crowd, the best of them have more life about them than his material, and are less crude too. So, there are laughs to be had – Carr's a skilled provocateur and ad libber, and the next cracking one-liner is never far away. But there's so much dross, too, and a wearying desperation to seem outré and beyond the pale. There's nothing necessarily wrong with being "offensive" in comedy – but there are more creative ways to do it than this.
• Tuesday, Salisbury City Hall (01722 434 434); Friday, Bath Pavilion (01373 466 626); then touring.• Tuesday, Salisbury City Hall (01722 434 434); Friday, Bath Pavilion (01373 466 626); then touring.