Welcome to another “Why So Serious?” — a column where we ask stand-up comedians a handful of questions, and don’t expect anything resembling straight answers.
For this installment we talked to Australian stand-up , who has developed a loyal audience in the States the last few years with his unapologetically raw, narrative style.
Often compared to the legendary George Carlin, the 34-year-old Jefferies is a veteran of the Edinburgh and Montreal comedy festivals as well as various BBC TV and radio shows and his own HBO special. Lately he’s been co-hosting the popular “Talkin’ Shit with Jim and Eddie” podcast with Eddie Ifft, which has nabbed an average of 70,000 downloads the last few weeks — mostly through word-of-mouth — and cemented its place on iTunes’ Top 100 Podcasts list.
We talked to Jefferies over the phone from his home in L.A. before his shows at this weekend.
You have no problem calling religious people idiots on stage. Do you ever get folks yelling back at you?
It depends on the region a lot. The Midwest has more religious people, but in saying that, the religious jokes and all that go down better in those places because the religious people aren’t coming to see me for the most part. Wherever you get a culture that goes in one direction, you’ve also got a counter-culture that goes in the other. In the U.K. and Australia, God’s not a hot topic at all, so itap not really cutting edge or all that harsh to talk about it. Over here people get overly excited about it. But I will get the occasional person who’ll yell at me and storm out. The sex stuff doesn’t generally bother anybody, either. Really, I’m not a good comedian to see on a whim or a first date.
Have you enjoyed doing the podcast? Does it give you a different outlet for your humor?
Itap easier than stand-up, really, as is doing radio. When you come into towns you do different radio shows, and itap just talking, which is great for comedians because we’re bound to say something funny. But I don’t like the technical sides of things. I’m not an avid Twitter or Facebook guy. I do it because I’m told, because manager and agents want me to. I don’t enjoy that side of the industry, but I realize that’s how the world is now. Last week I was in Kansas, and I got a message saying, “When are you coming to Kansas?” I’m not fond of that, but also I don’t like people knowing whatap going on with me every minute of the day. Actually, I don’t mind following the porn stars (on Twitter), because at least their lives are interesting. Like, “I’m getting a colonic before an anal scene today.” Justin Bieber — what can he be up to all day?
What was your first time performing stand-up like, and what made you want to do it again?
My first time I was 17 in a little bar in Sydney. It went well enough for me to want to do it again, but regrettably the second time went so horribly I didn’t do it again until I was 23, which is when I officially started. I had a respectful fear for it by the time I was that age.
Do you have a joke you used to love to tell but now can’t stand?
I have too many of them to count, really. All my jokes from five years ago, I look back at them like they’re rubbish. If you see me a year apart on tour you’ll definitely get at least 40 minutes of new stuff. Louis C.K., Carlin, thatap what all the really good comics do.
Whatap the worst thing you’ve ever felt bad laughing at?
Um… I was making jokes about the tsunami and earthquake in Japan on a radio show as they were happening, and when I back to the hotel and watched it on the news I felt really bad about it, just awful. But will I make jokes about it six months? Of course I will, and I’ve made 9/11 jokes and Holocaust jokes. Those things are inherently funny, but does that make them any less tragic? No. Do I truly believe it makes me a horrible person? I don’t think that either. I’ve had people die in my life, suicide and stuff, and I made jokes about them a couple days later. As a comedian itap how I cope. I think thatap how most people do.
When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried, and why?
There’s a couple of times I’ve done the podcast in which we’ve made ourselves really laugh, but probably the last time I was in a fit of laughter where I wanted to cry I was on mushrooms in Amsterdam. I was trying to work a cigarette machine and couldn’t find where they came out. And I’d been living in Europe for ten years at that point and I wasn’t even buying them for myself.
Whatap your favorite thing to do outside of comedy?
I like playing pinball machines. I bought one just recently, and it’s one of the first purchases I’ve ever made of a luxury item in my life, like a $5,000 pinball machine. I fucking love it. Often when I’m in different towns I find out what bars have a pinball machine and go down and play for a couple hours. The sad thing is, they’re dying out. Apart from that, drinking is the thing I enjoy.
Favorite joke of the moment?
My girlfriend in Britain wrote a very funny joke for me, which I really enjoyed, which was this: Whenever I get into a fight with my girlfriend she says, “You should treat me like I’m the last woman on Earth.” And I said, “What, lock you in the basement and let men masturbate on you for a million dollars?”
Tickets for Jim Jeffries’ shows at Comedy Works on Larimer Square today (Friday, March 25) and Saturday, March 26 are $27. Visit for tickets and more information.
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John Wenzel is an A&E reporter and the comedy critic for . Follow him and .
