August 2002 was Jimmy’s first Edinburgh as a solo act and was advertised as his Bare Faced Ambition tour.

He was nominated for the 2002 Perrier Award, as best newcomer and Chortle gave a 4* review to the show. A review that mentions him ”claiming not to do banter” as he claimed to be ”shit at it”. That didn’t last long…

At this Edinburgh he was appearing at the Gilded Balloon, II Teviot Row House (performing in the Dining Room, which was probably fewer than 50 seats).

Written and performed by: Jimmy Carr

Edinburgh 2002 ran from August 4th to 26th.

With the exception of August 13th and 20th – he was performing nightly, from August 2nd to the 25th. The show started at 8.15pm and ticket pricing ranged from £7.50 to £9.50 – with concessionary rates being £6.50 to £8.50. Note that the tickets were a ”2 for 1” deal.

Not sure what date this was recorded but there is a 3 minute video interview, with STV, here.

David O’Doherty (a Cats Countdown regular) was also appearing at the Gilded Balloon – but on the balcony (not sure how big a space that would have been?).

Below I’ve pulled out a few other names, from the programme, that you may recognise. When I see people (on social media) asking why X has Y appearing on their show…these people all came up together, through the trenches. If you had a TV show and one of your mates was a successful comedian – wouldn’t you want them as a guest or panellist?

• Adam Hills (Happy Feet)
• Alan Carr (Me ’Ead’s Spinnin’)
• Danny Bhoy
• Rory Bremner
• Jason Byrne
• David O’Doherty (Small Things)
• Scott Capurro
• Daniel Kitson (Something)
• Peter Kay
• Sean Lock (The Funniest man in London)
• Andrew Maxwell
• Mel and Sue (The Mel and Sue Thing)
• Chris Addision (The Ape That Got Lucky)
• Miranda Hart (Throbs!)
• Noel Fielding
• Dara O’Briain
• Fred Macaulay
• Hal Cruttenden (Hal)
• John Oliver
• Omid Djalili (Behind Enemy Lines)
• Otis Lee Crenshaw and the Black Liars (Rich Hall)
• Lucy Porter
• Reginald D Hunter (I Said What I Said)
• Ross Noble (Sonic Waffle)
• Stewart Lee (Pea Green Boat)
• Flight of the Conchords – Folk The World (photographed with Jimmy)

Ed Byrne isn’t listed as having a show of his own – but does appear on Amnesty’s Stand Up for Freedom line up.

See more in this programme from page 16 onwards.

See also this post about a Stonewall fundraiser, during this festival.

The Bare Faced Ambition tour wasn’t just about Edinburgh, although the tour date information hasn’t really survived online so it’s hard to tell how long it went on for. There are a few dates on UK Theatre Web’s archive – for 5 nights in December at the Soho Theatre and 13th October at His Majesty’s Theatre in the West End.

The full list of Jimmy’s tours and links to posts can be seen here.

Next is Edinburgh 2003 / Charm Offensive