In the Pubs and Clubs 2002 post we kind of saw the end of the first phase of Jimmy’s career as now we move on to a bigger tour (called Charm Offensive – not to be confused with the Canadian tours with Jim Jefferies, which saw this name repurposed), lots of Festival dates – and a DVD.

These are just some highlights of the year and, although it’s a lengthy one, it highlights (1) how many comedy festivals we had around the UK and (2) how many of the comedians that currently dominate UK TV were paying their dues, slogging around the country. This may get updated as more info comes to light and please let us know if you spot any errors.

January 2003

January 20^th saw another name to add to the roster of “pubs and clubs” venues on the circuit – The Bearcat Comedy Club in Twickenham (holds about 100 people). Paul Foot was on the bill with Jimmy (he’s been on both 8oo10Cats and Cats Countdown).

January 25^th sees JC at the Banana Cabaret in Balham with Micky Flanagan.

February 2003

January saw Chortle announce him as a part of Leicester’s Comedy Festival (a 10-day festival, starting Feb 7^th).

As usual (to put into context who Jimmy was on the circuit with at the time) some names that you may recognise from TV work include Tim Vine, Ed Byrne, Gary Delaney, Matt Ford, Adam Hills, Nina Conti, Richard Herring, Otis Lee Crenshaw (Rich Hall), Omid Djalili, Jeremy Hardy and Harry Hill. Although not named in this story a poster also listed Russell Howard and Reginald D Hunter.

Also, comics mentioned in other posts on this blog, Dominic Holland and Daniel Kitson.

• Feb 7^th @ 7.30pm – Jimmy played De Montfort Hall as a part of “The Best of the Leicester Mercury New Act of the Year”
• Feb 7^th @ 11pm – he appeared at Festival Club in the Haymarket Theatre
  • Feb 7^th – although not mentioned in this article a poster for the festival’s Late Night Comedy Club (aka Festival Club) announced that Jimmy would be joined by Brenen Lovegrove, David Hadingham and one Russell Howard.
• Feb 13^th @ 8pm – he performed at the International Arts Centre

Feb 14^th he’s at Up The Creek with Sarah Kendall (Taskmaster) – while the Banana Cabaret has Geoff Norcott and Michael McIntyre.

Feb 15^th he’s again on an Up The Creek (Croydon) line up, this time with Dominic Frisby and Andrew Maxwell.

The Aspen (Colorado) Comedy Festival runs from Feb 28^th to March 2^nd. I can’t find the dates that Jimmy appeared there (just several references to him performing in 2003). Oddly this BBC article says that he hosted it, which I cannot confirm (or deny). Other comics at Aspen included Mike Myers, Bill Bailey, Harry Shearer (The Simpsons) and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier).

May 2003

In May we’re back with Up The Creek (Croydon) and Jimmy is headlining on the 2^nd and 3^rd. On Friday 2^nd Andrew Maxwell is also on the bill. Meanwhile Lee Mack is at Banana Cabaret.

Then we’re over to Kilkenny, in the Republic of Ireland, for the aptly named Kilkenny Comedy Festival (30^th May to June 2^nd) – which also seems to also be called The Murphy’s Cat Laughs Comedy Festival.

Chortle announced that the line up would include Jimmy, Rich Hall, Daniel Kitson, Bill Bailey, Ed Byrne, Fred MacAulay and Dara O’Briain. Fred, Daniel and Jimmy are named as “festival favourites” by the Irish Examiner (which suggests this was not the first time that Jimmy had been there).

He’s listed as performing at Widow McGrath’s at a show that begins at 6pm and also features Kathleen Madigan and was hosted by Des Bishop.

June 2003

June 13^th Jimmy is headliner at Up The Creek and is described as a “familiar face on our television screens with the hit show Your Face or Mine” (which was the first series, with June Sarpong).

June 23^rd to 29^th was York Comedy Festival and, although lots of articles confirmed that Jimmy was there, I cannot find the exact date / venue.

On the 23^rd he hotfooted to Burbank, California to star on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

July 2003

July 5^th Jimmy played Leicester’s De Montfort Hall as a part of the Summer Raspberry Festival. This festival only ran from July 4-6 but included Dave Spikey (who went on to do 8 Out of 10 Cats), Mark Thomas, Omid Djalili, Daniel Kitson and Doug Stanhope (who flew from the US, just for this festival).

In May Chortle had announced that Jimmy would be at the Liverpool Comedy Festival, alongside Dara O’Briain and Ross Noble. Jimmy’s gig was July 12^th at the Unity Theatre (ignore the publication date on the article – the URL is for 2003).

Montreal (JFL) was July 10-20 and that will be covered in JFL posts.

July Jimmy performed at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London and the shows on the 23^rd and 24^th were record nights for his “Stand Up” DVD (he also played the 22^nd as a warm up night).

July 19^th to 25^th was the Ealing Festival (Jimmy’s gig was listed as the 23rd, presumably an afternoon performance, see Bloomsbury, above). Ealing also featured Daniel Kitson, Simon Evans, Dylan Moran, Paul Tonkinson, Bill Bailey, Rob Brydon, Al Murray. And the final day “10^th Birthday Gala Celebration” featured Lee Mack, Jason Byrne and more.

August 2003

August 3-25 was the Edinburgh Fringe and Jimmy’s many 2003 fringe appearances will be covered in another post.

October 2003

The Birmingham Comedy Festival was October 2-12 and Jimmy played the Glee Club (8^th). Other comics at this festival include Jim Davidson, Andy Zaltzman, Michael McIntyre, Tommy Tiernan, Alan Carr, Jim Jefferies, Milton Jones, Daniel Kitson, Tom Stade, Danny Bhoy and Barry Cryer.

On October 13^th he was filming in London, with Sir David Frost, on the Strategic Humour Initiative.

October 10-25 was the Brighton Comedy Festival and Jimmy performed at the Dome (twice in one night) on the 17^th. For details of other comedians etc. – see here.

The rest of the year was filled out with UK dates.