Elon Musk launched a rival to Wikipedia a few days ago, Grokipedia.

On the one hand I think this is a good thing – on the other hand I’ve only looked at one page and it’s really, REALLY poor. Can you guess which one?

https://grokipedia.com/page/Jimmy_Carr

Elon said in interviews that this is just the start and that it will get better…I’m pretty sure that it will.

Not wishing to blow my own trumpet…but Grok needs to pay more attention to this blog and not some of the silly places that it has collected text from (and it needs to stop making stuff up).

Let’s look at a few of the issues, in that Jimmy Carr text:

Grok: Among his accolades are multiple Last Laughs Awards…

Me: Loaded LAFTAs

Thoughts: This is from the Chambers Management Bio page (here) and there nothing remotely like “Last Laughs”

Grok: first open mic appearance in 1997

Me: 1998

Thoughts: It’s making stuff up again. The BBC page referenced mentions open mic but no year. I can only imagine that it’s tried to work it out by guessing a year, from his age.

Grok: He describes “woke” influences as an “infection on comedy,” contending…

Me: fake quote

Thoughts: This is a Facebook quote from a Brit Stand Up Comedy Fans account (here). Firstly, I don’t think AI should be collecting information from random social media accounts. Secondly, I have NEVER known Jimmy to use the term “woke”. This is a made-up quote.

Grok: Carr extends this philosophy to rational self-interest in legal but contentious domains, defending aggressive tax avoidance…as permissible self-preservation rather than ethical lapse, emphasizing compliance with law over moralistic critique. This consistency highlights his rejection of conflating legality with morality, favouring first-principles evaluation of actions’ consequences over prevailing sensitivities

Me: Complete and utter rubbish

Thoughts: Apart from being a bit of a word salad I don’t think this represents the views that he has expressed, over the tax issue. I think this is a combination of (1) AI not understanding jokes that he’s made about it and (2) relying too heavily on getting text from The Guardian (who always write negative pieces about him, especially on this topic).

I’ve got a long piece on “the tax thing” percolating…coming soon.

Grok: By the mid-2000s, he was headlining arenas across the UK and Ireland, with his first arena tour  

Me: Nope, 2025 was the start of his first solo Arena tours. In 2024 he did some with Jim Jefferies (Charm Offensive) and he’s performed in Arena’s with Chappelle (Hollywood Bowl, 2022, for example). But he DEF was not performing arenas 20 years ago.

Thoughts: This is from the Chambers Management Bio page again (here) and it specifies his “currently on sale” Laughs Funny tour is his first tour of arenas.

Grok: Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, beginning with a set in 2003

Me: 2002

Thoughts: It’s found a YouTube video for Montreal 2003 and made an assumption…

Grok: (JFL still) …2019, this marked his 15th attendance at the event… Following a decade-long hiatus, he performed his 12th solo show there in August 2024, describing the…

Me: So, he’s got a time machine where his 15^th attendance is in 2019 but his 12^th is in 2024? And Jimmy didn’t even go to JFL in 2024. And there was not a “decade-long hiatus” at all.

Thoughts: it’s referencing my blog post for JFL 2019 but hasn’t picked up on any of the others posts (here). Very poor for an AI as it has Search Engine data available to it and the JFL pages have been posted for some time.

Grok: Expansion into the broader US market involved targeted tours amid challenges posed by cultural divergences in humour reception. Carr’s deadpan delivery and reliance on irony—hallmarks of British snark—have occasionally elicited confusion or resistance from American crowds less habituated to layered sarcasm or taboo-pushing content…

Me: this is a load of absolute tosh. Jimmy did Conan in 2002 and first went to the Aspen festival in 2003 (here) and has been back and forth, doing comedy clubs, since at least 2008.

Thoughts: This one is so daft I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It’s referencing this YouTube video, which is Jimmy joking about “why don’t Americans understand British humour”. Remember what I said earlier about AI not understanding comedy? It’s made up that rubbish above from one of his Heckle Amnesty videos. My gob has never been so smacked. How?

Grok: Jimmy Carr launched his Terribly Funny tour in the late 2010s, which…

Me: nah – it was 2022

Thoughts: By this stage I’m getting irritable. It’s referencing the Chambers PDF (which def does NOT say late 2010s) and then references a ticket link for the O2 venue…for LAUGHS FUNNY. What’s that got to do with the price of fish?

Grok: critics have noted tensions between the edginess of Carr’s interjections and platforms’ increasing sensitivity to potentially offensive content

Me: It’s the Guardian…

Thoughts: The BFQ (which is what they were referring to) is a British annual staple and, every year, a handful of people go on X and complain about a smutty joke (it’s on after the watershed) or there not being enough women featured…yada yada. And then The Guardian writes about it.

Grok: (in relation to HIGNFY)  Carr has made recurrent guest appearances on the BBC satirical panel show Have I Got News for You, serving as a panellist rather than host in episodes such as series 34 episode 6, broadcast on 30 May 2014 with Ann Widdecombe as guest host, where his pointed remarks prompted Widdecombe to declare post-recording that Carr’s conduct ensured she would not return to the programme…These outings typically amplified the show’s confrontational dynamic through Carr’s terse one-liners, though they occasionally sparked friction with co-panellists or the host due to his unyielding delivery

Me: He was a panellist 4 times and hosted once. The “friction” was only with Anne Widdecombe

Thoughts: This reminds me of Eric Morecambe’s “I’m playing all the right notes – but not necessarily in the right order”. It’s kind of true – but written so poorly that it makes no sense.

Grok: In 2009, Carr and Greeves followed with Only Joking: What’s So Funny About Making People Laugh? published by Michael Joseph, which shifts focus to…

Me: not true. The Naked Jape was called Only Joking in the US (here) and 2009 was probably just a new print run.

Thoughts: I can ALMOST let it off on that one as the name change confuses a lot of people.

Grok: Carr has produced annual novelty calendars since the early 2000s, featuring curated one-liners and puns for daily use, marketed as accessible humour primers emphasizing brevity and wordplay efficiency. These items prioritize punchline density over narrative, aligning with his advocacy for modular joke assembly in interviews.

Me: now it’s REALLY making stuff up

Thoughts: Apart from his books, DVDs and the vinyl Albums (released by Netflix) he’s never had a merchandise range of any kind. And the reference link (here) is to an online bookshop. Not a calendar in site.

Grok: Carr’s final credited film role to date came in 2008’s Telstar: The Joe…

Me: Final role? Comedian’s Guide to Survival…Fackham Hall.

Thoughts: This is a corker – it’s referencing a Reddit discussion thread. Gimme strength.

Grok: No verified voice acting credits in feature films have been documented, though Carr has lent his voice to advertisements and video games,

Me: Nope. He’s never done voiceover work

Thoughts: This is referencing his IMDB profile – will have to have a delve and see if someone has added something dodgy.

There are some paragraphs around the “Paralympics joke” controversy and also the “holocaust joke” one. The first one I’ve already covered under this post – and the Grok write up is not fully representative. The second I’ve got in hand for a future post (and also not representative and has a misquote of the wording).

Grok: On 16 May 2025, the British Museum in London hosted a private reception organized by the Israeli embassy to commemorate Israel’s 77th Independence Day, with comedian Jimmy Carr serving as the event host…Pro-Palestinian groups extended backlash to Carr, announcing plans to protest his comedy tours and urging show cancellations, framing his hosting as endorsement of Israeli policies despite his role appearing limited to entertainment facilitation

Me: He absolutely did NOT host that event.

Thoughts: They are quoting Middle East Eye which (sarcasm alert) is “probably a 100% trustworthy website to write about an event like this”. He was filmed by activists leaving the event, walking in the rain, rushing for the Tube. Someone was filming him and shouting his name and he ignored them (as I think anyone would, walking in the dark in London, with a mob of protesters). This MEE site and Scotland’s The National were the only MSM to write about this total fabrication and it’s now passed into history as a fact. The Jewish Chronicle published a thoughtful piece from a Journalist that was there who stated, categorically, that he DID NOT HOST. That last one was with emphasis…can you hear me Grok???

Grok: In his 2021 memoir Before & After Science, Carr detailed his history

Me: Before and Laughter

Thoughts: I’m running out of patience now…

Grok: “drinking machine” prior to quitting following the death of his mother from leukaemia in 2001, an event

Me: his mother died of Pancreatitis

Thoughts: no idea where that came from as there is no reference for those paragraphs

Grok: (referring to Depression) including interactions with NHS therapists, though he emphasizes practical management over formal ongoing treatment. As of 2025, he reported 12 years of sobriety from alcohol

Me: Never heard him talk about NHS therapists and he tends to say he was sad / has anxiety rather than depression. He def has NEVER said that he’s got clinical depression and sought help for it. And that thing about sobriety…again, not accurate. When he first started out, he went 12 years without drinking as he wanted to be serious about making it. But nothing to do with 2025.

Thoughts: no idea where that came from as there is no reference for those paragraphs

Grok: Brand diversification into books, apparel, and official merchandise via his website has bolstered revenue streams beyond live performance

Me: as above – utter rubbish

Thoughts: This line actual references the Products page on his website and all there is on there are DVDs and Books.

Grok: His net worth is estimated at $35 million as of 2025,

Me: This figure is the one that has been quoted for 10+ years…so I doubt it’s as low as that

Thoughts: This has come from a Celebrity Net Worth website and, regardless of who it is that they are writing about, they are just GUESSING. They have no idea how much people spend, whether they are good at managing their finances or even how much they get paid.

You know when I keep saying that you shouldn’t rely on the information in AI too much?

See other examples of AI confusion that I’ve found here.