Back in November 2011 Jimmy gave an interview to The Independent (here) about “My Life in Travel” as a part of the promotion work for his Being Funny DVD.

14 years later it’s possible that his answers to questions like “dream trip” or “favourite city” might have changed. But this post is referring to his response to “worst hotel”.

His response was:

Early in my career, I played at a club called the Frog and Bucket in Manchester. I was being paid £50 for my performance, which some would say was too much. They put us up in a B&B next door, above quite a rough pub, and it transpired about halfway through the night from the nocturnal noises next door, that it was also some form of whorehouse. I spent the night listening to terrifying noises through paper-thin walls.

The Frog and Bucket Comedy Club has a page listing “awards and press” (here) and it links to The Independent article with the strapline of “we put Jimmy Carr up in a knocking shop”.

The only thing that I would take issue with them about is the “1996” date as all the evidence I’ve managed to gather so far points at him having started his career in late 1998 (see Tut ‘n’ Shive posts – here). Meaning it’s more likely to have been 1999 at the earliest.

So far, I’ve not been able to pin down the date of this gig (yet) but Jimmy also mentioned it in his book, Before and Laughter (here):

I remember the Frog & Bucket in Manchester putting us up in a “hotel” above a pub, a few doors down from the club. Of course, it turned out to be a filthy brothel (I’m not being prudish, here, it was objectively unhygienic).

Amusing story though. Everyone has to start somewhere…