On November 1^st 2021 Mike Birbiglia posted Ep58 of his Working It Out podcast. Featuring Jimmy Carr it was titled: Life Is Better With Laughter

Audio only version available – here

If you take out the ad breaks its about 50 minutes long and, judging by the barking dogs in the background, Jimmy was recording from his home (Mike asks whose dogs are barking).

Before and Laughter (here) had been released in September and Mike had read (and loved) it, so they are mostly pulling out discussion points from the book.

• The NHS book that Jimmy mentions contributing to is Dear NHS (here).
• Mike mentions How We Die by Sherwin B. Nuland

Mike (a Canadian Comedian) is a friend of Jimmy’s and there is another chat between them on this 2023 episode – here.

At the end Mike asks for a charity (to receive a donation and a mention on the podcast) and Jimmy says St Marys Centre Community Trust – https://www.smcyouthwork.org

Some of the topics discussed include:

• Joan Rivers / Holocaust jokes / dark humour
• Mike suggests some of the dark jokes in Jimmy’s book wouldn’t fly in America (I think this year’s tur has disproven that one)
• Child abuse jokes
• Going to Hope and Cope, Montreal (see here)
• Cannot joke about Hillsborough as there has been no closure
• Disability jokes and Stephen Hawking
• Growing up in Slough – going to Henry’s Nightclub, Anne Boleyn Bar. Driving Ricky and Stephen around when they were writing The Office
• Growing up near the Mars factory
• Limerick, having a spinal tap at aged 3 for meningitis
• Jimmy not being given vegetables as a child and drinking coffee every day since aged 3
• Split testing jokes by taking paper / cards on stage
• Mike and his wife had recently written wills – who is in Jimmy’s will?
• Will writing raises existential questions