Jimmy’s first appearance on the Have a Word podcast was in November 2021. He was on his Terribly Funny tour (original version) and publicising Before and Laughter.

Bit of background that I didn’t know at the time, about Dan Nightingale (the guy on the right of the screen) was that he’d had some news about a family member’s health, just before the record. It was brought up later because regular fans noticed that his demeanour was off.

It does start off slightly cagey – but warms up to them all having a laugh. As they’ve all been on the comedy circuit for over 20 years – there are some interesting discussions.

The other comedian (on the left) is Adam Rowe and Jimmy’s 2^nd Have a Word appearance (2025) is here.

The record location is Runcorn in Cheshire and Jimmy’s bit doesn’t start until 1 hour 11.

Topics covered:

• Where Jimmy went to school
• London slum clearance meant people were moved to Slough
• Living near a Mars chocolate factory
• Early gigs and getting paid cash, rushing between The Comedy Store (London) and Banana Cabaret
• Earning money to buy things to impress other people
• Alonzo Boden
• Realising how good Call of Duty was and deciding to never play it again (video game addiction)
• Buying a Lamborghini – what’s the motivation behind it
• Jimmy’s DB6 (Aston Martin) comes with an AA truck. James Bond would never have got his to start first time…
• 911 Porsche Targa
• Dan was sound tech at the Hyena in Newcastle around 2001-2 when Jimmy went up for a gig
• Ross Noble at Jimmy’s first Edinburgh
• 2000 – Rubbernecker with Gervais and Merchant, 2001 Bare Faced Ambition
• 2002 Perrier Award Nomination
• USA and the club scene / difference to UK circuit
• Jimmy calling Adam lazy for only putting in a Feb to May tour, how many gigs a year Jimmy does
• When Jimmy sells a venue to 90% his tour team puts on another show
• Optimal venue size
• Doing preview shows in December (2021)
• His Dark Material (Netflix special) dropping over Christmas 2021
• From January 2022 the tour will be all new material (Terribly Funny 2.0)
• Trying to change his style up to write longer pieces – is performing a 15-minute block on fatherhood
• Corporates – Jimmy is “booked as seen”
• TV is a team sport and the Producer decides what goes in
• Can joke about anything but naming a specific kid or event can be problematic
• Roast of Rob Lowe – Jimmy was trending on Fox News
• Anne Coulter was offered material written by pros and turned it down
• Pete Davison joke – tried it out first in LA and heard Pete laughing from the back of the room
• Couple of weeks before this pod had just been on stage in a Chappelle, Hammersmith gig. Roasting audience members, on stage, with Jeff Ross
• Socialising with Dave afterwards (Chiltern Firehouse) and got to bed at 5am
• Not a big drinker now
• Been drinking coffee since he was 3, Starbucks machine at home
• Difference between telling jokes to a paying audience and having them printed in the Daily Mail
• Discussion around a stepdad, a wedding in Thailand, age of consent. Reading out things from viewers and debating / joking about the ethics of them
• Adam first met Jimmy at a Dave Johns benefit gig
• Before and Laughter – recording the audio book took about 12 hours. Amanda directed the read to make Jimmy “deliver” it and not just monotone
• Wrap up and thanks