I think I can pretty much call an exclusive on writing about this TV appearance as I’ve not seen it on anyone else’s database.
I was rifling through the British Newspaper Archive, paging through 2003 (and in Detective mode for an hour or two) when I spotted an article, with Jimmy’s name on it, mentioning something called Born Sloppy. Which I’d never heard of.
There were tiny snippets of information about the show, around t’internet, but it was that BNA article that ended up being the thread that pulled it all together. Because nothing else had his name mentioned.
IMDB says that C4 launched a new show on December 6th 2002 called Born Sloppy (here). The 2002 part is def accurate, otherwise dates have proven very tricky to pin down.
Hosted by Sara Cox and Produced by Monkey it was filmed in a pub in Dalston, East London. It appears to have continued into 2003 but this was only 1 series of 10 or 12 weekly episodes (I can’t find exactly how many but Ep4 was def on January 3rd 2003).
Some articles also said that Dannii Minogue and Colin Murray were also involved, with Colin “out in the community”. Plus, this article said that Colin had left a breakfast show job in 2002 to commit to this show (here).
The format was a bit like The Word – live music, guests and skits “with swearing”. Zany, apparently, with Sara living up to her “ladette” persona (aged 29, in 2003).
I stumbled across a couple of clips on YouTube and then clicked on the video below, which only says “Born Sloppy 2003” and didn’t say who it featured.
Turned out to be the full episode that Jimmy had appeared on. Result!
2003 S1 Ep7 – January 25th
This episode (in the BNA article) was listed as being broadcast at 11.10pm on Saturday January 25th 2003 (although IMDB lists it as Friday 24th). Could have been a repeat, I suppose.
The guests on this show were:
- Jack Osbourne (aged 18)
- David Walliams and Matt Lucas
- Jimmy Carr (aged 31)
The music was supplied by Supergrass (and some other band that I couldn’t identify).
DW and ML were in drag – DW as Sharon Osbourne and ML as Kelly Osbourne.
Jimmy looked completely out of his comfort zone.
If you skip through to 17.20 he joins Jack on the sofa and briefly chats with Sara, answers an audience question and then one from Susan Sarandon (pre-recorded).
At 20 minutes Jack plays a game that results in a girl in a sparkly “showgirl” type skirt and bra-top coming out and giving him a lap dance. Jack looks like he couldn’t believe his luck – Jimmy tried to shuffle out of the way.
If you decide to watch the whole video – note that it stutters around 27 minutes and repeats 3 minutes of footage.
At 34 mins Jimmy is back on the sofa with Jack, DW and ML.
Sara introduces a “Maim That Tune” game where a thrash metal band plays a burst of a song that no one can identify…
I think I can see why it only got the 1 series.
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