As a kind of intro – this all started because I found a second November 2001 gig that had happened, in Reading. I’d already documented the gig on the 23rd (here) but then found details of one on the 24th and also an article (Reading Evening Post) about these appearances.
What is now called South Street Arts Centre (21 South Street, Reading, RG1 4QU) was the Friday Night Comedy Club in 2001.
Jimmy headlined the 140-capacity venue (with compere Drew Barr and comedian Gordon Southern) on November 23rd (Friday) and 24th (Saturday). Friday tickets were £7.50 (£6 concessionary) and the show started at 8.30pm. Saturday night was £7, with a 7.30pm start.
The Evening Post piece confirms that Jimmy because a stand-up in 1998 (see here) and that he’s known for “quick fire delivery of one-liners, averaging about four gags per minute”. In more recent interviews Jimmy has sometimes seemed to say that the start of his comedy career was a little later then 1998, so it’s always good to find confirmation, in older articles. With the jam-packed, exciting life he has – I think we can forgive him for being a bit vague about the events of 28 year ago.
It mentions that he “appears at all major London and national and comedy venues” – specifically mentioning The Comedy Store and Jongleurs. With the latter I’ve been trying (without success, so far) to find mention of any dates, for Jimmy appearances.
It also mentions him “fast becoming a TV and Radio favourite” and highlights being a regular on the BBC Choice show Liquid News (here), I love The 80s (which I have disputed, here), his weekly radio show on XFM (here) and that can be “heard regularly on LBC in London” (here).
A Billboard’s Tale
What this then lead on to was this story here in Chortle that’s worth a read in full. Written by Bob Slayer, who worked for Jongleurs (for 2 months) he’s talking about how, to promote a new Jongleurs venue, the “management”, at the time, wanted to produce a billboard.
Just before I continue – for anyone from outside of the UK reading this (especially if you are a younger reader) our billboards back then were just wooden flat surfaces that had a poster pasted on, usually in multiple strips (to form a full picture). Businesses hired men to drive around with a ladder and bucket of paste to put them up at agreed locations, usually just pasting over the old advert.
One of the objections Bob raised was that the proposed artwork would include images of Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr and Lee Evans, who hadn’t played at Jongleurs for many years.
They went ahead anyway and Addison Cresswell (the powerful agent representing McIntyre and Evans) called in the lawyers. This then cost Jongleurs £100k+ and, to add insult to injury, the initial cost of 50p per poster-posted went up to £3 each, for removal.
Name dropping clubs…
The other thing that caught my eye, from the Chortle article, was this line:
I was told that ‘those acts would have been nothing without Jongleurs…’ and that they could do what they liked.
That’s a bit of a stretch as most of our top comedians did their apprenticeship by running around to 2-3 venues a night, most nights of the week. Plus, as mentioned, I’m struggling to find anything about when / how often Jimmy appeared at a Jongleurs venue.
The only time any ONE club could lay claim to being instrumental in someone’s career is if an agent spotted them performing there. And even then, that kind of link would be tenuous…and, for Jimmy, it would be Aquarium (here).
Venues name drop a LOT and it makes my research just that little bit harder. You have no idea how many promo links I’ve opened up (after a very targeted search) only to find it’s about someone else and the page/post just happens to say the equivalent of “Jimmy Carr wuz ‘ere”.
Across the industry (clubs, comedians, agents, promoters) there’s a lot of shameless name dropping (of more successful comedians) that acts as clickbait.
Background
At this stage Jimmy was just performing above pubs and “going on stage after strippers” (his words) so there was no tour name in 2001. Just driving up and down the UK, sometimes doing 2-3 different venues a night and hoping to get enough money to cover his petrol money.
In August he had performed the Rubbernecker revue at Edinburgh (here).
There is a page (here) about the UK Comedy Circuit and older gigs are on Pubs and Clubs 1998-2001, here.
Leave a Reply