On the Joe Rogan Experience in October 2026 (here) there’s a bit towards the end where Joe mentioned how relieved he’d felt, when he started earning, because he could pay his rent.

Jimmy explained “It’s a weird thing – it’s like, when people think you’ve made it as opposed to when you’ve made it – is so vastly different”

He said, for him it was appearing at the Comedy Store (UK – here) and the Banana Cabaret (here), with the latter paying £200 a show for each of 4 shows a night.

He said that people tend to think you’re “made it” when you’re on TV or get to record a special – but this was it for him, being able to live off his wits.

Just to nitpick something, from this podcast, about his early career (he’s a busy man with an exciting life and it’s a lot easier for me to pinpoint dates, through newspaper articles, than for him to remember what year he did something 25 years ago).

He mentioned in the podcast that he’d started “about 2000” – when it was actually late in 1998 (here).

The Banana Cabaret was in the Bedford Pub in Balham and closed May 2026 (here).

Please note that (as of today) I have details for a couple of gigs, not posted yet, for the Banana Cabaret that will follow as soon as I can finish gathering information. Not yet seen any evidence for “4 shows a night”.