How did the “guru” type responses start?
Back in the late 90s, when Jimmy started out on the UK Comedy Circuit, some of the punters gave comedians a very rough reception. Before he became well known you can only imagine what got shouted at this guy in a suit with received pronunciation (“Posh prick” is/was usually one of the milder insults). He had to quickly toughen up and soon built up a collection of snappy retorts, roasting his rowdy (and usually inebriated) audience right back.
Pretty soon he’d incorporated the banter into his show and had a section where he invited people to “have at it”. Apart from anything else it made the evening more interesting for himself. The man that, for 2-300 gigs per tour, would normally have to repeat the same words, in the same order at the same pace EVERY TIME he did a show.
He had realised that some people don’t like shouting out and so, for many years now, has had a “text in” function. As the venue fills up a screen at the back of the stage has an invitation to send a text to the displayed mobile number.
To briefly reiterate something I’ve mentioned a couple of times in this blog – NO, he doesn’t use audience plants (see more here).
June 2024 saw the launch of the Heckle Amnesty video series (here) which had a Crowd Work podcast audio version added in April 2026 (here).
In some parts of the world this interaction was a new idea and when he invited heckles the slightly bemused crowd asked him things like “what’s your favourite colour?”.
To the surprise of a lot of people (the ones that had never heard him speaking on more serious topics on podcasts) he sometimes answered with something quite profound. Seeing these more serious videos then encouraged other audiences to call out or text questions about current events, personal problems and so on.
Is he qualified to give advice? Well, he trained as a psychotherapist for 3 years (here), is REALLY well read and has a ton of friends, in all kind of industries, that are at the top of their field. As he’s often said – he knows a lot of (useless) stuff.
What people appreciate is not only how measured his responses are, but also how good he is at explaining complex issues in a succinct manner.
He has a bit more in his locker than just dick jokes and “yo momma” banter.
This page is an assortment video links of some of these responses, plus some of his pithy quotes (to take some weight off the Bio page).
You stopped me killing myself / disability / mental health
Every now and then he gets tearful when someone says that his comedy saved their life or helped them cope with health issues:
- Your shows gave me something to laugh about when all I saw was darkness – here
- Keep putting a smile on people’s faces – 2nd clip on here
- Living in the moment – here
- Paralysed 15-year-old with cancer – here
- Sad and worried or depressed and anxious? Is it a hardware or software problem – here
Some of this type of clip can be found under a suicidal thoughts tag.
Closet feminist?
He frequently talks about 2nd wave feminism and recommends books by such as Louise Perry and Esther Perel (see Booklist).
- Jimmy explains the different types of feminism – here
- Menopause (maiden, motherhood and crone) – here
- Manosphere and toxic masculinity – here
Clips related to this topic are grouped under the 2nd wave feminism tag.
It’s a big old World
Sometimes his responses / jokes are educational. As mentioned, he’s very well read:
- Nobel Peace Prize joke – here
- Less debate, more deliberation – here
- Define communism – here
- Should Denmark sell Greenland? – here
Advice for younger audience members / new couples & parents
Teenagers in the crowd sometimes expect a roasting and, instead, get some excellent fatherly advice. This display of more emotional maturity first came to the public attention in the “consent” routine in Jimmy’s 2024 Netflix special:
- Natural Born Killer, 2024 – asking a young man in the audience about consent – here
- Bulgaria“give some advice to the virgins” – here
- Advice for newlyweds – here
- Parenting advice for father of 2 young girls – here
- How do we stop our 10-year-old becoming more of a pr*ck – here
- “Raise a good man” advice for a single mum with a 5 year old – here
Aspiring comedians / career advice
What about someone that admits to being a wannabe comedian? Or asks for general career advice?
- Charlie from New Zealand is 16 and was brought up on stage for a selfie and some advice on being a “none fungible human” – here
- Brent from New Zealand has Cerebral Palsy and Jimmy went down into the crowd to encourage him in his career choice – here
This first type of post can be found under comedy advice.
Grief & terminal illness
Grief and dealing with bereavement is one question genre that comes up a lot.
- A dad with a terminal diagnosis has left to live with his mistress – here
- First time out for a Sheffield man after losing his wife – here
- Wife that had buried her husband that morning – here
There is a Grief tag and also books recommended in the booklist – and things to watch are on the Watchlist.
The memorable quotes…
Jimmy has a LOT of great quotes (some his own – but always credited, when someone else’s) and these frequently get repeated on the social media accounts of not only self-help / motivational types – but also marketeers and other business people.
- Equanimity with impermanence – here
- Don’t be the best. Be the only – here
- Plant your own garden (career advice) – here
- You can’t have an easy life and a great character
- We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing – George Bernard Shaw
- The opposite of grief is forgetting – here
- Happiness is your current situation minus expectations.
- Be a foul weather friend.
- Pregnancy doesn’t just make a baby – it makes a mother. And men don’t get to go through that. Being a dad isn’t a noun it’s a verb – here
Or see the Wise words-quotes tag.