Writer

This topic has become a little too much to cover properly within the Bio page, so here we look at Jimmy as a Writer. This is something that he does an awful lot of…which is making the Writer Category more than a little congested!

This is a work in progress – so updates will follow.

Getting started

British comedians often start out by contributing “additional material” to someone else’s TV shows.

People (usually blokes on forums) often delight in claiming (wrongly) that some person or other writes FOR Jimmy (see this post) but what they never acknowledge is how many people Jimmy himself wrote for on the way up.

Examples found so far include:

  • 2000 / TV – 6 episodes of Meet Ricky Gervais – here
  • 2000 / Radio – 4 episodes of The Motion Show (Graeme Garden) – here
  • 2000-1 / TV – The Frank Skinner Show – still being researched
  • 2002 / TV – 6 episodes of Bo’ Selecta (Leigh Francis) – here
  • 2002 / TV – 1 episode of Pam Ann’s Mile High Club – here
  • 2003-4 / TV – 3 episodes of The Sketch Show (Lee Mack) – here
  • Lily Savage – still being researched

TV Compilation type shows

Back in the day, when he wasn’t quite so busy as he is now, he would write for some of the many “100 best of” type shows, that he hosted. As the presenter he would write himself the “between clips quips and barbed comments” that made these countdown shows funnier.

  • 2001 – Jimmy Carr’s World of Corporate Videos – here
  • 2003 – Brain Candy – here (11 episodes)
  • 2004 – The 100 Greatest Christmas Moments – here
  • 2005 – The Comedian’s Comedian – here
  • 2008 – Commercial Breakdown with Jimmy Carr – here (8 episodes)

TV Series or single shows

Many of the series that he hosts are panel shows, with a writing team behind them (look for Programme Associates in the credits), that means the bones of the show are scripted – and then everyone riffs off each other, when they can.

On top of this there would be shows where he is a guest panellist and cracking his own jokes – such as QI etc. See the full TV listing page for a browse – here.

  • 2005-21 – 8 Out of 10 Cats (here) – 204 episodes
  • 2012 to present – 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (here) – 177 episodes to date
  • 2004 to present – Big Fat Quiz, all variants – (here) – 43 episodes to date
  • 2011-13 – 10 O’Clock Live (here) co-writer – 33 episodes
  • 2018 – The Fix – (here) – 10 episodes
  • 2022 – Jimmy Carr Destroys Art – here (one off)

Film Scripts

  • 1999 – The Colour of Funny – here
  • 2007 – I Want Candy – here (additional material)
  • 2025 – Fackham Hall – here

Books, comics etc.

  • 2006 – The Naked Jape – here – co-author
  • 2011 – CLiNT comic strip – here
  • 2020 – Dear NHS – here – self authored chapter
  • 2021 – Before and Laughter – here – self authored
  • 2025 – Substack – here
  • 2026 – not released yet, book on writing jokes – here

All author / songwriter posts are under this tag here.

Contributed to someone else’s stand-up, song writing etc.

  • 2015 / Song – Funk With Us – here – Robbie Williams
  • 2016 / Song – When You Know – here – Robbie Williams
  • 2019 / Song – Live in Las Vegas – here – Robbie Williams
  • 2022 / Song – Disco Symphony – here – Robbie Williams
  • 2024 – Joke – Roast of Tom Brady – here – joke for Nikki Glaser

Tours / DVDs and Netflix Specials

This section includes his own tours / DVDs etc. and also TV shows from festivals (such as Just For Laughs, JFL) that featured material pulled from various tours.

Recently he’s started writing jokes EVERY DAY and, towards the end of each live show, pulls a piece of paper out of his suit jacket pocket and reads them out (see here). He’s just reading them “flat” and, if they get a big enough laugh, then they will go into the mix for the next tour. If they don’t get a laugh then they’ll either get a re-write or be ditched.

Even without all of the TV show writing – this practice of writing jokes every day shows how prolific he is.

See also – Does Jimmy Write His Own Material – here.

  • 2004 – Jimmy Carr: Live – here – Tour / DVD
  • 2005 – Jimmy Carr: Stand Up – here – Tour / DVD
  • 2005 – Comedy Central Presents…Jimmy Carr – here – TV
  • 2007 – Jimmy Carr: Comedian – here – Tour / DVD
  • 2008 – Jimmy Carr: In Concert – here – Tour / DVD
  • 2009 – Jimmy Carr: Telling Jokes – here – Tour / DVD
  • 2009 – Comedy Central Presents…Jimmy Carr – here – TV
  • 2010 – All Star Show – here – JFL, Canada TV
  • 2010 – Jimmy Carr: Making People Laugh – here – Tour / DVD
  • 2011 – Jimmy Carr: Being Funny – here – Tour / DVD
  • 2013 – Jimmy Carr: Laughing and Joking – here – Tour / DVD
  • 2013 – The Montreal Experience – tba – JFL, Canada TV
  • 2016 – Jimmy Carr: Funny Business – here – Tour / Netflix
  • 2019 – Jimmy Carr: Best of Ultimate Gold Greatest Hits – here – Tour / Netflix
  • 2021 – Jimmy Carr: His Dark Material – here – Tour / Netflix
  • 2022 – Bill Burr Presents…Friends Who Kill – here – Netflix
  • 2022 – The Best of Netflix is a Joke: The Festival – here – Netflix
  • 2024 – Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer – here – Tour / Netflix
  • 2026 – not filmed yet, 5th Netflix special – here – Tour / Netflix

Radio / Podcasts (not the interview kind)

These appearances are tricky ones because credits are frequently not documented. Comedy Cuts is straightforward as it was a series that was about writing jokes, written for BBC radio.

Others (such as LTQ) are uncredited but, as the presenter of something that was kind of a light-touch production, where he was working from home, I’m making an assumption on him writing his own dialogue.

  • 2004 – Chain Reaction – here – 1 episode
  • 2011 – Jimmy Carr’s Comedy Cuts – here – 6 episodes
  • 2020 – Little Tiny Quiz of Lockdown – here – 57 episodes

Independent article 2005

Being a “joke machine” started early in his career – as this Independent article from 2005 demonstrates. Back then Andrew Newman was Head of Entertainment at C4 and he said:

Jimmy is just a very, very good host: he’s generous with guests, and brilliant at delivering jokes. But he’s also an excellent writer. He delivers funny material effortlessly, and at a rate of knots. When he’s presenting for us, he’ll be reading off an autocue, but he’s normally written plenty of stuff on that autocue.

He obviously looks good on telly as well, and his last show, 8 out of 10 Cats, was the most successful new comedy show we’ve had in ages. It had five million viewers by the end of the series; we’ll certainly be seeing a lot of him on Channel 4 in the future.