There is this fallacy of the ‘cool’ comedian. You see the guys who take themselves very seriously, and think they’re being very suave and sardonic. But they’re just jesters, like the rest of us; they’re just goons, like we all are.
“Uber-liberal” new dad Jimmy Carr talks his new memoir, fatherhood, and his relationship with long-time friend and collaborator Sean Lock
Carr in real life is a much more empathic figure than the one on stage. One thing not covered in Before & Laughter is his relationship with Sean Lock, a team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats, whose recent death prompted a huge wave of public affection. “After he died I looked back and went: ‘Hang on – was I in a double act?’” he says today, his eyes welling up. “We did 250 TV shows together and I sort of didn’t notice.” He pauses and smiles: “I mean, I don’t think he’d view me as a comedy partner. He’d say: ‘Get over yourself – I’m much funnier.’”
Carr knew the bad news was coming – Lock had been diagnosed with cancer for some time – but he hadn’t bargained for how hard it would hit him. “I got wiped out. It was the same thing when my mother died and I had to go to bed and sleep for 17 hours.”
When I ask how it felt to be roasted by Lock over the K2 tax scandal (“We all like to put a bit of money away for a rainy day, but I think you’re more prepared than Noah,” joked Lock on the show that followed the revelations), Carr’s voice breaks completely. “When that’s happening to you, you never forget the people who were good to you,” he says. “And he was so good to me. He said: ‘Are you OK? All right, we’ll handle this.’” There’s a little sob, a pause to gather himself. “And then he went out there, was super-funny about it, no judgment.”
need some cheering up after a long week? think about the time bob mortimer went to an animal sanctuary and gave a bunch of rescue cats romantic names like “dj loveham” and “carol niceface” to try and help them get adopted