Jimmy Carr says his distinctive laugh was ‘the second weirdest’ in his house

Virgin Radio

17 Apr 2024, 07:32

Jimmy Carr talks to Chris Evans at Virgin Radio.

Jimmy Carr is providing plenty of guffaws in his brand new Netflix special, and has spoken to Chris Evans about his own one-of-kind laugh.   

Out now, Natural Born Killer is the stand-up star’s fourth special on the streaming service, and speaking about the edginess of his jokes in it, Jimmy joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with webuyanycar to say: “I’ve got a couple in the new show, where people go ‘He said what?’”

“That's also genuinely my sense of humour. Partly I do that because it's rewarded and people like it, partly that's authentically who I am. That's what I laugh at. Sometimes I see mild stuff, and I can enjoy the craftsmanship of it, but it doesn't make me laugh, in that guttural weird thing that I do.”

Speaking about his unique laugh, he said that “Rob Brydon pointed [it] out on a Big Fat Quiz” and revealed that he was laughing in such a way because “I felt really comfortable. I felt very much myself.”

He added: “I think I started off in showbiz and I was very uptight for the first sort of 10 years and then you become a little bit looser.”

The funnyman, who starts a new tour today, continued: “I never thought it was that weird, because it was the second weirdest laugh in my house. My mother had a much weirder laugh!” 

The host of I Literally Just Told You explained: “The backstory - this is the comic book, Batman, Spider-Man origination, ‘why is he a comedian?’. My mother had narcolepsy, the sleep disorder. And it often goes with it, she had a narcoleptic laugh. So when she laughed, she made no noise. You know someone that just kind of weirdly rocks, when they laugh, they kind of lose muscular control, it's phenomenal. It's great to see in an audience as well, because you're getting no noise out of it, but you can just see someone quietly sink into their seat. 

“So my mother would physically collapse when she laughed. So, our thing when we were kids was, when she was driving, if you could say something genuinely funny enough, and then have to grab the steering wheel. It was just fun.”

Talking more about his mum, the stand-up star told Chris: “I’ve often said this. I think the question for most comedians is, ‘Which of your parents was sick?’ It's that thing where we're a thermostat for mood, right? I'll go into a room with 1000 people and I'll change the state of the room. And I learned that through being in a house where it was a weird atmosphere when I was a kid with a depressive mother and having to make it okay. 

“And she was hilarious as well, as depressives often are. It's that thing where, what is depression? It's like the instrument through which you see the world is defective. It’s hard.”

Read more of what Jimmy had to say about his new Netflix special here.

Find out what Jimmy had to say about why comedy should be taught in schools here.

Natural Born Killer is out on Netflix today (16th April). Jimmy’s tour, Laughs Funny, begins in May. For tickets and information visit jimmycarr.com.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with webuyanycar weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.

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