Before & Laughter

Product Information

One of the biggest-selling comedy acts in the world, Jimmy consistently does stand-up to sell-out crowds, performing his shows at venues in over forty countries. Jimmy is a household name in UK television, well-known for hosting Channel 4's 8 Out Of 10 Cats , 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Big Fat Quiz Of The Year in addition to presenting Comedy Central's Roast Battle UK and Your Face Or Mine . He was also the first UK comedian to sign a stand-up deal with streaming behemoth Netflix in 2015, releasing two specials on the platform, Funny Business (2016) and Best Of Ultimate Gold Greatest Hits (2018). I ‘discovered’ Irish comedian Jimmy Carr when I stumbled upon the panel show ‘8 Out of 10 Cats’ on YouTube only a year or two ago. At just 20, it's cheaper than Scientology, quicker than therapy, and significantly less boring than church.

The book is a great deal of fun, and owing to the clever signposting from famous philosophers like Plato and Gandalf, you always get the impression Carr is really trying to say something above the comedy.Fake it – pretending to be a better person than being a bad person or indistinguishable to the casual observer. If they’re not willing to be flexible about food (I’m talking to you, Mr Panda), if they’re not willing to fuck (you again, Panda Boy), fuck ’em.

Môže to byť super trebárs pre tínedžerov so zmyslom pre čierny humor, ale pre čitateľa od 17 rokov vyššie je to takpovediac cringe. It’s very rapid, the stories are short but funny (with the one exception of the one about his mum) and the lessons that he’s learnt along the way. Reality is an illusion and feelings aren't facts but the thing that messes with us is that we assume they are.

I appreciate what Jimmy Carr was trying to do with this book but personally would have preferred the more traditional biography full of anecdotes and stories rather than how to improve your life. Which is a joke he repeats a lot on this book, and to my own detriment, I have to admit, it was well done every time.

If you were in your mid 20s in the late 1990s, living with your family, no bills/mortgage and in a well paid job - would you say it was relatively easy or difficult to give up said job to pursue your dreams? Before making the move to streaming, Jimmy was one of the bestselling acts in the comedy DVD market, selling over 2 million copies.Too little depth, too little of Jimmy's life and too little of things that interested me personally lol.

It's also very funny - I listened to the audiobook read by Jimmy and I suspect this made it even funnier. Carr’s challenging upbringing and his present Hollywood life contextualise his suggestions and it is clear that a great deal of love and work has gone into the text.Some of his thoughts were interesting but a little too much time spent preaching making it a bit tedious. It was an anecdotal self help guide without diving too deep, sort of ‘self help from the average Joe who’s just trying his best’s’ point of view- which I really appreciated. The funniest and most enjoyable "self-help" book ever - barely feels like one while you read, because quite often it has as many jokes per minute as a stand-up show, and despite talking about his own story, the narrative voice is so energising and encouraging. His last tour, 'Best of Ultimate Gold Greatest Hits', sold over half a million tickets globally with the current show, 'Terribly Funny', looking set to exceed that figure by the end of 2022.