Australian-born
comic Jim Jefferies, who is known for his edgy style of comedy that touches
upon such hot button topics as atheism, alcoholism, religion, recreational drug
use and sex, has some helpful advice for those uninitiated who will be catching
his solo show this Friday at the Maison Symphonique of Place des Arts, as part
of this year’s Just For Laughs festival.
“I suggest that
they should do a little bit of You Tubing and catch some of my past
performances, because I am not as offensive as people think,” said Jefferies in
a recent phone interview.
He also said that
controversial, offensive material doesn’t always centre around swearing and
obscene language. “It’s more about the subject matter, especially the subjects
that make people feel a little uneasy. During my show, I will talk about gun
control, my childhood in Australia, having a baby, sex, a few name-dropping
celebrity stories and a few other topics depending on how the show is going.”
A native of Sydney
who now lives in L.A. with his wife and son, the 37-year-old Jefferies was a
fan of stand-up comedy since he was a kid, and was an avid watcher of stand-up
comedians on TV specials. The urge to take up the microphone got stronger when
he was studying musical theatre in Perth. “I got all the comedy roles in our
school stage productions,” he added. He then decided to do open mic nights at
the local club in Perth (“There was only one bar in Perth, and they did the
open mic night every Wednesday.”). However, he realized that in order to
establish a career in stand-up comedy, he had to make his way to Britain.
“Comedy sells well
in Australia; however, the Melbourne Comedy Festival is a great showcase for
international comics who fly in to perform there, and not for local Australian
comics,” he said. “The U.K. is the best place to do stand-up. It’s the perfect
environment, in which it is a compact country with 60 million people, and you
can travel by train from town-to-town and do club gigs. It was a good way to
make money, even if you weren’t famous.”
One incident that
became a defining moment in Jefferies’ comedy career, and gave him plenty of
notoriety, was when he was attacked onstage during a performance at the
Manchester Comedy Festival eight years ago (which can be seen in his 2008 DVD
release “Contraband”), and the incident is now an integral part of his act. The
incident is strikingly reminiscent of the time when Scottish comedian Gerry
Sadowitz was assaulted by an audience member during his set at the 1991 Just
For Laughs festival, in front of a stunned crowd at the St. Denis Theatre.
“You know to this
day, I still don’t know why it happened,” admitted Jefferies. “It took place 15
minutes before the set ended, and there was this guy whose date wasn’t enjoying
the show. It must have been a combination of being drunk and stupidity, but the
guy must have thought ‘I’ll punch this guy and my date will be happy again.’”
Jefferies has
performed around the world, including comedy festivals in South Africa,
England, and the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival, appeared on TV and radio
across the U.K., and has released four comedy DVDs. His most recent TV project,
of which he is quite proud of, is “Legit”, which ran for two seasons (and 26
episodes) on the FX network. The sitcom, which Jefferies co-created and starred
in, tells of his exploits on his quest to trying to be a good person with his
best friend Steve and Steve’s brother Billy, who has muscular dystrophy.
Although it was cancelled back in May, “Legit” was lauded for its fair and
positive treatment of people with physical and mental disabilities.
“It was never our
intention to portray a holier-than-thou attitude against people with
disabilities. ‘Legit’ was the first time on TV that people who were physically
and mentally disabled were part of a sitcom, and not a Hallmark Hall of Fame
movie or an episode of ‘The Facts of Life’,” he said. “The show made them out
as regular people, who liked to have sex and get drunk, and they didn’t have to
hide their disabilities. After all, is there any other to treat them?”
Jefferies admits
that the appeal of controversial comics to large numbers of audience members is
not necessarily isolated to how they channel through their routines what people
really want to think or say. “After my shows, I pose for photos with fans and
many of them come up and tell me that I say things that they’re afraid to say,
and I think not really true,” he said. “I think it’s basically that we put
single thoughts they’re afraid to say. Also, many comics take a whole series of
concepts and put them into a nice amount of words that people can identify
with.”
“Another good way
of testing what kind of controversial material people like is when you sit next
to your wife or husband at a show, and see what they laugh at. That way, you
will find out what your wife thinks is funny … or how deviant your husband is,”
added Jefferies.
* * *
For more information about Jim Jefferies’ solo show at
Maison Symphonique, or any other Just For Laughs show, as well as to purchase
tickets, check out the festival’s website at www.hahaha.com.
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