Jimmy Carr: Telling Jokes

Details

Jimmy's latest DVD features 90 minutes of fresh material that's simply too rude for television uncut - especially with the innuendo, sexual references and swear words that would have the bleep machine working overtime.

This latest release sees him at his best, delivering a relentless barrage of one-liners and putting down brave hecklers with equal panache and quick-wittedness. Filmed earlier this year at a packed Bloomsbury Theatre in London during his latest mammoth tour, the jokes come thick and fast and at such a rate you're pretty much guaranteed to have forgotten 99 percent of them by the end of the show.

Jimmy has a reputation as being one of the hardest-working people in comedy and, after performing to 300,000 people during his Joke Technician tour, you have to wonder just how he manages to juggle his television commitments as well as having some much-needed time to himself. Touring continuously, no sooner does one tour finish than, after a well-earned five week break, Jimmy is off on another. In fact, 2009 will see him celebrate his millionth tour ticket sold this autumn (and a nice bank balance to go with it too) before venturing on his next mammoth comedy tour - the Rapier Wit tour.

Picture & Sound

Given that this is a stand-up comedy gig recorded in a theatre, you'd have to be a little bit on the weird side to expect some sort of Hollywood blockbuster with million-pound CGI effects and swooshing surround sound. Nope, all we've got here is Jimmy Carr stood on a stage telling jokes.

There are a couple of different camera angles at the front of the stage, plus a camera from the back which makes Jimmy jump (look out for that in the extras!), but the transfer is hardly worth talking about. Whilst it's never going to feel like you're sat in the audience with him, there's nothing wrong with the image quality and it's pretty much standard fare for a comedy gig DVD.

Sometimes the only let-down is the soundtrack, where it can become quite hard to hear any audience banter. Still, I guess you're watching the comedian and not the audience, but when the comedian interacts with them it's important that you can hear what's going on without having your eardrums thumped by laughter and applause. Fortunately, the 256Kbps 2.0 Dolby Digital soundtrack is more than up to the job and you can hear both Jimmy and the majority of the audience quips. It's never going to be like being there yourself, but it's as good as you're ever likely to get on this style of DVD release.

Menu & Extras

The menu has some basic animation, but it's scored with musical clips from The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kanye West (heaven knows how much the licensing cost for those!). Fans of Jimmy are sure to be more than happy with the bonus material on offer here, whilst the hard of hearing are also catered for with a useful set of subtitles on each of the extras (which spell out every swear word uttered - so you'd best avoid those if you're easily offended!).

First out of the blocks is Jimmy's Twitter Diary. Running for fifteen minutes, it contains the "best" of Jimmy's tweets sent whilst on tour. Fortunately, it's not just a list of comments, as along with a collection of photographs and flying bits of text, Jimmy is also on hand to read out his thoughts. Still, it's not the most interesting of features and I soon got bored. However, things get far more interesting in the twenty minute Comedy Central Special from New York. Filmed in America - a nation well known for its fickle comedy, unfunny comedians and lack of irony - it's quite surprising to learn that Jimmy is actually quite a star out there. He's appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien twice and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno three times. His jokes are a little cleaner, and he's changed some of the terms for American ears, but it's another funny stand-up routine that's worthy of a look.

The final extra is the ten minute Bonus Stand Up Material. This is essentially material which was deleted from the Bloomsbury Theatre show and it contains plenty of additional banter with the audience (including one rather drunken looking bloke in the front row who had to go and pee), plus some retakes when he fluffed his lines. Given the length of his tour, and if you were lucky enough to see him live, there's also some topical jokes included - such as the inauguration of the new President of the United States. There's also some interaction with a make-up lady who periodically wanders on to "powder his nose" and a cameraman lurking at the back of the stage.

Overall

I do like Jimmy Carr and his no-nonsense and un-PC flavour of comedy. In fact, I was present at his Stockport show, and I've already got my tickets for his next gig there too. His brand of comedy may not be to everyone's taste - and let's face it, the 18 certificate means there's going to be some offensive language used here (with plenty of swear words beginning with "F" and "C") - so if you're easily offended then this disc should be given a wide berth. Needless to say, this DVD won't be airing on Channel Four without some substantial cuts or heavy use of the bleeper!

But given the rather crude nature of Jimmy's jokes, and the amount of bad language he uses, it always amazes me to see younger teenagers in the audience. Sure, I guess their parents can make an informed decision about such things, but I often wonder whether they should be there in the first place. Still, at least it gives them a little bit of kudos and, with the jokes coming thick and fast, I'm sure by the time they get home most of them will have been forgotten (this nearly always happens to me!).

If you've already got his Comedian and In Concert DVDs then it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that you'll also be adding Telling Jokes to your collection (are you seeing the pattern in the names yet?!). With a solid set of extras and a full show packed with material, fans of Jimmy are going to be more than satisfied. However, if you prefer your comedy a little less on the offensive side, then you'll probably want to look elsewhere.

Special features

• Jimmy's Twitter Diary
• Comedy Central Special
• Bonus Stand Up Material