Jim Jeffries – Hammered
When a comedian begins his set with a rape joke, you know you are not likely to get any whimsical humour. Riding high on a recent wave of controversy, Jim Jeffries has attracted the attention of a lot of Festival punters hoping to catch a glimpse of this wild and reckless comedian. Not that Jim himself sees what all the fuss is about, stating that he is merely a ‘drunk Aussie telling jokes’.
The show was introduced by a bewildering and expensive video that he explained was result of setting up the show whilst on a bender. Jim then launched into his set that covered religion,sexual politics, race, confrontation and infamy, all delivered with a highly cynical and jaded attitude. His vocal performance was quite low key, seeming as if he wanted to launch into a rant but couldn’t really be bothered. This was either the typically Australian attitude or a case of fatigue; given his history of substance abuse both were likely. He littered his routines with many expletives, often using them as punctuation rather than as a vital part of the material. This was one show you would definitely not bring the kids to.
If you can look past the colourful language, Jim had some interesting ideas in most of his material. His theories on sex, religion and race may not be to everyone’s liking, possibly bordering on offensive to sensitive souls, but they were interesting and had a unique perspective that provided plenty of laughs. A personal favorite was his story about his brothers’ private nickname for his mother; this revealed a lighthearted bit about his childhood that was a welcome relief from the nihilist tone of the rest of his set.
The reason for his infamy, the public insulting of Kelly Osbourne, was recounted half way through the hour. This was an amusing and entertaining tale about the incident itself and the ensuing correspondence with Sharon Osbourne that, considering it was still a work in progress (depending if Mrs Osbourne decides to pursue the issue further), petered out without a punchline conclusion.
Jim commented a few times that this particular audience was rather quiet which threw him a little. I noticed that a great many in the crowd were being quite vocal although disappointingly they seemed to laugh louder at the swearing than at the actual jokes. It was at this point that some of the punters took it upon themselves to prove we had a pulse by trying to converse with him. Unfortunately witty banter didn’t appear to be one of his strong suits and most of the comebacks ended with him calling the punter a c%#t.
Jim Jeffries provided an entertaining hour of stand up that covered all the prerequisite topics, having moments of brilliance as long as you could stand the barrage of language. I’m not all that sure if he actually lived up to the hype but he could definitely command the microphone.
Visit the Fringe Website for booking details.