JIM JEFFERIES & JIMMY CARR
Where: Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, 1925 Blanshard St., Victoria
When: Saturday, Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $49.75-$169.75 from the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre box office (250-220-777) or selectyourtickets.com
The union of Jim Jefferies and Jimmy Carr would have been an odd pairing a decade ago, with early material from Jefferies (who is Australian) and Carr (who is British) landing at opposite ends of the comedy spectrum.
But in the years since, stand-up comedy has became a centrifugal force in the world of entertainment, with payouts for Netflix specials by Jerry Seinfeld ($100 million) and Dave Chappelle ($60 million) putting them both in the same tax bracket as movie stars and box-office behemoths. Comedy is big money in 2024 — and the noisier, more outlandish approaches tend to reap the biggest rewards.
Perhaps that explains why the Carr and Jefferies, who could not be reached for an interview, teamed up for The Charm Offensive, a trek seemingly designed — as its name would suggest — to push limits and buttons.
Australian comic Amos Gill is the opening act, but the co-headliners, who take the stage individually and together, are the big draws here: Jefferies is an established touring comedian who drew raves for his Comedy Central talk show, The Jim Jefferies Show, while Carr is a British legend who made his name on countless Channel 4 programs on U.K. television.
And yet, both have expanded their repertoires in recent years, with Jefferies moving beyond his viral routine on gun control into more profane territory and Carr moving away from glib one-liners and into more controversial political areas. Which is why their individual brands of comedy have been packaged for a tour where they meet somewhere in the middle.
“I’m very interested in doing as many different things in entertainment as possible,” Jefferies, 47, said last month in a Rolling Stone interview. “I like a challenge. I like doing something new. I don’t know if there’s a stand-up comic from Australia who’s had a more diverse career. You know what I mean? I think of myself like I’m an entertainer more than a comedian.”
Both have played Victoria numerous times in the past, though never on the same bill. The Charm Offensive has been earning strong notices in the press, and the last of eight Canadian stops in Victoria on Saturday is selling extremely well. And for good reason, too. Carr and Jefferies balance their comedy with thought-provoking asides that tackle shared experiences, among other topics.
“Having stuff isn’t fun, getting stuff is fun,” Carr, 52, said, during a recent interview with YouTube channel The Diary of a CEO. “It’s not the pursuit of happiness, it’s the happiness of the pursuit. It’s not either the journey or the destination, it’s who you become on the journey.”
