Its such a cool room, isnt it?
Were recording the DVD there next year, because I just love that room.
I think its a fabulous space, and a lot of people go there.
And you say in that segment that it makes it for me when people join in.
Is there a much bigger risk to that?
Not really, no.
But Im getting a lot more people up on stage, and making them part of the show.
Its a weird tension.
The show is dependant on other people.
But I genuinely dont know whats going to happen in those moments.
So, theres a bigger risk, but theres a bigger reward.
If it doesnt work, its kind of okay, I just get through it a bit quicker.
That thing of doing visual style has come on the last couple of years.
So, its something else to focus on.
You get a very nice sense.
A Tuesday or a Saturday.
I dont think people talk about that enough.
People talk about where is the best place to play.
But its not where, itswhen.
Saturday night is fabulous.
Partly on that point.
Much has been made about how mainstream comedy has gone over the past few years in particular.
But whats that done to the audience itself, apart from it getting bigger?
Do you find the same?
Its a very good question, but I think Ive kind of got critical mass now.
So, youre preaching to the choir, really.
Which of those groups would you say you target your show most at?
I suppose I target it at me, really.
Its what makes me laugh, and sharing it with other people.
Im not trying to write something for them.
Youre over a million tickets sold now, too?
I think its 1.2 million, something like that.
Thats an amazing number…
Its ludicrous!
But its little and often, Im not an arena filler.
I work a lot, little rooms all the time.
But how do you select now which gig is the right one to film?
Im getting better at picking!
And what I do now is chat to people for longer.
Who wants to join in.
People present themselves, I think.
Its a weird thing where getting better at that feels like a really exciting thing.
Getting better at your job is really fun.
I cant think of the last time I had a problem.
That kind of peer pressure tends to shut people up.
And if you do ever have to kick someone out of a room, its the most bonding experience.
Afterwards, everyone goes, Well, that was a bit awkward.
Dont you end up getting a cheer for it?
Its very rare these days, though.
I used to record the DVDs straight through.
So, Id do 75, 80 minutes of the show.
And they were always quite long.
So, maybe a 90 minute show straight through.
And then I thought Id like it to be a reflection of what happened that night.
So, we recorded Glasgow, a big, boisterous gig with lots of audience interaction.
And I thought keeping that audience interaction in makes it feel more like its a live experience.
Right down to putting the break in the middle?
I watch a lot of comedy DVDs.
You talk about Den Of Geek, I watch them all!
Im a big comedy fan.
As a consumer of DVDs, its rare that Ill watch one from start to finish.
I watch them on trains and planes or whatever.
Theres not much that was contentious.
There were a couple of things where we changed names to protect the innocent.
Have you got a name for the seventh disc?
Maybe we should run this as a competition on Den Of Geek?
[the names of Jimmys DVDs put together form a sentence in themselves].
So, what have we got?
Weve got Live Stand Up Comedian In Concert Telling Jokes Making People Laugh.
Its got to work as a standalone title as well, so maybe For Your Entertainment?
Yes, it is.
Its really nice to meet people after the show.
Again, its trying to put across what the live experience is.
That signing thing is there because of the experience I had of meeting Chris Rock a few years ago.
Because Ive played the Hammersmith Apollo a lot, and they let me go backstage and say hello.
Im not suggesting Im Chris Rock, though.
Because, in the past, youve put alternative audio clips in there, too, for instance?
That was good fun, yeah.
Comedy Idol on another.
One of my favourite DVD extras.
Comedy Idol, the idea of getting people on stage really came from that.
Giving people a go, getting them on stage to mess around.
Have you advanced your plans to revisit Comedy Idol?
If I could find another Ed Aczell, hes bought so much happiness to me.
So many great people off the back of that.
We all independently said that its going to be fine, Ive got you two there!
Weve all done nothing, but are relying on the others.
Its interesting, though.
Your stand-up work is, by definition, very much you on your own, on a stage.
Your television work is far more collaborative.
Is that part of the appeal to it, and specifically to10 OClock Live?
But also, live TV is exciting to watch.
The last couple of years I guess its been the preserve of Saturday night ITV.
Live television has become about light entertainment, certainly, and it has decreasingly much to say.
Live surely presents other opportunities, though, which arent being exploited.
Yeah, I agree with that.
But also the behind the scenes team.
Theyre fantastic comedy writers, really top of the class.
And theyre coming in and working on this.
The next year, then, is presumably taken up with touring and10 OClock Live?
10 OClock Livewill be the first three or four months of the year, certainly.
But is there anything else you fancy trying?
Youve hinted at an autobiography as part of the gig on the DVD, for instance?
Well, I dont know if my story is all that interesting.
I dont think Ive got that book in me, I dont think.
But do you have another book in you?
Id love to write another book about humour and comedy.
WritingThe Naked Japewas such labour of love, just about jokes.
Ive been toying with doing a book about the British sense of humour.
If I can nail that.
I wish you the best of luck with it, Jimmy Carr, thank you very much…!
Jimmy Carr: Making People Laugh is out on DVD now
