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Precious is a new-style weepie but one that is much more bracing than depressing
Precious
Theatre
Ian McKellen is captivating throughout. He delights in the play’s gallows humour, yet is also maudlin and poignant
Waiting for Godot
Theatre
Slight quibbles notwithstanding, this will set the West End’s stock riding high
Enron
Utterly, utterly brilliant. You really are in for a treat
Though 'Trilogy' has won rave reviews, I personally found myself exasperated after about an hour
We went on a quiet sunday evening and the food was excellent, but the experience let down by the service and ambiance
London,
Bruce Dessau's rating
Reader rating
Equality offender: Jimmy Carr
Yesterday was unusually busy for Jimmy Carr. He watched the ATP World Tour Final at the O2 Arena in the afternoon — despite his lookalike Roger Federer not appearing — and then he hurried off to work in Brixton. For Carr stand-up comedy is just a job, but one he does very well, though not without controversy.
“It’s only words,” was a defensive shot the smart-suited 37-year-old used a number of times onstage during his sold-out gig. Understandably, perhaps, following the gagging order from the taste police this month when he became headline news for his one-liner about amputee soldiers doing well in the 2012 Paralympics.
Unsurprisingly, the aforementioned joke was not delivered last night. But the excitable audience need not have worried if they wanted offensive comedy. There were plenty of well-spoken jibes about ginger hair, gay men and light-fingered Liverpudlians. Oh, and a couple of kitten jokes that threatened to send the RSPCA into a tailspin. By his own admission, Carr is an equal-opportunities offender. Quips with everything.
Except that no one was truly offended, however many X-rated aces he served. There was maybe too much about sex, as he relentlessly returned to the subject from similar angles throughout his set, yet whenever there was a danger of getting stuck in a rut he would lob in a well-crafted winner.
It takes a certain skill to sound simultaneously unpleasant and witty, but he even managed that, remarking of one large woman: “She wasn’t a size zero, she was a shape zero.” He was on firmer footing putting the boot into celebrity culture.
Michael Jackson, Jordan and Madonna all received laser-guided tongue-lashings, while a remark about the Queen’s love life was crude but hardly treasonable. Carr’s style is rarely gentle, though there were occasional lighter moments. I warmed to his suggestion that one can cure a fear of spiders by imagining them naked and wanted more of the same.
This brand of anti-Michael McIntyre, guilty-pleasure, playground humour is clearly not to everyone’s taste. His dopplegänger Federer might have lost this weekend, but for Carr it was game, set and match. To borrow some more sporting parlance, however, it is just a shame he cannot win pretty rather than win ugly.
Also Hammersmith Apollo, 11 to 13 and 21, 22 December. Information: 08448 444 748, www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Thank heavens that Jimmy Carr not only exists but is so popular. He is a shining light of freedom of thought and speech in a world of ever increasing unacceptable censorship and persecution on the wholly spurious grounds of "offense".
Sticks and stones can break my bones but names can never hurt me. If you don't think Carr is funny then fair enough, but leave him alone to entertain those very many who do and have the right to hear what they like.
- Matt, London, UK
He remains the sharpest, funniest comedian in the UK.
I'm sure he, like myself, takes a certain gratification knowing the mung bean munchers sensibilities have been upset.
- Scotty, London
Give me Alan Carr any day. This one's just not very funny. When he's finished making jokes about disabled servicmen and gay people maybe he could pick on some other minorities: muslims anyone? now that would really be cutting edge wouldn't it Jimmy?
- Alan J, London
I find it interesting when comedians say that people shouldn't be offended because "they're only words". Russell Brand also makes this claim. I wonder if these comedians get upset over bad reviews. RB certainly does and complains bitterly that his feelings get hurt when people are mean to him.
If words are only words then why is it different when they are directed at you? Presumably Jimmy Carr wouldn't mind being booed "it's only noise" or pelted with fruit "it's only food".
- Kate, London, UK
