Jimmy Carr Trivia | 40 facts about the British comedian

Jimmy Carr is a famous British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor, known for his rapid-fire and sometimes controversial one-liners.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. James Anthony Patrick Carr is his full name.
2. He was born on 15 September 1972.
3. He is known for his rapid-fire deadpan delivery of one-liners which have been known to offend some people.
4. He began his comedy career in 1997.
5. He has regularly appeared on television as the host of Channel 4 panel shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year.
6. He was born in Hounslow, London, England.
7. He’s the second of three sons.
8. He was born to Irish immigrant parents Nora Mary (née Lawlor; 19 September 1943 – 7 September 2001), and Patrick James “Jim” Carr (born 1945), an accountant who became the treasurer for computer company Unisys.
9. His parents were married in 1970 and separated in 1994, but they never divorced.
10. Carr spent most of his early life in the village Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire.
11. He attended Farnham Common School and Burnham Grammar School
12. He completed sixth form at the Royal Grammar School in nearby High Wycombe.
13. In 2001, Carr’s mother, Nora Mary, died of pancreatitis, aged 57.
14. Following her death, Carr’s relationship with his father became “severely strained”.
15. In 2004, his father was arrested and accused of harassing Carr and his brother Colin, but was cleared and won an apology from the Metropolitan Police.
16. In 2021, Carr said he had not spoken to his father since 2000 and had not seen him in person, with the exception of an autograph signing after a gig in 2015.
17. Carr’s parents remained in contact with their Irish relatives.
18. The family made frequent trips to Limerick and Kilkee.
19. After earning four A grades at A-Level, Carr read social science and political science at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
20. He graduated with first-class honours in 1994.
21. He went on to work in the marketing department at Shell, but took voluntary redundancy in January 2000 as he felt “miserable” there.
22. He performed his first paid stand-up gig later that month, having done his debut pub show unpaid only the previous December.
23. He has claimed that a course in neuro-linguistic programming helped him realise how his mind was working to hold him back from following his dreams of becoming a comedian.
24. In January 2006, Carr made a joke on Radio 4’s Loose Ends, the punchline of which implied that Gypsy women smelled.
25. The BBC issued an apology, but Carr refused to apologise and continued to use the joke.
26. He appeared in two episodes of the radio series of Flight of the Conchords in 2005.
27. Carr has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Museum of Curiosity a total of 7 times, since 2011.
28. He was the Museum Curator (in his 5 appearances in 2012) and a guest on the 2018 Annual Stock Take Christmas special, alongside Lee Mack, Jo Brand and Sally Philips.
29. In the late 1990s, when he was 26 years old, Carr had what he calls “an early midlife crisis”.
30. During that period he lost his Catholic faith.
31. He has since made comments critical of organised religion.
32. He has stated that he underwent a lot of psychotherapy (specifically neuro-linguistic programming) at the time of his crisis in order to help him cope with his loss of faith, and that he is qualified as a therapist.
33. Carr has dual British and Irish citizenship, travels on an Irish passport, has spoken of his pride in having Irish ancestry, and was presented in 2013 with a certificate of Irish heritage in his parents’ home city of Limerick by the city’s mayor.
34. Carr lives in North London with his Canadian girlfriend Karoline Copping, a commissioning editor for Channel 5.
35. He has been in a relationship with her since 2001.
36. Their son was born in 2019.
37. He has penned several books, including “Only Joking: What’s So Funny About Making People Laugh?” and “The Naked Jape: Uncovering the Hidden World of Jokes.”
38. His expertise in the art of comedy shines through in his written works, providing insight into his comedic process.
39. He holds a Guinness World Record for the highest number of jokes told in an hour. He managed to tell a staggering 377 jokes in just 60 minutes.
40. Jimmy Carr is known for his signature one-liners.