Comedian Jimmy Carr promises 'unfiltered and unedited' show in Whanganui

Jimmy Carr says being cancelled is no more than an occupational hazard. Photo / Supplied

Jimmy Carr will soon perform in Whanganui for the first time, an honour that he says may be a sign his critics have won.

He spoke to the Chronicle about 1.50am UK time while on his way home.

"Sure, I've spoken to the New York Times, but this [interview] is the big one," Carr said.

He wasn't worried if a timid audience awaited him in the River City.

"I'll wake them up, don't you worry about a goddamned thing.

"This isn't something where there is an edit or someone has to decide what is or what isn't acceptable.

"Me [performing] live is unfiltered and unedited. If you like the strong stuff then come and see the show."

Carr's Terribly Funny tour touches down in New Zealand in January.

He has been the host of the panel show 8 Out Of 10 Cats for 20 seasons and spent a decade presenting Big Fat Quiz Of The Year.

Car has also hosted three series of Roast Battle on Comedy Central UK and recorded his own Netflix panel show, The Fix, in 2019.

His latest Netflix special, His Dark Materials, was released late last year.

A joke in it about the Holocaust drew criticism from several charity groups.

He had been cancelled a few times but he was still standing, Carr said.

Trouble usually started when a joke "escaped" from his show and appeared on someone's Facebook or Instagram feed.

"They are reading a joke like it's a statement, which is madness.

"You sort of go 'Well, being cancelled is no more than an occupational hazard'.

"It's a very unpleasant week. You get all this publicity and people talking about you, and the people who don't like you have a stick to beat you with.

"The people that find you funny are still at the shows and still having a laugh."

Jimmy Carr's sense of humour seems to "click pretty well" with New Zealanders. Photo / Supplied

Carr said getting those laughs built up a reservoir of goodwill between him and the audience.

However, performing in Whanganui could be a sign he had been cancelled after all.

"Maybe they have won. Maybe this is the end, maybe this is where showbiz careers go to die," Carr said.

While he didn't "need the competition, frankly", Carr's advice to up-and-coming Whanganui comedians was to simply write jokes.

"My friend Neal Brennan said recently that there are 55,000 brain surgeons in the world and about 100 people who can do a good hour of comedy.

"Performance kind of comes through experience with stage time. Just write jokes constantly and get better at the mechanics of jokes.

"If something makes you laugh, pick it apart and learn exactly why that worked and why it appealed to you."

Carr said his own career could be described as a "joke-eating monster".

"You're constantly chasing, writing and trying new stuff. If it works then great, you've got another five minutes or 30 seconds.

"Every time you release a special or do a few minutes on TV, that material is then dead to you and it's back to new stuff, new stuff all the time.

"As a comedian, you're the gun and the jokes are the bullets."

His sense of humour seemed to click with New Zealanders pretty well, he said.

"This tour is twice the size of the last tour, which was twice the size of the first tour. It may become like voting - everyone has got to come and see me.

"My joke about New Zealand is that it's not only a long way away, but it's a long time ago.

"You're living in another era over there. Dropping in for a couple of months is pretty fantastic."

Carr takes the stage at the Royal Whanganui Opera House on January 12.

"They say you only play it twice, once on the way up and once on the way down," he said.