The living, breathing epitome of observational comedy, Jimeoin works wonders with the minutiae of everyday life. It’s not difficult to imagine a shopping list somehow doubling as a setlist, such as Jimeoin’s gift for mining the comedy gold from the greatly mundane. A self-proclaimed specialist in “daft nonsense”, he darts from idea to idea quite deliberately. “Jumping from one subject to another, that’s the way a conversation goes. If somebody stays with any subject matter for too long, it’s almost like they’ve got an axe to grind,” Jimeoin explains. “You go, ‘Enough of this! Move on!’ You don’t want to go and see somebody and they’re talking about fucking whatever for the whole night… I mean, come on. You can’t stay on topic too long.”
Jimeoin prefers to be unpredictable – which, as he points out, is not at all the same as being an exponent of so-called shock comedy. “If people know that you’re going to be shocking, then you’re not going to be shocking, because you’ve already told them. But it’s good to go for the jugular once in awhile. Going for the jugular is good, but you need to know when to go for it.”
It comes as no surprise that, as a renowned veteran of stand-up comedy, Jimeoin has a wealth of wisdom to impart. Even now, he continues to grow as a performer, with plenty of unexpected lessons cropping up over his lengthy career.
“I’ve learned to trust my lack of faith in stuff now,” Jimeoin confirms. “If I think it’s going to be guaranteed, then the joke will bomb. If I’m not too sure, it seems to work better. I can’t pick them. I just can’t pick them. The first laugh that they get, I’m equally as surprised as the audience. Then you start saying it in a cocky, confident way because you know it works. But originally you have no idea.”
If you think that sounds exhilarating, you’d be right. “There’s nothing better than a new bit that works, because you can go on your arse very easily,” Jimeoin explains. “It’s like doing a skateboard trick you’ve never done before and really hurting yourself. You know, you’ll be up there telling jokes and looking fantastic, then try something new and just go on your arse. It’s laced with danger, new material. That’s probably why it’s the best feeling when you pull it off.”
Quite obviously, the ability to recognise when a bit is working or when it desperately needs to be cut is invaluable to any comedian. However, when it comes to picking and choosing, Jimeoin boasts a particularly unique approach. “I used to do this thing; I have a book… if [a joke] gets a laugh, I give it a tick. If it doesn’t, I scribble it out. I really, really scribble it out. I don’t want people seeing what I thought, on the chance that someone might get a glance,” Jimeoin laughs. “My sister used to do it to me: if I ever told her a joke that she didn’t think was funny, she’d go, ‘did you make it up? You made that up, didn’t you.’ That was the ultimate insult, if you made it up.”
These days, Jimeoin can rest assured of his comedy credentials. Still at the top of his game, having notched up over 25 years as a professional funnyman, he truly has seen it all. “I’ve been here for a long time,” he reflects. “When I was touring stand-up here, there weren’t a lot of other people doing it. Kevin Bloody Wilson, Rodney Rude… Billy Connolly would do the odd regional tour, but you couldn’t see anybody else. It was easy to book theatres because there were no other stand-ups doing it.”
Of course, the landscape has changed significantly. “Certainly there are a lot more people doing it. That always creates diversity, just because [the comedy scene] is larger. It’s certainly a bigger thing in so many ways,” Jimeoin explains. “People see it as an option, too. Everybody I knew who did stand-up got into it in such a bizarre way. And nobody really thought about being a stand-up. But now, you know how kids think, ‘I could be in a band’? Now people think, ‘I could do stand-up’. It’s a lot more open to people giving it a whirl.”
And Jimeoin himself arguably played a huge part in paving the way for today’s comics. He meets the suggestion with great modesty, though. “That’s always the way, really, with people who were there before you. People see you and go, ‘I could do that’. I was the same when I saw other people doing it. I certainly didn’t mean it as a career, more as a bit of a laugh, really.”
And in that moment, it dawns on Jimeoin just how incredible the journey has been. “It’s the festival’s 30th year… I’m not far away. Jesus.”
BY NICK MASON
