Last One Laughing host Jimmy Carr has had his fair share of challenges
Netflix: Jimmy Carr’s darkest jokes from One Direction to 9-11
Controversial British comic Jimmy Carr is back on our screens in the new Prime Video series Last One Laughing. Jimmy Carr challenges 10 of Britain’s funniest comics to spend the day together without so much as cracking a smile.
The rules are simple: laugh and you’re out. Jimmy Carr will look on with a range of guests and provide his own commentary and quick quips.
The first four episodes will be released on Thursday (March 20) and the final two episodes will launch on Thursday, March 27 exclusively on Prime Video.
It’s the latest show for the comedian, who began his career in 1997 and eventually cemented himself on Channel 4 with 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and My Big Fat Quiz of the Year.
Outside of his stand-up career, Jimmy Carr has faced many challenges with his health, father, but also enjoys a peaceful life with his family.
But what else do we know about his life outside his controversial jokes and career?
Jimmy Carr ‘close to death’ after battling life-threatening infection as child
The 52-year-old comic was diagnosed with meningitis as a toddler, leaving him ‘close to death’ due to the immense toll it took on his body.
Jimmy was just three years old when he was hospitalised and treated for the infection in Ireland. Thankfully, his body was resilient enough to recover, but even after over 48 years, Jimmy vividly remembers the terrifying experience of being so close to death at such a tender age. The star gained an incredible appreciation for life and good health after going through the ordeal.
During a chat on the podcast Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake with Kathy Burke, Jimmy said: “You’ve got to be cruel to be kind … I think that is the first thing I ever said that my mother thought was funny. I had meningitis when I was a child. So my first memory is a lumbar puncture in Limerick in the General hospital. I was three, I think, and … I was always told it was very close to death.”
“The doctor sort of went, ‘It’s going to be very painful.’ And somehow I’d heard the phrase, and I went, ‘You’ve got to be cruel to be kind,’ in a little child’s voice. And I kind of appreciated that thing of life, because I was always told, ‘Oh, you nearly didn’t make it.'”
Jimmy Carr’s long-standing feud with estranged dad
Jimmy was raised by Irish parents in Farnham Common and Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. The comedian’s mum Nora died of pancreatitis aged 57 in 2001.
It was around this time that the funnyman says he stopped speaking to his father. In 2022, his dad took things to the next level when it was revealed by the Mirror that Jim Carr Sr was set to sue his son for defamation.
Jim Carr Snr, who has been estranged from his son for more than 20 years, planned to call in the lawyers after reading his son’s memoir Before and Laughter, which was released in 2021.
A source close to the family said at the time: “The last thing Jim wanted to do was take his own son to court, but enough is enough.
“He’s sick and tired of this false characterisation of himself that is being presented. Jimmy’s snide comments about his dad have been going on for years.”
Speaking about his father on a podcast in 2021, he said: “I haven’t seen my dad in 21 years and you know the line, ‘My mother’s dead and my father’s dead to me’ which sounds very cold, until you meet the guy.”
Inside Jimmy Carr’s tax scandal
Back in 2012, Jimmy faced intense scrutiny for his involvement in a tax avoidance scheme. He later expressed remorse for this and labelling it a “terrible error of judgment.”
Feeling a moral obligation, Jimmy settled the taxes he owed, stating: “I was publicly shamed for tax avoidance and it was very clear what I had to do: say sorry and pay it back. I didn’t have to….
“It was as if I’d been on PAYE all the way through. I did that, and then people took the p**s, which is the modern equivalent of being in the stocks. I took a tomato to the face from Sean Lock.”
Sean Lock joked on 8 Out of 10 Cats: “We all like to put a bit of money away for a rainy day, but I think you’re more prepared than Noah.”
Who is Jimmy Carr’s partner?
Jimmy and Karoline Copping have been in a serious relationship since meeting in 2001, but they are not married. The Canadian-born Karoline is a commissioning editor for Channel 5 and they met at a television interview during auditions in 2001
The couple have two children together including a son born in 2019, named Rockefeller – inspired by both the American billionaire business magnate John D. Rockefeller.
Asked if he thought fatherhood had softened him, Jimmy told Radio Times: “It could be a bit of a gear shift, because of the kind of comedy I do.
“But so far, I’m still telling the same jokes, I’ve got the same sense of humour. We’ll see because I’m sure I’m going to be writing a lot of material about him. In fact, I think he might be tax-deductible.”
Last One Laughing will be released on Prime Video from Thursday (March 20)
