COMEDY: JIMEOIN ON ICE

BY AMELIA GROOM

Irish-born Melbourne-based Jimeion delivers sharp, thoughtful stand-up that relies on subtlety and detail and seemingly touches on anything that comes into his head. But he insists there are subjects that he avoids entirely. ‘I’ve got a wife and kids but I never talk about that. If you start talking about being a married man with kids, or being Irish, or if you start talking about Big Brother or Britany Spears or any of those things, I just don’t find it funny in the slightest to be honest,’ he says.

‘I don’t find political humour in the slightest bit funny either. I think it’s just people using comedy to show off how clever they are. I don’t think it goes anywhere. A lecture is not the same as comedy, and you’re none the wiser at the end of those shows.’

With his latest routine, Jimeoin on Ice, about to open at the Sydney Opera House, he says it’s important that he keeps an element of improvisation in all his performances. ‘In a sense there’s a narrative but I don’t emphasis that. I try to keep my shows loose, people know if you’re delivering a lecture that’s set in stone. Good stand-up comes from doing it a lot and it should be always evolving,’ he says. ‘But the discussion of comedy means you have to buy into it and take it seriously, which defeats the purpose of it. There’s no message in my shows, it’s just about having a laugh.’

Jimeoin on Ice

November 25 ‘ December 6
The Playhouse at The Sydney Opera
Tickets: $34.50-$44.50, 9250 777 or www.sydneyoperahouse.com