I m not a big follower of comedy!
It may not be the kind of statement you d expect an internationally renowned stand-up comedian and comic actor to make, but then Jimeoin has always been his own man. Having swapped the dreary winters of Northern Ireland for the sunny skies of Melbourne, Jimeoin took the scenic route to stardom, winning over the Antipodes with his warm, easy charm. He has, though, no time for comedy anoraks.
I find it a bit anal, he says, when you re around certain comics that know every Monty Python sketch or every Morecambe & Wise routine. I don t socialise with comics. I socialise with ordinary people. That way, I get a better feel for it.
Jimeoin recently appeared at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado the same event at which Monty Python reformed last year where, he says, he was the talk of the town . He s due here for a three-night stint at the Murphy s Laughter Lounge (5th-7th August) and he s also due to appear on the Des O Connor show, a programme with which he has built up a long and trusty relationship.
About six years ago, they saw me in Edinburgh and asked me to do it, he explains. Back then, it wasn t a hip and groovy thing to do. You look at it now, and everyone does it. I think it s a great show. I much prefer to do that show than some trendy show where the host is trying to make a mockery of you. The last time I did it was on a New Years Day: 17 million people watched it.
Also, the Galway Film Fleadh recently screened Jimeoin s new movie, The Craic, which he wrote, co-produced, and starred in, and which apparently was the second biggest box office opening in Australia ever, behind Muriel s Wedding.
It s about two guys from Northern Ireland who get into a fight in a chip shop with a guy who s involved with a paramilitary group it s a comedy! he grins. They leave the country and then they go to Australia and overstay their visa and so then they re chased by Immigration. But it s also the time of the supergrass programme so the guy they got into the fight with also ends up in Australia under a different name with a different identity.
But that s just a premise for the story. It s really about two travellers going around Australia. It struck a real chord because so many immigrants not just recently, but over the years of various age groups said that, yes, it was very true to the experience of seeing a country and being out of context: about people not understanding your accent, and being naive and trying to meet girls and so on . . .
For Jimeoin, though, stand-up is his amour propre.
People keep saying, so what s your next movie? and I say, hang on, I m a stand-up comic. I m going to back to my job .
I love Melbourne and I love travelling. Some people view Australia in the same way that they view South Africa: as this relaxed, racist place. But it s not like that. It s a big country; there s lots of space.
I m motivated by good weather. You can t beat a nice sunny day. There s something about doing a gig in the Great Barrier Reef that s better than doing a gig in Birmingham! I m certainly not suffering for my art. n
Jimeoin plays the Murphy s Laughter Lounge for three nights, from Thursday 5th-7th August. Also on the bill are: David O Doherty, Alex Lyons and Jake Junior.