Sex, genocide and the severely disabled. Emma McAlpine reviews the latest show from Aussie filthmonger Jim Jefferies.
Even if Jim Jefferies wasn’t the Edinburgh star he is now, his show title Alcoholocaust has certainly ensured the right crowd are on board for his irreverent, take-no-prisoners style of vitriol. By right crowd, I don’t necessarily mean young people (although there are a lot here); take the snowy-haired gentleman in front of me, roaring with laughter and slapping his thigh every five minutes for example, or the 40-something woman to my right who giggles throughout one of his misogynistic rants. Jim’s shows tend to attract an open minded, fun-loving bunch who like paying to see smart, honest and uncomplicated comedy.
Held in Edinburgh University’s beautiful McEwan Hall, with a rock‘n’roll intro (cue flashing lights and ‘Highway to Hell’ soundtrack) this is one of the most expensive comedy gigs of the Fringe and Jefferies begins by apologises for the escalating ticket prices. “But for you women, it’s the same price it’s always been”, he says before launching into a scathing tirade about girlfriends not paying their way. The premise of Alcoholocaust is the death of his drinking, which he’ll be quitting after Edinburgh he tells us, to save his liver. Amusingly, there have been objections to this title in America from its healthy Jewish community, but Jefferies doesn’t see why they should get the monopoly on the word holocaust or why they’d want it – “Well done, you had the best one.”
He delves into several of his pet subjects including religion, sex and nihilism, maintaining a merry stream of filthy language throughout and liberal use of the C-bomb. Weaker patches include a brief section on debunking religion that feels a bit like he’s covering old ground. Still the crowd are laughing, so when he subverts the joke back on us, calling us hypocrites for not responding as heartily to this, less immoral material, it feels overly staged. In God-fearing America, Jefferies’ new country of residence, this bit will no doubt work a lot better, but on the whole, British comedy punters are more than familiar with atheist material and happy to roll with it.
A more interesting subject he muses on is depression. Why do first world countries like America and the UK have much higher suicide rates than countries like Africa which are full of people dying horrible, slow deaths? As someone who is as successful as he is, yet still prone to bi-polar mood swings, he acknowledges it’s “pathetic” but can’t always snap out of it. His conclusion for our irrational level of depression is illuminating, not to mention hilarious, when backed up by his own example.
One of Jefferies’ finest comedic attributes is his skill at crafting a monumental anecdote (it’s pretty commonplace to hear someone yell “Tell the egg story!” during one of his gigs). The finale in this show is one of his best, a true story about one of his severely disabled friends with muscular dystrophy, who as a result can’t move a single muscle in his body, including his eyelids. While that might not initially sound like the funniest tale, as Jim rightly tells us it picks up after he agrees to take him to a brothel. Building and sustaining the humour right till the very end, enhancing it with little details and comical dialogues, here he really hits his stride and gives us an uncommon and inspiring example of friendship, mined into comedy gold.
It’s a strong finish that ultimately reveals he’s not the bigoted monster he’d like us to think he is. There’s a teeny-weeny heart in there somewhere just waiting to break free. Drinking constantly throughout the gig, with the occasional word-slurring, it’s hard to imagine Jefferies as a tee-totaller. Whether he gives up alcohol after Edinburgh remains to be seen but I’d be very intrigued to hear how he gets on without it.
Jim Jefferies: Alcoholocaust will in the McEwan Hall in the Udderbelly Pasture at various times from 5th-30th August.
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