Jimmy Carr "Tries Out" New Jokes Every Night | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

so you're 25 that's when you start and. you your style is these as I said you. you love onliners and you love um there. are comedians that tell stories they. find their way to the laughs here and. there on their journey and that is not. you no I was always my My love language. is the oneliner yeah I'm trying to. develop something I mean in the new. special I'm trying to develop some. longer stories and some cuz I've a good.

fast ball but I don't have much in in. the bag I wanted to kind of develop a. little bit so I I really kind of made a. decision a couple of years ago try. different things all the I try different. styles try different you know try and. mix it which I've kind of done a little. bit but it's I was very influenced by. Steven Wright and emo Phillips and re. rodner and all those kind of great gag. to gag comics and I think there's. something I don't know I think there's. something wonderful about that you're. not wasting anyone's time stage I mean I. remember being knocking out the knocking. out the hits laugh to laugh when I was a. teenager seeing Steven Wright and just.

and he comes from Boston which where I'm. from and just the the jokes um they they. felt like little Jewels like you know. they just they they were they were dense. and they were so smart and he would just. keep handing them out and you felt like. this is this guy is is holding a sack of. rubies and he just keeps taking them out. and and and passing them to the audience. that's what how it felt to me yeah I. remember see just being blown away by.

yeah the power of his uh intellect and. then his delivery was so self assured. and and also very much nothing special. happening here I'm just a guy talking. yeah and then these amazing so so he. influenced you oh emo Phillips as well I. don't think get get quite emo I think. was bigger in the UK in the 80s than he. was here he was like he was quite a big. deal yeah he was great yeah but then I. loved all the stuff like Billy connley I. love Bill Hicks but in the end sense of.

humor chooses you it it I think what you. laugh at is kind of it's very um it's. very exposing uh and I like kind of dark. stuff and I like short on liners and. that's what I can kind of go to very. easily but it's it's weird you don't. like if I was if I was making a plan at. the beginning of my career I would have. been a Storyteller cuz I only need five. ideas to fill an hour brilliant right. right it would have been much more cost. effective right where I'm running about. 300 jokes in an hour it's a lot of. work yeah well um yeah it's easier to. build from Lego than marble uh.

it's cool it what it is also easier to. change your mind you just attach that. piece the yellow piece and put in the. blue piece well it's a lot of kind of. beta testing it's a lot of you know in. my ACT it's a lot be oh is that word. better than that word well I'll try it a. different way tonight different way. tonight different way tonight trying new. stuff all the time so you're constantly. kind of writing so now we get to this. other issue which is you do a Netflix. special I imagine because of the uh. quality and density of the jokes in your.

act you do the special and unlike 70. years ago when you could then tour with. that act for 15 years on Vaudeville or. actually some people would have a really. good hour and a half and they would or. or hour and 15 minutes and they would. tour with it for 50 years yeah because. that was their act that's an amazing. footage of like these guys called moram. and wise yes I know moram and wise UK. double act and it's them at the cuden. Fairfield Halls where I get to play and.

it's them it's them doing their hour and. they never put it on TV they were huge. TV stars and they never put it on TV. they just recorded it once it's like one. shot of them doing it but it's a perfect. Vilan hour it's gorgeous no I mean as. soon as the Netflix thing drops I've got. one day off and then I start the new. okay so this is what's incredible is you. do the Netflix thing and then that's out. and people watch that then there's the. sense that is there the sense that I. have got to.

reinvent the wheel now because but but. that's is the stoic thing you do it. every every night every night of the. tour at the end of 90 minutes I pull out. a piece of paper from my pocket I think. I've got the one from last night with. new jokes written on it and I try the. new jokes great and so every night you. try new stuff and then so at the end of. a year you know let's say you do 10. jokes a night and half of them work well. at the end of the year you have the new. show and then you sort of retry them and. you know be to test or whatever and. you're kind of you're building up you're. building up you're building up then. obviously you do a couple of previews.

where you put it all in a row and see. does it make sense and are there you. know too many things that are similar or. what but it's do you have jokes that you. tell that don't work but you enjoy them. so you keep them in I've got no not not. much I think the uh I'm in the service. industry uh well ultimately we all are. but it's we all are I'm just not sure. what the service is. here we're we're called time wasters. Incorporated we're here to waste an hour. of your time Jimmy get you to.

the grave but that thing of that thing. of like the everyone leaves this podcast. calling their representation what was. what was that I'm a busy man what a. waste of time he used to be on the Telly. see I did that for you as well but now. he's on the talk maybe we should maybe. we should record this at Double speed a. lot of people listen at Double speed I. think we should start recording in. double spe oh my God uh what was I. talking about gags I don't know um so.

I write some things and I love I suppose. it's that thing though the audience is a. genius Lenny Bruce said that first I. think and the audience tell you what is. what isn't funny and what is and what. isn't acceptable and you tell the joke. and sometimes an audience just stares. back at you and it's nothing it's very. rare you can rescue one of those. sometimes you tell a joke and it just. gets a it gets a laugh like it's B. material it's kind of nothing it's never. going to make it onto a special or into. a tour it's fine it's joke shaped but. nothing special if you really love it. then you go away and you change it and. you change it and you change it until. eventually gets a big laugh but then.

it's a different joke right but somehow. you feel like oh well it's kind of. connected to the thing I knew there was. something there yeah sometime and. sometimes it comes back years later. sometimes it's just you know it's part. of a bigger routine it's a weird thing. with when you do word play or puns or. something if you just do one it's kind. of okay if you do two fine if you do. three it's an Applause break if you do. sort three in a row because it it's a. sort of a feat um so sometimes it's like. putting those things together where. you've kind of thought of it it's fine. but actually together with something. else it'll work you have to be uh.

cognizant of so much material when. you're doing your act do you ever find. yourself not knowing wait a minute I. don't. know because you know I don't know which. one goes here because if you say if you. do 300 jokes and you're at number 2011 I. tell you what the Killer is two shows a. night yeah the Killer is two shows a. night cuz halfway through the second. show and someone's just heckled and. you've dealt with that and then you go. the hell am I talking about where are we. I can't remember what city I'm in never. mind what joke I'm on right and that I.

would say 4 seconds of panic is a. lifetime and then obviously you you. remember yeah it's you always fine but. there's like a moment. of here we are I I have had that moment. I know exactly where I was I was at the. Beacon Theater because I was just back. there and this was a number of years ago. and and things were going great but at. one point I absolutely forgot not only. where I was in my ACT but why I was who.

I was am I dressed I mean everything. just went away and I remember this is. your DMT story yeah exactly yeah so you. why did I lick the back of a frog before. walking on stage what was I what was I. thinking that's not my pre-show ritual I. thought I'd try a new ritual um I didn't. know it was that kind of frog and so I. but what happens is I you almost feel. like you've drifted out of your body but. then you realize I can't there's so many. people here watching there's a whatever.

2,000 people here watching whatever it. is I need to get back in there and. figure this out so you go through. this whole journey and you do it and. then I realized later on if you were. watching in the audience you're watching. 3 seconds but to me it felt like this. journey to get to get back into myself. it's it's interesting that thing of like. it's it's a lovely experience as well to. be on stage and to be sort of that. present you sometimes have a moment like. that but it's it's kind of fine it's. interesting that thing ofy it's a very.

unique experience always kind of being. on stage people sort of go I do a lot of. dates on the tour and people sort go you. you get bored of it or whatever but it. always feels different you get to travel. you get to go to different places the. different audience it feels different. every show so it's kind of that it's. like a unique experience and I always. think like people don't want more time. they want more memories yes and actually. doing this sort of job you just sort of. you meet interesting people you chat to. interesting people it's always kind of a. bit different it's it's good for that I. think and.