The answer is normally no. Unless you’re a similar soul who is able to stand up in front of packed audiences, and unleash every facet of themselves. If there are any areas that Jim Jefferies feels are off-bounds in his routine, it’s probably just because they’d lead to his imprisonment.
With the help of his shows now being available on Netflix, and the comedian’s growing fan-base, his Aussie charm is now spreading worldwide. However, few real comedy fans are impressed by a person that can simply swear a lot. Most of us can do this, and it can make us switch off if there’s no moxie along with it.
Jefferies is aware of this and also doesn’t care. He knows that the content of his material is like a blade through the vanilla world of lazy comedy, and also: the only people he attacks are himself, and those without his courage to face-off against the status-quo.
Sharing the laughter
Most fans, especially those in the ‘millennial’ bracket, first saw his work in his 2014 show: ‘BARE’, and then more recently in 2016’s ‘Freedumb’. It’s worth mentioning however that due to Netflix’ untransparent global availability policies, not everyone in the world can watch the same shows. A perfect example of this is how the Australian version of the subscription has nine times fewer titles than the American, did you know that? There’s an easy way around this though, with a service like http://www.flixusa.com.au.
Comedy is one of the best ways to find out what type of character a person has when you first meet them. It beats the “what books/films/music are you into?” question, because as we all know, you might just like Stephen King because you’re into clowns, or George Michael because you like the saxophone. Yet, with stand-up comedians, we sit through entire sets that are focussed around one singular pathos. With Jefferies, this is case in point, where he is as good at making enemies across the globe – those who confuse comedy with politics – as he is making people laugh.
The comedy of truth
In contrast to the way that he attacks the things that perturb him in life, there is also a positive irony to the fact that it’s comforting to see someone hack away at modern clichés. Jefferies speaks his mind in a world often fettered by concerns over social position, ostracisation, and general repercussions. It’s as if he was born without the ability to develop these concerns, or more likely: with the ability to overcome them. He’s also candid about the possibility that this might be because he’s on the autistic spectrum, which he tells us himself in one of his sets.
His chimeric style of bravado, hostility, and welcoming candour, is now being let loose in his 2017 tour of the U.S. And he’s also making friends in the American podcast world, where fellow comedians like Joe Rogan feature him on his own show.
Jefferies is one of those people that makes your ears feel either refreshed or damaged – or maybe both – but as one of Australia’s leading comedy talents, it’s always a cheer to have someone who can show us the humour inside almost any blunder.
