Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer

I'm generally a fan of Jimmy Carr but Natural Born Killer is just awful. It reeks of a desperation to be 'edgy' and puts more focus on seeking to offend than it does to be funny.

Don't get me wrong, there are funny moments, but they are too few and far between to rescue the performance.

The number of times that he seemingly had to prompt the audience to laugh was embarrassing. I really wanted to enjoy the show and I fought through the want to turn off after 15 minutes...how I now wish I'd have taken that option...

Jimmy seems to have become the offensive, out of touch, creepy uncle who only seems able to entertain himself. Sad & disappointing.

Brilliant comics age, just like everything else, and Jimmy Carr is a brilliant comic.

He's one of the smartest, funniest, most inventive British comics of his era, but the nature of being sharp and inventive is that it has a shelf-life. There are still flashes of the old brilliance but a lot of it feels like treading old ground. That's not to say that he can't get back to his old level of brilliance, because great comics can adapt and reinvent themselves.

The "I'm so edgy" shtick is just cringe, and pretty standard for many comics whose glory days are behind them. Just make sure you have the best material, and get on with telling the jokes. It's not the 1950's and the only people who are "offended" are newspaper columnists who are only pretending to be for adclick revenue. Truth is, most people aren't actually watching - they have their own lives to get on with.

If anyone is genuinely offensive, they won't get a Netflix special - the comic genius of Jerry Sadowitz is an example. It's tough for ageing comics but it is possible for them to revive their act. It starts with them admitting to themselves that their act needs reviving, not deluding themselves that they're an "edgy" 51 year-old.

I cannot profess to being the biggest fan of Jimmy Carr, nonetheless as his new Netflix special, Natural Born Killer was available I decided to give it a watch.

As likely as not I have not watched anything by Jimmy since his previous special His Dark Material in 2021.

Well, aside from laughing out loud around three or maybe four times, this was thin gruel, it really felt like he was trying very, very hard to be offensive and funny, and ended up being neither to any great extent.

It just did not work for me.

The show almost settles into two halves as around or just beyond the half-way point and with the aid of the audience Jimmy seems to loosen up, it becomes more fluid and is a bit funnier all be it in a comparative sense.

I felt for the audience who I presume had paid good money to see this, it felt that they just weren't that into it, maybe it was just one of those nights but this Aylesbury audience did not seem to be having the best of times.

I guess it is mildly amusing to see Jimmy's face, teeth and hair evolve over time all with the aid of modern surgery and dentistry but beyond that there is little to recommend here.

Jimmy needs to have a long hard think about his future career or there may not be much career in his future.

Definitely goes over a ton of controversial subjects so will likely offend a lot of people for differing reasons. I'd say over 90% of his material can be considered offensive. He talks fast so there's a lot of jokes. I'd say 1/3 funny 1/3 decent 1/3 corny. One second I'd think he's being over the top or offensive for the shock. Then he'd do the same thing but I'd find it funny. Really tough to judge when every joke is so unique to the person hearing it. But if u don't get offended you'll find more than enough to stick through. I watched alone and lold at least a dozen times. Going into this I'd seen his other specials no more than once and always thought he was decent. This special was better than expected to me. But ya a lot of the jokes weren't huge crowd pleasers so it's hard to recommend to everyone. I also forget his old material specifically but know he's always leaned intro controversial topics so this seemed on brand for him.

I do generally enjoy the somewhat edgy comedy that Jimmy Carr delivers. And thus I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch this 2024 stand-up comedy special.

Sure, I had not heard about it, prior to stumbling upon it by perusing the stand-up comedy collection on Netflix, but still I had some expectations to the show, as Jimmy Carr usually delivers good stuff.

And I will say that the 2024 show "Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer" definitely is an enjoyable and entertaining show to watch. Jimmy Carr does what he does best, so it is either a take it or leave it situation, I guess. Either you like his edgy material or you don't, as he easily can offend those with frail levels of tolerance and a lack of humor.

I was genuinely entertained throughout the course of the 59 minutes that the show ran for. And if you are a fan of Jimmy Carr, then you definitely will enjoy this 2024 show.

My rating of "Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer" lands on a six out ten stars.