Perhaps this unusual devotion to his mum (“I suppose a therapist would tell you I was ‘enmeshed’”) is why he found himself still a virgin at 26, although he says the situation never bothered him. “It’s, like, not everyone’s doing that at the same time. But if you’re watching Euphoria on TV as a 16-year-old you’re going to think, ‘What the f**k? I’ve never had a threesome – what’s going on?’” Jimmy Carr: hilarious, successful and unmissable. At the top of his game, he is an award-winning comedian who consistently performs to sell-out arenas around the world. He's also, by his own admission, a happy guy. Yet it wasn't always like that. Carr previously wrote the 2007 humour analysis book The Naked Jape: Uncovering The Hidden World of Jokes with Lucy Greeve. MyHome.ie (Opens in new window) • Top 1000 • The Gloss (Opens in new window) • Recruit Ireland (Opens in new window) • Irish Times Training (Opens in new window)

As a result he spent his first 12 years of comedy success avoiding alcohol completely. “Which was much better. You have better conversations. The only thing about being sober around comedians is that, around 2am, you might as well f**k off home. You’re just going to be told the same anecdote again.”It’s not the first time that comedian Jimmy has spoken about cancel culture. The 49-year-old funnyman previously admitted the thought of getting cancelled doesn’t faze him one bit. Well, there had been pictures of me pushing a pram in the pictures,” he says. “What did people think was in that? Old CDs?”

Surely he must have allowed himself a wry smile during Cameron’s recent lobbying scandal with Greensill? “No, I don’t wish him any ill at all,” he says, before adding some advice that could come straight from his own book. “I think it’s that thing of letting go. If you’re bitter and angry, it’s best to let go.” The book covers most of his life, from growing up in Slough, near London, and going to university at Cambridge to meeting his partner of 20 years, the TV producer Karoline Copping, and hosting shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats. He may not think his showbiz stories are particularly interesting, but I loved hearing about his friendship with Stephen Hawking, whom he would take out for a curry and a musical. He says the uproar was far worse than anything he has faced over offensive jokes. Even the then prime minister, David Cameron, got involved. The comedian appeared in the new Channel 4 programme Cancelled, hosted by Richard Bacon. The show takes a look at how lives and reputations can be changed overnight on social media, while also contemplating the nature of free speech.From prioritising the future over the present, to understanding the benefits of laughter, and from working on your disposition to finding your edge, Carr suggests some key pillars to help us free ourselves from punishing patterns of behaviour and negative internal voices, so that we can pursue our dreams. I think if you have a friend that’s tetraplegic you have to be quite chatty, because obviously the typing takes him so long,” he says, in a remark that feels like one of his jokes but isn’t. “We’d do shots together sometimes too. His care team said tequila would be too much, so he’d be on the Cointreau.”

Exploring how the comedian found personal and professional happiness, Before & Laughter will be published by Quercus on 28th September. Reflecting upon his accomplishments, Carr told Dane Baptiste on his podcast that "I'm writing this thing at the moment, thinking about the past a lot, when I became a success. Already anticipating his next tour, he has challenged himself to modify his short-form, gag-heavy form of stand-up. As for drugs, “I’ve tried everything once, but I’m not a drug person,” he says. “I’ve met people who are funnier after a couple of pints. But I’ve never once in my life met someone and gone, ‘Oh, he’s a bit quiet, but you’ve got to meet him after he’s had some cocaine.’” Jimmy Carr appears alongside Richard Bacon on Cancelled (Picture: Tom Jenner / Hardcash Production)A recent review said: “Many of his one-liners are barely jokes at all, just boorish cliches.” But Carr is unflappable when it comes to defending his act. “To be punching down you need to be looking down. And it’s saying you can’t joke about those people, because they can’t take it … whereas, actually, some people with disabilities like really rough, dark stuff.” There's two things going on. One is when people would have thought 'oh, he's doing alright'. And then the other thing is when you think ' I'm doing alright. The joke that cancels me is out there already. It is on YouTube somewhere and it is perfectly acceptable until one day it isn’t.’ He trails off and reconsiders what he’s just said. “No, I think I probably was a little bit stressed about it, a bit down about it,” he decides. “But it was probably a good thing because if things had been a bit better in my early 20s, I might not have quit my job for comedy.”

During his appearance on Australian morning show Today, host Karl Stefanovic expressed his surprise that the comedian hasn’t been cancelled due to his edgy sense of humour. Carr opens up admirably in the book about his mental health, his problem drinking and the grief he experienced when his mother died in 2001, just as his comedy career was beginning. “I found the book incredibly cathartic to write,” he says. “Especially about my mother. There’s that lovely phrase, that you die twice – once when you die, and again the last time someone says your name. So I loved that thing of being able to talk about my mum.”Speaking about writing comedy in 2021, Jimmy went on to say: ‘When you’re doing a try out show, when you’re testing things out for the first time, you’re a little bit nervous. He says the uproar was far worse than anything he has faced over offensive jokes. Even the prime minister at the time, David Cameron, got involved. “I’m not an expert on tax accounting, but I think if the prime minister of the country where you live has broken off from the G20 in Mexico to talk about your personal tax affairs and called you out and named you, that might be a problem.” He laughs: “Is this making me sound like an incel elder? I did have opportunities but I was bad at reading the signs and I would friend-zone people. A lot of girls I was very, very close to growing up, we had incredibly intimate relationships, but we didn’t have a physical relationship and it was lovely …”