Before & Laughter: The funniest man in the UK’s genuinely useful guide to life

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Rather disarmingly, he stresses repeatedly throughout his book that anyone could have done this, and that he had no supernatural talent for comedy. In 2019, the charity Little People, which was co-founded by the Harry Potter actor Warwick Davis, criticised one of his jokes that targeted people with dwarfism.

He took a course in stand-up, graduated to performing five-minute slots at open mic nights and honed his craft at the Edinburgh Fringe, where he was nominated for the prestigious prize then known as the Perrier Award. 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. Carr is an engaging presence – friendly, enthusiastic, happy to answer uncomfortable questions, albeit with an unnervingly intense stare at times. He delves into specific moments and incidents in his own life that shows how he managed to make it work for him.

Drawing from specific moments and incidents in his own life, he shows how he managed to make it work for him. The book recounts how he became a sort of surrogate partner to his mum after she separated from his father, in 1994 – both of them were from Limerick – and struggled with depression.

She added that, although Carr hasn't done a gig at her club for nearly two decades, "if he rang me up tomorrow and said 'could I jump on your stage? Carr says that he’s actually an “uberliberal” when it comes to politics, but when I ask about the current British government he’s remarkably sympathetic to its situation.

At the top of his game, he is an award-winning comedian who consistently performs to sell-out arenas around the world.

How did he achieve this level of success he is now enjoying, in both his professional and personal life? He seems a little dejected when I tell him I was more interested in the memoir sections of the book. He seems to have witnessed a different pandemic from me, in which well-signposted icebergs were frequently ploughed into and alternative ideas were plentiful yet often ignored or mocked.There are certain things in the book which sound like jokes, but have a serious point lurking underneath them. Things like NLP [neuro linguistic programming] and CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy] have really helped me in life, and I don't tend to share that a lot. Jimmy Carr has written his autobiography in the form of a self-help book, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.