Jim'll Fix It
A comedian with no country, Jimeoin talks Australia, returning to Ireland and why Johnny Rotten is better than Gandhi...
Craig Fitzpatrick, 05 Oct 2012
Whimsically surreal, inoffensive and utterly endearing, Jimeoin is massive Down Under. Ahem. Raised in Portstewart, the poetically named Jimeon McKeown high-tailed it in the late ‘80s from Northern Ireland to Australia and set about becoming a comedic star in the southern hemisphere.
Oddly under-appreciated back on the British Isles, possibly down to a lack of gigging and concerted exposure, he’s been turning that tide in recent years. Spots on Live At The Apollo and Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow have made his presence felt, and he tours Britain and Ireland well into 2013. When we speak, he’s in Warwickshire, on route to a Tyneside gig. A Friday night out in Newcastle? Definitely more miserable than Sydney and possibly slightly dodgy...
“Jesus, I hadn’t thought about that,” he says, only half-joking. “Thanks! But no, the gigging’s been going fantastic. There’s a crowd there. It’s been sold out. I’ve just done a few TV shows and simply off the back of that, I’ve had quite a following. It’s banging your head against a brick wall for years and then you go on a TV show...”
Does he get ever homesick or is it a welcome break from the family?
“Welcome relief! I do that joke in my act – when I’m on tour, I can see why people have photos of their families in work. It’s so they can say, ‘That’s the shit I have to go home to’. It makes doing overtime easier!”
Dates in Dublin, Galway and Belfast are coming in November, the first time Jimeoin will have played these shores since the recession. Does he expect any change in the audience?
“I don’t think those things make an impact. If you’re going out for a night, you leave whatever’s going on in your life at home. People still do that. They’ve got other shit going on much worse than the recession and they really don’t take it out with them. Plus, the things I talk about... I don’t really have an axe to grind. I’m really just up for a laugh, and trying to get that spark lit.”
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