Few comedians are as unfiltered as Jim Jefferies. The influential Australian comic has refined the art of being charmingly offensive, going headfirst into hot button topics for the entirety of his 20-year career, and not fearing the infamous C-word: Cancelation.
In fact, Jefferies has maintained one of the surprisingly broadest fan bases in all of comedy, touring literally all over the world, from Australia to America, Asia to South Africa.
“When I moved over to America to begin with, there was sort of a myth that I was only funny because I said the C word, and because of my accent,” Jefferies told REVUE ahead of his tour stop coming to the Kalamazoo State Theatre Oct. 11. “But I sold more tickets in Australia where they weren’t fascinated by my accent in the slightest. So it’s just good to know that you can entertain people all over the world.”
Jefferies has done 10 comedy specials, with five of them on Netflix – including last year’s “High & Dry.” He attributes his global reach to the streaming service, and how the Internet has completely reshaped the landscape of comedy.
“It used to be you had to go over to a country several times to try to break a country,” Jefferies said about how things have changed since he started in standup. “When I came to America, arguably there’d only been a handful of comedians from overseas that ever broke America before that. Now you know about a whole heap of different comics from all over the world, because you’ve seen their specials.”
Growing up in Australia, Jefferies didn’t have American late night TV. So the fact that his comedy reaches millions around the world now puts him in a position he never imagined when he started.
Still, there’s a part of him that misses what comedy used to be, and that distrusts how the Internet continues to reshape what comedy has become.
“I’m not on TikTok, so I’m a bit of a dinosaur in that regard,” Jefferies said. “I don’t think my comedy plays out well on TikTok. I think part of the problem with TikTok is that we’re seeing comedy in short form. So the long-winded stories, or the things that loop around, and the callbacks and, the shows being a show, we’re sort of losing that nuance in what a whole comedy performance is, in the same way that people don’t listen to albums anymore. They just listen to individual songs. They don’t listen to albums as they’re meant to be played out, as the artist set it up to be heard. And I think that sort of happened to comedy as well.”
Named Stand-Up Comedian of the Year at the 2019 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, Jefferies had a sitcom in the works that got cancelled when the pandemic put a screeching halt on everything. It would have been his return to U.S. television after the cancellation of both his widely-acclaimed FX show “Legit” in 2014, and his late night Comedy Central series “The Jim Jefferies Show” in 2019.
“It’s hard to put your finger on what happened after the pandemic,” Jefferies said. “It’s hard to know what would have been, and what could have been… But then, on the other hand, without COVID, I may not have married my wife. So you don't know.”
Now living in Southern California, Jefferies married his wife in 2020, and the couple welcomed their son in 2021. Jefferies’s second child – after having another son 12 years ago in a previous relationship – forced him to reprioritize after the pandemic, shortening his tour runs so he can spend more time at home.
“Also, I think it taught me that a little bit of time off actually made me a better writer,” he said. “So I had more time to write jokes, and do the behind the work scenes of stand-up comedy rather than just the stuff that people see.”
Jefferies also got sober, having given up alcohol, and switching over to weed.
“As soon as I walk off stage, I take an edible, and then I get myself a little bit of something to eat, and I go to bed,” he said. “That’s as much partying as I do these days. The days of cocaine and women are long behind me.”
He added that being sober has made him a better comedian.
“I always had a couple of drinks before I went on stage and a drink could hit you differently,” he said. “Sometimes you couldn’t feel it. Sometimes you felt it too much. And it was a bit of a balancing act. Where now I don’t drink at all before I go on stage. So I’ve got a clear mind. Maybe with the heckling, I was a little bit faster with the heckles, when I was drunk, because you’d say the first thing that came into your mind. But I also said a lot of stupid sh*t that could have got me in trouble. So I think I remember my shows a lot better. I think I’m a lot more polished than I’ve ever been.”
Most recently, Jefferies just ended his podcast, “I Don’t Know About That,” where over 200 episodes he learned about a different topic from an expert. He’s also finished work on an upcoming to-be-announced Jordan Peele-produced film due out next year. Currently, he’s hosting the game show “The 1% Club” in his native Australia.
“Hosting a game show for a bloke like me is a pretty easy gig,” Jefferies said. “There’s not really lines to learn. You’ve just got to talk to people. You’ve just got to read a few questions, and you’ve just got to keep smiling. And a lot of people gave me sh*t for hosting a game show. But here’s the deal, man. I f*cking love game shows. I watch at least one game show a day, every day. I like question and answer things. It keeps you engaged. Game shows, for me, are the last bit of television where you’re not looking at your phone because you have to focus. So as a fan of game shows, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to host one because no one would ever see me that way. But I’ve loved every minute of it.”
Jim Jefferies: Give ‘Em What They Want Tour
Kalamazoo State Theatre, 404 S. Burdick St., Kalamazoo
Oct. 11, 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show, $60-180, 18 and older
Jimjefferies.com, Kazoostate.com
