I had always assumed that this brilliant observational comedian, who is a superstar in his adopted homeland of Australia, was from Northern Ireland. It turns out, however, that he was actually born in England, in Leamington Spa.
‘My parents were from Ireland, but they were living in England when I was born,’ he explained. The family moved to Portstewart in Northern Ireland when he was one, hence the strong Irish accent, which has not been worn away despite living down under for the last 25 years.
The amiable 49-year-old is now making waves in the UK thanks to his memorable stand-up appearances on TV shows such as Live at the Apollo, The Royal Variety Performance and Sunday Night at the Palladium. His relaxed, acute observation about the smallest details of human behaviour has struck a big chord with everyone who sees him.
Fans have been particularly entertained by his routine about eyebrows. He points out that whenever we look in our pockets we have our ‘little bits of fur’ down but whenever we ask directions, for instance, we have them up: ‘Most of the things I will be talking about tonight will involve having my eyebrows up,’ he giggled.
He says he could probably do a whole performance about eyebrows, but he has other things to chat about too. His riff about washing machines, giving them human characteristics, is also a showstopper. When it goes quiet just before another spin cycle he wonders if it is pausing to have a crafty cigarette. And as for removing your clean things, you take your life in your hands if you turn the dial: “You get the wrong setting, your clothes could be locked away for days.’
While his jokes go down a treat, his name confuses people. Jimeoin’s mother apparently could not decide on what to call him and so combined his two grandfathers’ names – James (Jim) and John which is Eoin in Gaelic and invented a whole new name. Babies in Australia are now called Jimeoin. When he started to perform, on a whim in a Sydney comedy club in 1990, he decided to drop the surname of McKeown because it was a bit of a mouthful. He was clearly doing something right as his career took off quickly, with TV shows and sell-out tours following.
His easygoing everyman style probably comes from the fact that he is well-travelled and had proper jobs before getting into stand-up. After Portstewart he lived in south London for a while and was a gardener, a carpenter and a builder. There was no showbiz gene in his family. ‘My father was a plasterer and my mother was a teacher,’ he recalled. He was always making his friends laugh at school though. ‘I thought I was funny, but I never thought I could turn it into a job. Even now it surprises me that I’m doing it as a job.’
The move to Australia changed his life in more ways than just getting a sun tan and a career. He married Catherine and now has four children, three girls and a boy, between two and 13 at home in Melbourne. Gigs to packed theatres must be easy after dealing with a full house of children. He says that when he is touring: ‘it is just a joy to be away.’ He misses them really, of course.
And now he is following in the footsteps of another legendary funny Irishman, Dave Allen, and making it big in the UK after making it big in Oz.
‘Yes, oh my God,’ he said, excited when one of his comedy heroes was mentioned. ‘I only discovered that on a TV show recently. This guy told me that Dave Allen broke through in Australia then went to the UK. I think Australians like Irish accents. I’ve heard that people go to comedy clubs when they hear an Irish comedian is on even if they don’t know them.’
He does not, however, see a great similarity to Allen in terms of material: ‘He did set-pieces and really strong stories. I don’t talk about politics and religion, but if I could have got his angle on it I’d have done it. I just talk about the things that tickle me,’ he said. With the arena-filling rise of the likes of Michael McIntyre, Micky Flanagan and Jason Manford, the world seems to have caught up with Jimeoin’s ‘have you ever noticed?’ observational take on behaviour. ‘Observational? I didn’t know it had a name to it,’ he laughed. ‘The fact that it became popular was because it was what most people found funny. People connect with it on an emotional level.’
The challenge is coming up with new jokes all the time. ‘Sometimes I come up with something that seems so obvious I can’t believe it has never been done before.’ He likes to keep it family-friendly too and rarely swears: ‘I don’t swear much offstage so it would be odd swearing onstage.’
His current tour will be a mix of his latest show with some classic routines thrown in for new fans who have discovered him through his recent TV appearances or the internet. The older fans like to hear them again too, he pointed out. ‘You’ll always get someone shouting out “do the eyebrows bit!”‘
Having a career on opposite sides of the world involves about five trips a year to the UK. He travels economy, collecting his air miles and treating himself to business class when he has enough points. But the journey is no major strain for him: ‘I used to get the bus from London to Northern Ireland and that is 16 hours, so the flight isn’t much longer.’ He has no plans to move over here though. With his TV appearances filmed on his visits and aired later and clips available on YouTube he doesn’t need to base himself here to attract an audience.
TV back home also keeps him there. He branched out last year hosting a nightly World Cup special called The Full Brazilian: ‘I did 25 live shows over 28 days in primetime. The learning curve was very steep trying to be chirpy for that long. Very different to stand-up, but great fun doing it.’
The fact that Jimeoin was chosen to host such a high profile show underlines how famous he is over there. It must be odd that he cannot sit in a Melbourne pub without fans buying him drinks. ‘From the age of 25 I’ve been very well known there. It’s a nice break in the UK. When I’m on tour I like to visit medieval cathedrals. I’ve got a great collection of pictures of me in front of churches.’ I suspect that the way his career is going it would not be surprising if his fans over here will soon be taking pictures of him.
*Jimeoin is appearing at the Jersey Opera House on Friday 12 February at 8 pm.
