My first time seeing Jim Jefferies live was in 2013 in Las Vegas of all places.
At that time, the Sydney-born comic had built a strong following at home and was beginning to make waves internationally. This was also during the time he was performing his now-infamous gun control material to US crowds. Jefferies was opening this particular show, in support of the Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival at Mandalay Bay, for New Zealand legends Flight of the Conchords and comedy icon Dave Chappelle (imagine that lineup now). It was very obvious to me then that Jefferies was going to become one of Australia’s top exports.
As we speak now, the 49-year-old, who has been sober since 2021, is indeed Australia’s biggest name in comedy, and he remembers that run of shows very well. But who he was at that time is vastly different to the man and comedian I am speaking with today.
“I’ll tell you a story from that particular show,” Jefferies begins, “because we did about six shows around the country. That particular show, I just came in from England. I landed, I went on stage, and then afterwards, I was drinking, and I was literally drinking vodka from the lip. Because it’s an arena, they gave me the dressing room where the boxers would be. So it was all lockers with those wooden benches. I got paralytically drunk in the interval after my set.
“Tony Hawk was in the audience, and Tony Hawk had asked to meet me because he’d seen some of my stand-up and he enjoyed the show. I get a knock on the door from the promoter, who said, ‘Tony Hawk wants to meet you.’ And Tony Hawk came in, and I was so fucking legless. I couldn’t string a sentence together. I remember watching an episode of Cribs, and I’m into pinball, and I said, ‘You have a South Park pinball machine. That’s a good machine with the toilet and everything. It’s one of the rare ones from Stern that has a five-ball multi-ball.’
“He didn’t ask for a photo or anything. He goes, ‘You should go to bed. It was very nice meeting you.’ I still feel shame about that because he was one of those icons from my childhood. He asked to meet me, and then I was such a fucking hero to zero.
“And that’s what alcohol could always do to you, you know what I mean? I had so many social cues and problems with meeting people, and anxiety when I would meet people, and a lot of self-hate and things from my childhood and stuff like that. Not liking yourself really. I was drinking alone, you know? There were all the other comedians, and I just went to drink by myself, and then someone who was a big deal when I was a kid meets me, and I just make a cunt of myself.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
“You go from being something on stage that people admire, or people think is something else. Then being able to talk to somebody one-on-one gave me so much anxiety. There were 15,000 people in that audience!”
It may surprise some that Jefferies was a bit of an introvert, particularly given his aforementioned gun control bit. That alone, particularly in the US, gifted him many new fans, but also a lot of backlash as his status grew.
As he told Rolling Stone AU/NZ in his 2024 cover story: “I do feel like I’m this comedian who’s both loved and hated by the left and the right.”
“The backlash was a good thing because it sort of sparked a bit of what’s going on, a bit of hype around the whole thing,” he says. “People who hated it actually helped people who loved it like it more.”
That particular gun control bit, which has been watched over 30 million times on Jefferies’ YouTube page, is still a hot topic today.
As controversy surrounding ICE agents and shooting deaths have been making headlines in recent months, Jefferies, who currently resides in Los Angeles, still believes what he said in 2024 is true today.
“I believe that 80 % of the population are moderates who have left and right-wing views,” he begins. “Everyone’s got, whatever the topic is, you have a left-wing view and a right-wing view, and I have left and right-wing views. And then 10% of the population is extreme left, and 10% is extreme right.
“You got RFK, right? He goes, ‘There should be no chemicals in food. We don’t need these food dyes. McDonald’s French fries shouldn’t have 20-something ingredients in them when other countries don’t have all these ingredients. A box of mac and cheese shouldn’t have 30 more ingredients than an Australian box of mac and cheese.’ Who would argue with that? You can get Snakes Alive here from Allen’s, and they don’t have the food dyes, and they’re fucking bangers!
“So as a parent, I want all that shit out of my food, right? And then the next thing he says is, ‘And no vaccines.’ My mother had polio. I fucking believe in vaccines. So it’s not the same. Everything’s not equal. So, the left can get on board with the taking out all this stuff. The right can get on board with taking out all this stuff. And then they go, ‘No vaccines,’ like it’s all one topic. Or that I have to believe that autism came because a pregnant woman took Tylenol. I don’t believe that. I think that sounds like bullshit. And they wanted to say it was because of the vaccines. They obviously couldn’t find the evidence,
“I’ve always considered myself to be a fairly right-wing Australian in the sense that I believe in tight borders, and I’m financially seen to be right-wing in many respects. But I’m extremely left-wing for an American because I believe women should be allowed to do what they want with their bodies. I fully believe in healthcare for all. I believe in social services and housing for all.
“And those words that I’m saying right now to a lot of Americans with socialist programs, I might as well be a communist, right? I’m the most extreme fucking lefty on earth to certain Americans. But in Australia, that doesn’t make me an extreme lefty, does it?”
That unapologetic approach to his craft is one of many reasons why Jefferies is, for many fans, at the top of the pole of Australian comedy. As he gears up to bring his acclaimed ‘Son of a Carpenter’ tour back home later this year, Jefferies shares a story about meeting Dave Chappelle years later, after those Oddball shows, backstage at a Netflix Is a Joke event.
Chappelle had seen footage of Jefferies being attacked on stage many years and Jefferies was summoned to his dressing room.
“[Chappelle] was playing the Hollywood Bowl two nights in a row, and I got the ‘Dave wants to talk to you,'” Jefferies recalls. So I went off to a room, and I met Dave, and he’s obviously smoking a cigarette and all that. He goes, ‘I was just chatting to Bill Burr, and he showed me the video of you being punched on stage. What was that like?’ I told him the whole story. We chatted for about five to ten minutes. He’s very friendly. He knew some of my standup, it was all very pleasant.
“Anyway, the next night, he gets rushed on stage by that guy with the fake knife. The next night, like 18 hours later, he gets attacked on stage. The coincidence was fucking insane.”
It’s one of many reasons Jefferies prefers his own headline shows over festival spots.
“To be honest, I like performing in front of my fans,” he says. “My comedy has gotten to a stage now where I can start referencing old jokes of mine, or I can reference my parents, my brothers, or an ex-girlfriend, or something, and people sort of can follow that. My shows are almost serialised now, you know?
“On this tour, there are three venues where 10,000 people will be coming.”
Thinking back to the up-and-coming comic who was struggling with alcohol in 2013, to the man who is gearing up for biggest-ever shows in Australia this year, Jefferies is strikingly humble about his career and the success he’s had to date.
“I’m not someone who needs to get up every day just to have the elation of the crowd and all that type of stuff, because I’m also hyper conscious of that it won’t last forever,” he says with a smile.
“I’m not going to be selling out these big venues in Australia in my eighties. Hopefully, we can play this footage back when I am selling these stadiums out in my eighties! To quote John Candy from Cool Runnings: If you’re not happy with it, you’ll never be happy without it. I’ve got to learn to be happy without it.
“My future is it’s not always going to be like this. I put so much of myself into stand-up comedy, and so much of my identity of self-worth is whether an audience likes me or not. And I’m trying to be very zen about it these days. I’m trying to enjoy my family while they’re young. If I’m at home in LA, the best night I can have is watching movies with my kids and having an edible.
“I’m trying to be humble, man. That’s where I’m at. Things could be going a lot worse, and I hope I deserve what I’ve got in life, and if I don’t, I’m very thankful for what I’ve got.”
