Australian-born, American-based comic Jim Jeffries returns to Dublin's 3 Arena on Saturday, December 7th, with his new show, The Night Talker. We caught up with the stand-up to discuss dark comedy, the struggles of parenting and moving on from The Jim Jefferies Show.
"I'm excited. I still see the UK as where I started doing comedy and I did a lot of shows in Ireland during that time as well, so it feels somewhat as going home to me," Jim tells me over the phone.
The stand-up has been on the world's comedy circuit for over twenty years with countless Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, numerous world tours and three critically-acclaimed Netflix specials under his belt.
Not to mention the prized title of Comedian of the Year which he received at the Just for Laughs earlier this year.
Rarely slowing down, Jim explains that he travels on a near-constant basis: "I never get off tour, really. Every second week, I'll sort of go and do a couple of cities but this is the first time in a long time that I'll be doing 20-30 days, so I'm already trying to eat healthily and not take any other bad substances."
Known not so much for toeing the line but bulldozing through it, the Australian has made a career from pulling audiences to the edge of their seats with taboo topics ranging from health care and immigration to sexual harassment and prostitution.
Far from using such material as a shock tactic, however, the 42-year-old insists that laughing at life's traumas is a well worn coping mechanism, one that has led him to the career he has today.
"My mother had very large mood swings," he explains. "She went from very sweet and loving to very angry, yelling, and often even violent. I think that me and my brothers would just take the piss out of her and do impersonations and stuff like that because it really lightened the load."
"If you can't milk it for comedy, what's the point? It's just horrible stuff then."
In his own family, Jefferies is a father to seven-year-old Hank, and despite being incredibly private online - his social media rarely features family photos - the writer has been known to use his experience of fatherhood, as well as his rocky relationships, in his material.
Rarely shining a completely positive light on his loved ones, the stand-up says he's ready and waiting for the repercussions coming down the line when his little one finds reams of YouTube videos referring to him as a "f***ing idiot".
"I do worry about that but I think the horse has already bolted," he says, jokingly. "There's not a lot I can do now, I'm in too deep. I've said so many things about his mother and him and about taking drugs in the past and things like that... I really am the epitome of 'Do as I say, not as I do'.
"But also don't do as I say, I've said horrible things," he adds, laughing.
"Of course I'm nervous about him seeing that. But then I think, he lives in a nice big house in Los Angeles so he's got to pay his way somehow. That's just the cost of hanging around with me."
Despite his undeniable success and the viral nature of his stand-up specials - his bit on gun control has over 11 million views on YouTube - the political commentator recently had his weekly late-night series, The Jim Jefferies Show, cancelled.
The talk show, which commentated on the big issues of the week as well as the current political climate, saw the comedian travel to various countries to cover controversial topics including Ireland's Eighth Amendment Referendum - a segment that featured Irish activist and comedian Tara Flynn.
Nonetheless, the Legit actor remains undeterred, insisting that a career in the entertainment industry is precarious at best and should be treated as such: "I never had any plans to move to America. I never thought I'd have a TV show - they come and go. I never thought I'd have these opportunities like that. I know as quickly as they've all come to me is how quickly they can all go away."
"I try not to get too wrapped up in it," he added. "If you start thinking this is normal then it's going to feel really bad when it ends."
True to form, the comic explained that, much like "sleeping with models", acting in movies is something he would like to do very much but the choice is out of his hands.
As for The Night Talker, Jim says he's stepping away from political commentary, insisting that to speak about policy in a country he doesn't live in would be "obnoxious".
"I couldn't think of anything worse than talking more about Donald Trump so on this tour I won't be talking about him," he explained.
"I don't think I'm qualified to talk about Brexit, I don't know what's going on there. I don't really know enough about foreign policy at the moment to comment on it, I think you actually have to live in a place to talk about it.
"I think I'll just keep it to a few bits of social commentary and some d**k jokes."
Welcome back, Jim.
Jim Jeffries returns to Dublin's 3 Arena on Saturday, December 7th, with his new show The Night Talker. Tickets on sale now.
