Jimmy Carr

His parents were married in 1970 and separated in 1994, but they never divorced.

Carr spent most of his early life in the village Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, where he attended Farnham Common School and Burnham Grammar School.

He completed sixth form at the Royal Grammar School in nearby High Wycombe.

James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor.

He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners, for which he has been both praised and criticised.

James Anthony Patrick Carr was born on 15 September 1972, in Hounslow, London, England, the second of three sons born to Irish immigrant parents Nora Mary (née Lawlor; 19 September 1943 – 7 September 2001) and Patrick James "Jim" Carr (born 1945), an accountant who became the treasurer for computer company Unisys.

He graduated with first-class honours in 1994.

He began his comedy career in 1997, and he has regularly appeared on television as the host of Channel 4 panel shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year.

He went on to work in the marketing department at Shell, but took voluntary redundancy in January 2000 as he felt "miserable" there.

He performed his first paid stand-up gig later that month, having done his debut pub show unpaid only the previous December.

He has claimed that a course in neuro-linguistic programming helped him realise how his mind was working to hold him back from following his dreams of becoming a comedian.

Carr has hosted Channel 4 game shows Distraction and Your Face or Mine?.

He presented the 100s series of programmes for Channel 4: 100 Worst Pop Records, 100 Worst Britons, 100 Greatest Cartoon Characters, 100 People Who Look Most Like Jimmy Carr (a spoof) and 100 Scary Moments.

In 2001, Carr's mother, Nora Mary, died of pancreatitis, aged 57.

Following her death, Carr's relationship with his father became "severely strained".

In 2004, his father was arrested and accused of harassing Carr and his brother Colin, but was cleared and won an apology from the Metropolitan Police.

In 2021, Carr said he had not spoken to his father since 2000 and had not seen him in person, with the exception of an autograph signing after a gig in 2015.

Carr's parents remained in contact with their Irish relatives, and the family made frequent trips to Limerick and Kilkee.

After earning four A grades at A-Level, Carr read social science and political science at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Since 2005, Carr has presented the comedy panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats.

He appeared in two episodes of the radio series of Flight of the Conchords in 2005.

In January 2006, Carr made a joke on Radio 4's Loose Ends, the punchline of which implied that Gypsy women smelled.

The BBC issued an apology, but Carr refused to apologise and continued to use the joke.

Carr was a guest presenter for one edition of Have I Got News for You; in 2007 he joined Ian Hislop's team in the edition of the show chaired by Ann Widdecombe, with whom he "flirted" outrageously.

Later in the episode, Widdecombe stated, "I don't think I shall return to this programme."

In April 2010, Carr hosted the first British version of a comedy roast show, Channel 4's A Comedy Roast.

On 6 May 2010, he was a co-host of Channel 4's Alternative Election Night, with David Mitchell, Lauren Laverne and Charlie Brooker.

He joined the three presenters again for 10 O'Clock Live, a Channel 4 comedy current-affairs show, which started airing in January 2011.

Carr has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Museum of Curiosity a total of 7 times, since 2011.

Since 2012, Carr has also presented over 150 episodes of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, a combination of his panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats and daytime quiz show Countdown.

He was the Museum Curator (in his 5 appearances in 2012) and a guest on the 2018 Annual Stock Take Christmas special, alongside Lee Mack, Jo Brand and Sally Philips.

In 2014 and 2015, Carr guest-presented two episodes of Sunday Night at the Palladium on ITV.

The show aired on Channel 4 until 2016, when it moved to More4.

It later went to E4.

In 2018, he presented American comedy panel show The Fix on Netflix.

From 2018 to 2020, Carr hosted the Comedy Central series Roast Battle.

Carr contributed sketches to Channel 4 topical comedy TV programme The 11 O'Clock Show and has appeared on panel shows A League of Their Own and QI.

During a guest appearance on the BBC motoring show Top Gear, Carr set a new celebrity test track lap record on the 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' segment.

He was described as "the worst driver we've ever had" and "the luckiest man alive" by Top Gear test driver the Stig.

Carr has appeared as a contestant on celebrity editions of Deal or No Deal (won £750 for Helen & Douglas House), The Chase (won £1,000 for Variety Club), Benchmark (won £1,000 for Elton John AIDS Foundation), Tipping Point (won £7,000 for Blue Cross) Catchphrase, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, winning £1,000.