Jimeoin has a secure foothold in stand-up comedy. Come 2021, Jimeoin will have reached a career height of 30 years in the industry and there is no evidence to support that he’s ready to call it a day.
It’s little wonder he’s been adorned with such labels as 'stalwart' and 'a class act'. He's rambling on across the country in his new tour.
The comedian speaks about his formative years and how “having a laugh” was embedded in him from a very young age.
“When I think back, I was always getting told off for not taking photographs seriously. I enjoyed being with cousins, first cousins, we’d really have a laugh, and with friends. We weren’t really interested in politics or sport, we just were really interested in having a laugh, that’s all,” Jimeoin says. “I like to add joy and feeling that euphoric feeling that you get, it’s like a drug, it’s a nice feeling – laughing.”
In an alternate reality, Jimeoin may very well have chosen dance as a professional career.
“I used to do dancing. It was a fitness thing more than anything else. Then I realised, I enjoy where it takes my brain – it’s sort of like you can switch off,” he says. “I can overthink too much. I can be one of those people that has a laugh but I can also be a victim to overthinking sh.t and the stuff that goes along with that – I found that when I was dancing I was like, 'oh wow, you can almost step out of your thoughts when you do this'.”
However, Jimeoin chose a different direction.
“I suppose it was by default I came to Australia, I wasn’t really planning to do comedy, I had never really seen it. I had ambitions of doing something other than working, you know, working in a serious job – none of those jobs seemed like any fun, being in a band seemed like fun or being an actor.”
Jimeoin continues.
“What I was very good at and what I’m still very good at is remembering jokes that you hear in a pub and telling them. And everyone in my family. . . None of us are really performers, but all of us could tell a joke and will enjoy a joke, and would be very aware of someone tearing the ass out of a joke.”
Jimeoin shares an early conversation he had with comedian Bob Franklin.
“There were people like Bob Franklin when I first started who were instrumental in pointing out that I was funny being myself. He was just one of those people who would say, 'oh you should say that'. . . And I would go, 'no, they won’t get that'. And he would tell me to go for it. I thought, 'I’ve got a wealth of this. I’ve got loads of this'.
“I don’t have anything on politics or anything topical but I have lots of these thoughts.”
The comedian always strives to deliver his very best.
“I’m personally trying to find stuff that’s right in front of your face that isn’t anything political but more just to do with your life and your own shortcomings. And then hopefully people can see themselves.”
Jimeoin Tour Dates
Until 15 March – The Vagabond @ Garden Of Unearthly Delights (Adelaide Fringe)19-22 March – Brisbane Powerhouse (Brisbane Comedy Festival)
27-28 March – The Palms At Crown (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)
3-18 April – The Palms At Crown (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)
1 May – Bargo Sports Club (New South Wales)
8 May – The Wedge Performing Arts Centre (Victoria)
9 May – West Gippsland Arts Centre (Victoria)
5 June – Wonthaggi Union Community Arts Centre (Victoria)
6 June – Burrinja Cultural Centre (Victoria)
12 June – Cairns Performing Arts Centre
13 June – Townsville Civic Centre
14 June – Mackay Entertainment & Convention Centre
26 June – Gladstone Entertainment & Convention Centre
27 June – Pilbeam Theatre (Rockhampton)
28 June – Moncrieff Entertainment Centre (Bundaberg)
18 July – Club Charlestown (New South Wales)
24 July – Redcliffe Entertainment Centre (Brisbane)
25 July – Ipswich Civic Centre (Brisbane)
26 July – Redland Performing Arts Centre (Brisbane)
31 July – Logan Entertainment Centre (Brisbane)
