‘The darker the subject, the bigger the laugh you have to get’: Jim Jefferies on comedy, Donald Trump and the lure of Los Angeles

He is one of the most controversial comedians in America – and he’s Australian. Whether taking aim at Donald Trump or something more personal, Jim Jefferies reveals how ‘telling a few dick jokes’ has led to huge success.

He’s one of the most controversial comedians in Hollywood – and he’s Australian. Jim Jefferies has made a career out of pushing boundaries, tackling dark subject matter from gun control to Donald Trump and sex workers, as well as deeply personal topics such as his time in Alcoholics Anonymous – in one of his routines, Jefferies speaks openly about being sober for nearly two years.

“When I went to AA, everyone in my meetings was a mildly famous actor or comedian,” Jefferies tells Stellar over a late-night Zoom call. “Of course it’s anonymous, I won’t tell you any names. But I thought, only in LA. I had to stop going to the celebrity AA meetings because everyone shared for too long; the meetings were going for hours.”

Reflecting on how he balances sensitive topics with biting humour, Jefferies is philosophical. “The darker the subject, the bigger the laugh you have to get, right? So at all stages with comedy, the audience has to know that you’re joking,” he muses. “If you tell a misogynistic joke or something that’s on the cusp of [being] very dark … the laugh has to be big.

Jim Jefferies on set for Stellar. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

“If you’re doing sex jokes, critics who don’t like you or what you’re saying will say something along the lines of, ‘Oh, [he’s] going for easy, cheap laughs.’ Like, really? I have been criticised all over the shop about saying this – it doesn’t sound too easy,” the 46-year-old continues. “I was trying to not act like an arsehole, and get away with [a] joke. If you want to do [a joke] that’s crass, or sexually explicit, you’ll get told off.

“I have had a few people write to my wife and go, ‘How do you let him say these things about you?’ And I’ll tell you why – she thinks I’m funny,” Jefferies says of his partner, British actor Tasie Lawrence, whom he married in 2020. “She knows I am joking … she doesn’t get embarrassed by stupid things I say because she knows they’re jokes.”

Jefferies, who grew up in Sydney, has lived in Los Angeles for more than a decade. As well as selling out live shows across the world, he is set to host a new game show called The 1% Club, premiering later this month on the Seven Network (in an Australian version of the British format). It follows a string of Netflix comedy specials (including 2020’s Jim Jefferies: Intolerant) as well as his own satirical weekly US talk show, The Jim Jefferies Show, which featured Brad Pitt as a cynical weather man. (In one scene, Jefferies asks Pitt, “How’s it looking out there, weather man?” To which Pitt dryly responds, “There is no future.”)

Jefferies returned the favour by writing jokes for Pitt’s awards season appearances

in 2020. “[Pitt] has been very good to me … and so I wrote him a couple of gags for some award shows.

The LA-based comedian returned to Australia to shoot new Seven game show, The 1% Club. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

“It’s not like writing jokes for me,” Jefferies notes. “The best jokes to write are self-deprecating jokes. Writing self-deprecating jokes for Brad Pitt is easy because everyone loves him. He’s so handsome, so you just write jokes about having women want to sleep with [him] or whatever. I could never write those jokes for myself. There was one joke he did at – I think it was the Golden Globes – which was, ‘I wanted to bring my mum to this awards show but I couldn’t bring her because every woman I stand next to, the media thinks I’m sleeping with her.’ He goes, ‘Will people laugh at that?’ I said ‘Yeah.’ It was just fun to see that.”

But Jefferies also isn’t afraid to get political. Trump, in particular, is one of his favourite public figures to take aim at. “[Trump] seems to be in a bit of trouble,” he says. “In America, it’s always, ‘We’re going to impeach him! We’re going to arrest him!’ I’ll believe it when I f*cking see it. Like, when they impeached him, they go, ‘Oh, he’s impeached now!’ And nothing happens. I hope he runs again … I don’t want him to win. I would just like to see him run in the primaries, that’s like good telly for me.

“I reckon I have figured out his comb-over, as well. I believe he has a comb-behind – I think he has had so many [hair] transplants from the back of his head,” he continues.

“You can give too much credit to Donald Trump, saying, ‘Oh his policies are dangerous.’ He’s not the president anymore. I hated him as a president. I love him as a celebrity.”

While Jefferies’ brand of humour is heavily influenced by his adopted homeland, he has not lost his Australian accent. “A lot of my vocabulary and lingo is from [the year] 2000,” Jefferies deadpans of how he sounds on The 1% Club. “I think my [Australian] accent is kind of caught in that time.

“I’m a big fan of game shows. I wanted to do something that my 10-year-old son [Hank] could watch. Nothing else I have done he can actually watch. I’ve been an answer on The Chase [quiz show] in the UK and Australia – and it’s been one of my proudest moments.” He clarifies the statement: [I was] one of the ‘options’ for the answer, I’ve never been the correct answer.”

Perhaps one of Jefferies’ most well-known routines is about the US gun control debate, which has gone viral several times over – one clip from that routine has been viewed 18 million times on YouTube.

“Sadly, the gun control bit is probably what I am most known for,” he says. “[When] I see my clips trending … that’s how I know there’s just been a shooting. It’s a sad thing, really. The big question is: does stand-up comedy make a difference? Does it change people’s opinions? As a parent living in America with kids, I am terrified of guns. They have to learn, in school, where to hide – it’s terrible. I’d rather there be gun control than that routine ever existing.”

Jefferies may be one of the busiest comedians on the scene, but by his own admission, it’s something he never takes for granted. “I’m always shocked that people show up, every time. I always go, ‘F*cking hell, how has me telling a few dick jokes gotten this far?’”

Despite spending the past summer in Sydney, for now LA remains home for the comedian and his family. “LA was the first place I moved to in America,” he says. “I tell you what, there is some magic in that town. They say New York, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. I think it’s LA. Everybody drives down Sunset Boulevard and hopes to see their face on one of those billboards,” Jefferies says of a feat he achieved in 2017 with a billboard on the famous strip for The Jim Jefferies Show. “You go to a party and there’ll be celebrities all over the place. They’re at their most normal. No-one really cares.”

Despite living in the epicentre of celebrity, Jefferies remains – perhaps, like Pitt – a bit self-deprecating about his appeal. “I believe you’re either funny or you’re not. I don’t think most comics know why they’re funny. I don’t quite know why I am funny,” he reveals. “I know I have a skill to be able to say offensive things and get away with it. And others can’t do that. There’s something about my face or my timing … I can’t put my finger on it.”

The 1% Club premieres at 7.30pm on April 26 on the Seven Network and 7plus.