Comedian Jimmy Rees freely admits that his “job is bizarre” and that once he visited Canberra as a keynote speaker at a local government convention alongside former Liberal leader Peter Dutton (bet that was a-laugh-a-minute).
Jimmy’s back at the National Convention Centre next month – not for a dry convention but to ridicule us, and we can’t seem to get enough (last year he did three shows in a day, putting on a matinee due to demand).
Whenever Jimmy’s in our fair city, which is always ripe for the comedy picking, he said that he’s always taking notes and gathering intel for his next comedy reel.
“My job is bizarre,” Jimmy said. “One time I was there as a keynote speaker. I don’t know who puts me for a keynote speaker, like what is going on?
“Peter Dutton was speaking as well on the same day. I’m like, ‘Why am I here?’ I don’t understand why I’m here but anyway, you meet a whole bunch of people and people take you around … someone will tell me a story and I’m just like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’”
Another time Jimmy was in Canberra, he was invited to Parliament House as part of an ABC delegation. He had his Jimmy Giggle hat on as it was when he hosted the children’s TV show Giggle and Hoot. Like most Canberrans, Jimmy wasn’t all that excited about sighting a politician in the wild.
“I think the ABC sent a bunch of their talent to go there – we called it ‘schmoozing the poliies’ because they’re like hey, we need money at the ABC… There was an after drinks thing, there was a dinner, the prime minister was there and I can’t remember who it was. Anyway, there was so much wine, it was unbelievable the amount of wine that was consumed by the Australian politicians. I was like, wow, they really know how to throw back a couple of Shiraz.
“I remember having a quick chat with Mr Turnbull but I don’t think he was the prime minister at the time … I was dressed as Jimmy Giggles so it was a bit like, oh I can’t say anything I’m with the ABC and I’m looking over at the publicity person and be like, am I allowed to have a photo with this person? Is this aligned with what I’m paid to do?”
For someone who only completed half a uni degree in media production and film studies, Jimmy is doing fantastically well in media production and film. His satirical reels ridiculing hapless Australians have gone viral.
While most of us took up sourdough baking during Covid lockdown, Jimmy launched a whole new career in comedy (while he still had three kids under the age of four).
He now has an OAM, a factory studio, and a 15-metre-long wardrobe department where he works full-time with his cameraman.
“We’ve actually got three big tubs of hats, we’ve got a whole tub of sunglasses, a whole rack of ties, there’s shoes, there’s everything,” Jimmy said. “It’s actually gone a bit nuts. I can’t throw it out, one day we’ll have this crazy idea, I need to be a bird.”
There’s never any shortage of fodder for Jimmy’s comedy because let’s face it, the current state of affairs is pretty laughable.
“A long lens is what I use, a wide lens,” he said. “If you zoom out, the world is crazy, everyone’s crazy, Canberra’s crazy, you know, everything’s crazy.
“People need a bit of a laugh. if you watch the news, everything’s dire, isn’t it? I think we need to lighten up a little bit still. I think the world’s a bit tense at the moment … we can just sort of chill a second.”
Jimmy Rees is at the National Convention Centre on 29 November as part of his In Reel Life Tour. Tickets: premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=REESREEL25&v=CRT
