Jimmy Cricket’s imminent visit to Leicester has clearly got the local press excited.
The Leicester Mercury has described the Irish funnyman as a “comedy legend…whose material is timeless”.
A feature written by reporter Gemma Collins appeared in Thursday’s edition of the newspaper and previews Jimmy’s appearance at next month’s Leicester Comedy Festival.
His show is on the afternoon of Saturday 23 February with a 2.15pm start. All tickets cost just £10.
John Bishop’s new TV comedy series, which features your favourite funnyman Jimmy Cricket, begins this week.
The first episode of Sky1’s John Bishop’s Only Joking is at 8.30pm (GMT) on Friday (11 January) – but you won’t see famous Irish comedian Jimmy until the second week.
Jimmy also appears in episodes three, four, five, six, seven and nine.
Watch a trailer to the show at http://sky1.sky.com/john-bishops-only-joking/john-bishops-only-joking-trailer and find out more information at http://sky1.sky.com/sky1hd-shows/john-bishops-only-joking
“I really enjoyed recording this show with John Bishop,” says Jimmy. “I especially liked the nice touch that John went to when he sent me a note of thanks and reminded me of our last meeting on a beach over in Turkey!
“This was a few years ago when John was just starting out on his comedy career and I was in the resort where he was appearing at one of the local hotels.
“John was walking along the beach with his family and he bumped into me and I wished him all the very best with his career.
“John wrote in his note to me on the day of the recording of the Sky1 show: ‘Jimmy, great to have you on the show – it’s a long way from a holiday in Turkey!! Cheers John.’”
Jimmy says he is thrilled to be part of this new and exciting comedy series which is targeted at family viewing.
He adds: “I think it is great that not only do they have a great line-up of comedians – including an attractive mix of young comedians and legends such as Jason Manford and Tom O’Connor – but there is a nice twist that other celebrities and members of the public have also been filmed telling their favourite joke.
“The show deserves nothing but success.”
Jimmy Cricket already has an exciting 2013 lined up.
And you can see him live on stage at a nearby venue – or on television.
Highlights of the coming year include:
– Appearing in Sky1’s new comedy series called John Bishop’s Only Joking, scheduled for January and February
– A return to the open seas as he is making an appearance on P&O’s Aurora cruise ship where he will feature in a leg of the ship’s world cruise during February between Honolulu, the southern-most major US city, and Papeete, capital of French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean
– Featuring in a tour of Northern Ireland with the legendary comic showband, Clubsound – this show has proved so popular that the tour’s promoter has had to arrange a second leg!
– Headlining a national Music Hall Tour, which will visit places such as Nottingham, Cardiff, Ipswich and Tunbridge Wells to name just a few
– Appearing at Dave’s Comedy Festival in Leicester during February
– Headlining the summer season show at the Princess Theatre in Hunstanton, Norfolk, over the main six-week holiday period
– Continuing to tour with his Value for a Tenner show, with dates at Bathgate, New Brighton, Whitley Bay and Bungay already lined up for next year
A YouTube video featuring Jimmy Cricket has been viewed almost 20,000 times and been watched for more than 50,000 minutes during 2012 alone.
The most popular clip on the well-known Irish comedian’s YouTube channel is his stand-up from ITV’s Summertime Special programme, which was filmed in Bournemouth.
It was uploaded to YouTube in 2007 and has been watched nearly 55,000 times, but is still clearly popular as more than a third of those viewings have been in the past 12 months.
The second most popular clip of 2012 on Jimmy’s YouTube channel is a classic bit of footage from Jimmy’s appearance on the BBC TV show called the Main Attraction.
This show was produced by John Fisher, who is a doyen of comedy TV production. The clip has had almost 21,000 viewings – and nearly 68,000 in total -and has been watched for nearly 27,000 minutes.
Third in the hit parade of 2012 is a piece of footage which is inextricably linked with Jimmy’s style and repertoire – A Letter from Mammy.
This particular clip on his YouTube channel was taken from his ITV television series from the 1980s and has had almost 5,000 viewings over 6,000 minutes.
Jimmy said: “It will be interesting to see what proves popular in my 2013 YouTube chart!”
Jimmy Cricket used the inspiration of the London Olympics when it came to designing his 2012 Christmas card.
Olympic champions Usain Bolt and Mo Farah feature on the front cover of the cards he has started sending out to friends.
The famous Irish comedian says: “Each year at Christmas time, I think of a topical idea to base the front of my Christmas cards on.
“Each Christmas card design has usually involved a big news event of the preceding year, with me pictured in the middle and passing the odd comedy quip or two!
“Clearly the big event of this year has been the London Olympics, so I thought of an idea which would feature me alongside two of arguably the biggest stars from the games, Usain Bolt and Mo Farah.”
Jimmy has even managed to get into the composition of this year’s Christmas card design the much talked about poses for which these athletes are famous.
Jamaica’s Bolt defended his 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay crowns at the London 2012 Olympics, while in winning the 10,000m Team GB’s Farah became the first Briton to ever win a distance gold at an Olympics before adding the 5,000m title exactly a week later to join a select band of greats to have completed the long-distance double.
The Sunday Life article about famous comedian Jimmy Cricket returning to Belfast for the festival
Jimmy Cricket launched an international comedy festival in his native city at the weekend.
Now living in Rochdale, the Northern Irish comedian returned to Belfast to officially open Belly Laughs.
The week-long inaugural Belfast International Comedy Festival began on Sunday with Jimmy’s show at the Black Box venue in the Cathedral Quarter of the city.
In total, the festival, which closes on Sunday (7 October) comprises of 30 performances at 15 venues across Belfast.
As well as stand-up comedy, the festival also features poetry, magic, cabaret, workshops, seminars, club nights, book readings and events for children.
The Belfast-based Sunday Life newspaper previewed the festival and Jimmy’s return to his home city.
Jimmy said: “The show went very well and was a great start to this festival which is in its inaugural year and which it is hoped will become an annual future in Belfast’s cultural calendar.”
Jimmy Cricket and his wellies had them laughing in the Valleys recently.
The famous Irish comedian performed at Pontypool Park in Pontypool, south Wales, in mid-August.
A feature all about Jimmy and his successful showbiz career appeared in the South Wales Argus a week before the show.
The newspaper article began… If you were a keen viewer of comedy sketch shows in the 1980s, the name Jimmy Cricket stirs up many a comical image.
Remembered for reading humorous letters from his “mammy” while sporting an out-of-shape hat, a dinner jacket matched with a pair of cut-off evening trousers and a trademark pair of wrongly matched wellies clearly marked “L” and “R”, Jimmy was loved by young and old alike for his numerous TV and radio appearances.
The Irish-born comedian’s training ground stretches back to the 1960s when he was a redcoat in Butlins holiday camps organising everything from darts matches to hula-hoop contests.
“Looking back, it’s like what young people do for these performance degrees,” he says.
“I suppose the holiday camps were a bit like that because you learned how to project to the back of the theatre and to put stage make up on. It held me in great stead for pantomime and things like that…”