What can we expect from the new show?

Jokes really, that’s it. No message, you’ll be none the wiser at the end of it. Just crafted gags. Not being evasive or anything that’s genuinely the truth, it’s not really about anything. I have no opinions on anything.

You came here 20 years ago as a backpacker, did you do much travel?

No, I blew all my money in Sydney when I got there. Classic case. But then again, I bought a one way ticket so I had no real intention of leaving. They always go on about the boat people, but what about the plane people? 

They don’t get a hard time in the media…

Yeah, we’re like the connoisseurs of wine, but really, both of us are piss-heads. I was here legally but applied for an extension of my visa and it came right down to the wire. I was living in a flat full of illegal immigrants. So I felt like a boat person, actually. 

Do you still feel Irish? 

Yeah I don’t really know if I fully get that nationality thing, I have an affiliation with Australia but I’m not mad on patriotism.

Who do you go for in the Rugby then?

I really enjoy watching Australia because they’re great and they do well at stuff. They’re inspiring people especially when you read the backstories and the shit they go through to get where they are. They’re the type of people you aspire to. Apart from those fucking idiots in the media. 

What advice do you have for young Irish lads thinking of coming to Oz?

Get a plan. Don’t just arrive because you’ll just find yourselves getting pissed every night and not leaving the city. Then you’ll start working in a job and the trivialities of life will take over. Go on a trip, go to the Top End, up to Darwin in the Northern Territory and see it all.

Do you have a favourite spot in Oz?

Yeah I love the Top End. If you’re into crocodiles and fishing, which I am, then head up there. It’s like a jungle, like a frontier land, and one of the last places on earth that’s like that. Every shopping mall is the same and every city is the same after a while, but places like that are great. 

Have you heard about the Tourism Australia ‘best jobs in the world’ campaign?

Yeah I think it sounds great. I met this Aussie girl in London, she was a handing out flyers for a waxing place and I asked her what she was doing over there and she said “fucking waxing gay men’s arses.” I said ‘you probably weren’t picturing that when you were going over to London’. That’s not the dream is it? So, I think the job part of it is very important for young people. 

What jobs were you doing when you first came out here?

Oh I had a great job on a building site. I was in a flat with these guys who were working in offices and that just sounded horrendous to me. 

 

Catch Jimoein’s new show What?! at the Melbourne Comedy Festival until April 7 2013.