Low-Level Pessimist Jimmy McGhie Says There's 'Never Been A More Important Time To Laugh'

Jimmy McGhie is "feeling pretty darn loose", for which we should all feel grateful. He's just washed down a three-course farewell feast with "a fair amount of cognac" prior to departing the UK for Australia, where he'll be one-third of the power comedy trio — alongside Lloyd Langford and Fin Taylor — making up Best Of The Edinburgh Comedy. This triple threat will be cracking up Adelaide Fringe audiences for a month at The Garden Of Unearthly Delights.

"The show is brilliantly cast, so you get three excellent and contrasting stand-up comedians in one joyful and provocative hour," McGhie says of the show. All three performers are well-regarded in their homeland, but it's the first time Down Under for Langford and Taylor. McGhie, on the other hand, might as well have dual citizenship by now.

"Go out and find artists who are asking important questions and be delighted by their brilliant ideas."

"Well, this is my sixth year in a row visiting your pleasant shores, so I guess it must be a fairly happy union," he says. "I'm like a migrating bird who flies south for the winter to avoid the cold. If that means I have to try and make you sun-drenched twerps laugh for 25 minutes a night, then it doesn't seem too much to ask." He's a bit bracingly honest and provocative, this McGhie chap.

"I think of funny things, then I say them in front of an audience," he says. "Generally speaking, the audience laugh and I am shot through with enough adrenaline to keep me awake until dawn." 

Having said that, McGhie is quick to admit he's "a low-level pessimist" in his bones and, while he's out to make audiences laugh, he also believes that comedy needs to bare its teeth a little in these turbulent and uncertain times.

"I do believe that comedy becomes more important to our social fabric as geopolitical situations worsen. Therefore, there has never been a more important time to laugh. However, comedy has a responsibility to reflect issues and make judgments. Too much current comedy is lightweight and toothless. It is time for a ruthless satire boom. I'm not necessarily the person to do it, but I can see what is necessary. Stop watching constructed reality-television shows and being offended by language. Go out and find artists who are asking important questions and be delighted by their brilliant ideas."

You've been worded up, Adelaide Fringe audiences. Go do your part.