Jimmy Carr's Diary

I'll be spending Christmas Day in the bosom of my family this year, at home in North London. My focus will be mostly on food and TV. I'll be doing the

This morning I went to David Walliams for fitness advice but instead we gossiped over coffee and toast. For ages, people only wanted to talk to him about his swim, but it was the last thing he wanted to talk to me about. People didn't realise that he ruined his back and got incredibly ill. It was a very selfless act; he would have stopped after two days if it wasn't for charity, but he pushed himself to the limit and beyond.

When you say 'I'm on tour' it conjures up a sort of rock'n'roll hedonism, but I think if people were to witness the backstage soup eating, or checking into a Malmaison late at night, it wouldn't live up to their expectations. It's a very nice life but there are few throwing-TVs-out-of-the-window or killing-groupie moments. Mine has been going on for the past 17 months. There is a certain mindset that you get into. You go to buy a coffee and end up imagining you're still on stage. Joking all the time is a social affliction; it's kind of a joking Tourette's. I don't know if my family like it but they put up with it.

I don't have a monopoly over being funny, my audience are, too, so I like to encourage heckling to add value. They can shout 'F*** off, you're shit' if they want; it's fun to have a bit of interaction. I was on stage in Woking recently and three generations of one family came. I teased them about sitting next to Gran and having to listen to my filthy jokes, but there is a quote that says laughter is the shortest distance between two people. People talk of communities as being the local post office, but I don't think like that; for me it's when people come together and laugh.

I'm off to sunny Ipswich this afternoon for a show, what could be finer? I usually
drive myself. At the moment I'm driving a Range Rover. It's not the most environmentally friendly car but it's so high up that if global warming were to raise sea levels, I would be safe. To take my mind off the show I listen to biographies. There's nothing like a good life story to get your mind racing, which is very important before a comedy show as it gets you thinking. I don't have any backstage rituals because I don't come from a theatrical background. Let's face facts: I'm just a stand-up, a chancer.

2011 has been a golden year for comedy. At the moment there are about 60 tours going on. Thanks to TV panel shows, comedians are suddenly reaching a bigger audience. I think a lot more people want to go out and experience shows, particularly as times are economically hard. People want to go out, have a break from it all and have a laugh. You can trace it back to the Edinburgh Festival, which is such a great breeding ground for comedians. Young comedians get used to writing hours of new material every year; once you get good at that you want to exercise the muscle more and more.

When people whinge about being famous it annoys me; I think it's a great privilege. There is a real intimacy about being a comedian; people open up to you and tell you a little story or an anecdote. It's the gift that keeps on giving. When I'm out and about people come up to me and introduce themselves. It's a bit like living in
a very friendly village with Alzheimer's: everyone knows you and you can't remember who they are, but they seem very nice.
Jimmy Carr's latest DVD, Being Funny, is out now