Jimmy Carr Goes Virtual With Second Life

Multi-award-winning comedian Jimmy Carr is to be the first major comedian ever to perform a virtual reality gig with an exclusive one-off performance in the hugely-popular online world of Second Life on Saturday 3rd February 2007.

With his trademark one-liners and gags ranging from the slick to the downright sick, the charming comic with the scathing tongue escapes the restraints of the ‘real world’ and takes his dry and sardonic style to a whole new level in front of an exclusive audience of competition winners at a top secret London location. Simultaneously, Jimmy will be performing to a select audience on the virtual reality world of Second Life, delivering the latest material from his British Comedy Award-winning tour, Gag Reflex.

Second Life is a hugely popular online community in which real-life users can develop virtual reality alter-egos and interact with other users. Its members total over 2.1 million (37% of which are British) and are able to invest real-world money into buying property, land, accessories and businesses. The membership is growing at an astonishing rate of 38% a month and the software has become so popular that companies such as the BBC, Reuters and Toyota have invested heavily into developing a presence within its community.

Jimmy’s virtual alter-ego will be performing to a select group of community members, chosen via a competition into which all Second Life members can enter. Starting with a series of photographs and sensors, Jimmy will be modelled in 3D prior to the event using the latest hi-tech gadgetry of digital agency Fusion Unity (fusionunity.co.uk). After being developed into a fully-fledged virtual alter-ego, or ‘avatar’, performers will trace Jimmy’s movements and translate them into the movements of his character; enabling him to interact with other virtual audience members just like he would in a real gig.

Jimmy’s Second Life show promises to be a world-first for a comedian of his profile, demonstrating the possibilities of this new media and opening the potential for comedy and other areas of entertainment to develop further online.

Outside of the digital sphere, 2006 has been another hectic year for Jimmy. As well as writing his first book titled The Naked Jape, (released by Penguin books in the US in November), Jimmy completed his third solo Edinburgh Festival show, Gag Reflex, in August and has launched a nation-wide stand-up tour between which runs through to next summer, details of which can be found on jimmycarr.com. This comes in addition to further US appearances on Tonight with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

Continuing to be a huge ratings winner with over 3.5m viewers tuning in to its Friday night edition, Jimmy continues to host a fourth series of hit Channel 4 prime-time TV show Eight out of Ten Cats. Recently Jimmy has made three appearances on the big screen; starring in Brit comedy Confetti, in Alien Autopsy alongside Ant & Dec and in Stormbreaker. In July this year Jimmy performed at the third Montreal ‘Just for Laughs’ Comedy Festival, where his stand up was hailed as “beyond jolly good” by critics.

In the US, Jimmy’s profile continues to grow. The second series of his game show Distraction aired on Comedy Central earlier this year, and is currently being repeated. Jimmy has also appeared three times on NBC’s flagship programme The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and twice on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

Over the past few years, Jimmy has deservedly earned his place amongst the premiere league of British comics. Jimmy’s stand-up achievements include a Perrier Award nomination, Best Stand Up at the Time Out Awards and Best on Screen Newcomer from the Royal Television Society. Jimmy’s other TV accolades include the prestigious Silver Rose of Montreux award and a Rose d’Or nomination for best gameshow host at this year’s awards. This year, Jimmy won a British Comedy Award in the Best Stand-Up Show category.

Find out more at secondlife.com.