Jimmy McGhie

Jimmy McGhie

Jimmy McGhie studied drama at Kent university, and began stand-up regularly in 2005, reaching the finals of the BBC New Talent competition and the Amused Moose Star Search. He performed in split-bill stand-up shows at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007 and 2008, and made his solo debut in 2009 with Jimmy McGhie’s Northern Meeting.

Nominated for best compere in the 2012 Chortle Awards.

Read More

Jimmy McGhie: BA (Hons)

Note: This review is from 2019

Edinburgh Fringe review by Julia Chamberlain


I didn’t see last year’s show form Jimmy McGhie, but this is apparently a re-vamp. And a good one too. 

The strength is that it’s personal and unsparing, with  laughs coming from his storytelling and his ability to handle any audience.  

On a sunny weekday afternoon, there were a few sets of senior siblings, something like a works outing from a recruitment firm with the obligatory gobby woman in the front row, and two dimwits talking non-stop because they thought they were too cute to be told off. McGhie dealt with everyone with his customary charm tinged with a shot of acid so he didn’t look like a pushover.
 
The mocking title – and as a fellow drama degree holder, I do realise how blooming pointless that qualification is – set the tone. The resolutely fresh-faced, McGhie is the runt of the litter of high achievers and  comes from a long line of militarty men (although I swear he said his grandfather was ‘gynaecologist to the Army’ which I really thought wouldn’t have been the busiest of roles)

McGhie was supposed to go to Sandhurst and into the Guards, but skipped off to pretend to be a tree for three years at Kent, inviting some terse words from his father, a colonel.

The comedian has previously done the ‘dead dad’ show, which I didn’t see. But there was enough here to suggest that father and son had a tetchy relationship. The Colonel was a serial husband, while McGhie turns out to be a fuckboy. He politely calls it a womaniser, which sound retro and rakish, but it’s not a title I’d be proud to claim.
 
He was amusingly harsh on himself, turning the focus on a life that in a school report would suggest ‘has not achieved his full potential’. 

The metaphor of being a drone, nipping off to fertilise a queen every  so often, while hoping to be a kept man is funny, but a bit unsettling when you look at it closely. But you will be royally entertained by McGhie’s relaxed demeanour and easy manner, even as he portrays himself in a less-than-flattering light
 
This is the sort of show McGhie can do in his sleep: perfectly enjoyable and offering an illuminating look at his domestic arrangements and the rigours of being middle-class, enjoying the benefits but with a whiff of self-contempt to puncture any smugness.
 

Read More

Published: 19 Aug 2019

Agent

We do not currently hold contact details for Jimmy McGhie's agent. If you are a comic or agent wanting your details to appear here, for a one-off fee of £59, email steve@chortle.co.uk.

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.