Comedy star gets emotional in Alison Hammond's chat show airing on TV tonight
In a surprisingly emotional episode, comedian Jimmy Carr opens up about how his beloved late mum inspired his love of laughter
What happens when two iconic laughs collide? A lot of noise... In the second instalment of Alison Hammond's Big Weekend, airing tonight (Friday 23 May) on BBC1 at 8.30pm, Alison spends time with comedian Jimmy Carr.
You can expect a particularly loud instalment of celebrity grilling with these two, but more surprising is how emotional it is. Jimmy keeps Alison on her toes as she joins him on tour, heading to his gig in Kendal. Alison accidentally calls him Alan Carr at one point, but otherwise they get on like a house on fire.
Jimmy opens up about fatherhood, revealing how having a daughter has unlocked new emotional depths, talks about his love of cosmetic surgery as well as his controversial tax scandal and his grief when comedian and 8 Out Of 10 Cats co-star Sean Lock died.
Jimmy shares how a bout of depression in his twenties prompted him to pursue stand-up, starting with gigs above a pub. He credits his love of laughter to his late mother, whose contagious, narcoleptic laugh inspired him.
He says: "I was a bit depressed in my mid twenties. I didn't like my life, I didn't like where it was going. I left everything to become a comedian to tell jokes above a pub."
'My mother would have loved you,' he tells Alison. 'She was larger than life in every sense. She was very funny in a way that I'm not. She just had that magic, it made laughter the most important thing in my life. She had narcolepsy and the narcoleptic laugh where you make no noise, she'd just rock and fully melt when she laughed. So the game growing up was to make her laugh in the car."
Later on a boat ride, when Alison mentions that she misses her mum Maria, who died when she was 47, Jimmy recalls that he was around 25 when his mum Nora died.
He says: "I was very close to my mother so her dying was the worst thing I could imagine. When I was a kid I had this separation anxiety of something happening to her.
"So when it happens there's a weird freedom, where that's happened and I'm still here. It got across to me what mortality really is. This is it, this is your life, you don't get another go, so do want you want to do.
"She was depressed for a lot of my childhood, which is pretty sad. Making her happy made me happy so the compulsion to be funny came from that. I don't believe in an after life but I carry her with me. There is an after life - the kids are the after life."
*Alison Hammond's Big Weekend continues tonight on BBC1 at 8.30pm
There's plenty more on TV tonight - here's the best of the rest..
JOANNA LUMLEY'S DANUBE, ITV1, 9pm
rom beer-brewing nuns to Lederhosen-wearing dancers, a Eurovision winner and a Granny cafe, Joanna Lumley certainly has an eclectic experience on her latest travel show. The 79-year-old actor cements her status as iconic travel presenter on this journey down the Danube.
During the three-parter she follows the most international river in the world across the heart of Europe, tracking the river from its origins beneath the pines of Germany's Black Forest all the way to the Black Sea. A seasoned traveller, she says: 'I'd love people to realise the world is marvellous. You've only got one life, you must live it to the full. Get up before dawn and go somewhere odd. Go on a local bus, don't just lie by the pool.'
On her journey she encounters Slovakia's stunning snow-capped peaks, Hungary's Great Plain and its distinctive cowboys, the majesty of Vienna and Budapest, the raw beauty of Transylvania and unique wilderness that is the Danube Delta. She also meets the Vienna Boys Choir, Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst and visits a Granny Cafe, set up to help combat loneliness for the elderly.
Joanna says: 'I met a coven of witches who were also Romani travellers. They did this great ceremony with masses of candles, the camera boys nearly died from the heat. And I can't forget the brewing nuns. When I asked the sister if she thought God would approve of alcohol, she said 'I think God wants us to be happy and alcohol makes us happy'. That was the sweetest answer I've ever heard.'
HIDDEN TREASURES OF THE NATIONAL TRUST, BBC2, 9pm
A risqué statue of a Georgian playboy's mistress needs a beauty session as the experts restore more treasures at stately homes. The life-size plaster statue shows a naked Italian ballet dancer lying in a seductive pose. The piece was commissioned by the ballerina's lover John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, and lay in pride of place at Knole House in Kent for years before being banished to the attics after he married someone else. Now she's back on display and conservator Ana Logreira is attempting to restore her legendary looks.
In another family story at the Lake District farmhouse, Townend, there's a hugely valuable archive covering 400 years of Cumbrian history. Now a key part of the archive needs saving: a bound volume of letters from Ben Browne, who went to seek his fortune in London in the 18th century and wrote home to his family. House manager Emma Wright reads them and discovers family drama worthy of any soap opera.
EMMERDALE, ITV1, 7.30pm
Cain struggles to digest the information that Nate never made it to the Shetland isles. John does his best to convince Belle that Nate doesn't want to be found and prevents her from calling the police to report Nate as a missing person. Belle reluctantly agrees not to get the police involved. Sarah feels sad and isolated as she awaits the results of her biopsy. Mack and Ross realise they don't have enough cannabis plants so Mack devises an alternative scheme.
CORONATION STREET, ITV1, 8pm
Bernie tells Mick that if he thinks he can use her as a bargaining chip, he's mistaken as Kit doesn't care about her. Mick gets Kit on the phone and summons him, making it clear he's to come alone. When Lisa takes a call from Jess from the hospital, she's desperate for any news on Craig. Tim, Sally, Gemma and Chesney rake over the horrors of the day. With Tim still looking after Shanice and Joanie, what has happened to Lou?
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