Those “Oh, yeah I do that!” moments are the reason you go to see Jimeoin.
The relaxed, self-deprecating Northern Irish-Australian comedian is a master at finding humour and pathos in the small everyday things that most of us do.
Whether it’s the torment of going to bed and realising you haven’t put new sheets on, the torment of getting into bed and realising you haven’t taken the bins out, or the even greater torment of waking up to the sound of the bin lorry and realising you haven’t taken the bins out, he finds the funny side of life’s little tortures.
He also makes jokes that are not concerned with annoying things that happen at bedtime, lest the above paragraph give that impression.
Blessed with an expressive face, he gets men and women alike giggling with the array of looks his wife gives him and their meanings.
A perceptive chap, when someone’s mobile phone rings during his show he can always tell if it’s a man or a woman’s.
Men keep their phones in their pockets, so although they know they’ve messed up, they can turn the device off quickly. Women, of course, keep theirs in their handbag, causing a much lengthier disruption.
When he’s phoning his wife, he jests, he rings her twice once to tell her to start looking for her phone because he’ll ring her again in five minutes.
Brought up in Northern Ireland, Jimeoin McKeown (44) moved to Australia 23 years ago and it is there that he found his greatest success.
As well as comedy, he’s no stranger to the screen, having co-written and starred in two feature films and had his own comedy television programme.
I first encountered Jimeoin three or four years ago, and was thoroughly charmed by him.
I thought this show was slightly flatter, with not quite as many belly laughs. And I didn’t like the ending, which involves him playing the vuvuzela over a music track he recorded on stage moments ago cleverly done but irritating nonetheless.
These gripes notwithstanding, Jimeoin has a relaxed and unique stage presence. If nothing else, it’s worth it for the high ratio of “oh yeah, I do that!” moments he delivers.
Jimeoin Something Smells Funny, is on at Udderbelly’s Pasture at 8.20pm until August 30. www.jimeoin.com