He is the controversial comedian known for his deadpan delivery and dark humour who has famously been estranged from his father for nearly 25 years.
But Jimmy Carr broke that long-running feud to ask his father Jim for a favour, only for him to continue the silent treatment once it was granted, a friend of the star’s father has revealed.
Jim Carr, 80, was left feeling ‘confused and distraught’, the friend said, and has been left bewildered as to why his famous son carried on his grudge and not seek a reunion.
The pair fell out shortly after Jimmy’s mum Nora died in 2001 from pancreatitis at the age of 57.
Up until that point, the 8 Out Of 10 Cats host had a close bond with his parents with his accountant father helping to pay for his rent and food during the early days of his career as well as giving him lifts around the country to gigs.
But Jimmy cooled towards Jim and cut him out of his life without ever seemingly giving him a proper explanation why.
The bad-blood simmered until rising to the surface again in 2021 when Jimmy, 52, told fellow comics Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe on their Parenting Hell podcast: ‘I haven’t seen my father in 21-years and you know the line, ‘My mother’s dead and my father’s dead to me’ – which sounds very cold until you meet the guy. I can’t have that guy in my life.’
Yet a close friend of Irish-born businessman Jim told how Jimmy rang out of the blue nearly eight years ago and asked his father to ‘take on a burden’ for him.
A young Jimmy Carr, aged around nine, with his father Jim, from whom he has been famously estranged for nearly 25 years
The pair fell out shortly after Jimmy’s mum Nora died in 2001 from pancreatitis at the age of 57
The source revealed: ‘It was just before Christmas in 2017 and Jimmy rang his dad to ask him for some help with a problem he had. He had been supporting someone close to him but just couldn’t continue doing so.
‘Jim has never told me the full details preferring to keep it private but it was a big favour to ask and obviously Jimmy felt he had nowhere else to turn, given that he hadn’t spoken to his dad for that last 15 or 16-years prior to that phone call.
‘He wanted Jim to take on the burden – which he duly did. But while Jim hoped this good deed could rekindle their relationship, Jimmy seemed to cut him off again. He didn’t call to thank him or anything, it was radio silence… which continues to this day. It’s strange because it was him who instigated that temporary thaw in relations.
Up until their estrangement, the 8 Out Of 10 Cats host had a close bond with his parents. Pictured: The star on his graduation day at Cambridge University
Jimmy lives in Primrose Hill in North London with Canadian partner Karoline Copping
Jimmy is said to have cooled towards Jim and cut him out of his life without ever seemingly giving him a proper explanation why
‘Jim is mystified as to what actually caused Jimmy to fall out with him in the first place. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to have done wrong, Jimmy has never told him face to face.
‘Jimmy is a comedian who is forever joking about being cancelled because of the nature of his jokes – but that is what he’s done effectively to his own father.’
Jimmy – who grew up in Farnham Common near Slough in Berkshire – further upset his father in 2022 when he referred to his parents’ home town of Limerick in Ireland as a ‘s*** town’.
Writing in his memoir, Jimmy Carr, Before and Laughter, the comedian wrote: ‘I might seem urbane, but I’m the son of two immigrants from Limerick who moved to Slough (they moved from a s*** town to another s*** town, I guess they knew what they liked.’
Jim took offence at that particular passage and threatened to sue his middle son for defamation as well as calling on Limerick council to revoke the ‘Certificate of Irish Heritage ‘given to his Jimmy in 2013 unless a public apology was made.
But the friend added: ‘I think a lot of that is now water under the bridge, Jim felt the joke crossed a line given his heritage but now feels that comedians often make these sorts of controversial falsehoods to get publicity.
‘Jim is very close to his other two sons and would like to reunite with Jimmy. He hasn’t ever met his grandson through Jimmy and would love to be able to get to know him.
‘Life is too sort to keep up these sorts of grievances – Jim loves his son and hopes that they can at least start talking again.’
Jim, who lives in Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire, declined to comment when approached by MailOnline saying simply: ‘I don’t wish to fan the flames so I’ll pass.’
Jim said that he had been banned from watching his son Jimmy perform
In an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday after his son had been embroiled in a row over only paying one per cent tax through a K2 tax avoidance scheme, Jim said: ‘No father wants to see his offspring brought low in this way, but for me the emotions this brings are doubly painful.
‘Believe you me, I would like nothing more than to pick up the phone and offer him fatherly advice and solace as I did on a daily basis for years – through school, Cambridge University and for years afterwards as Jimmy embarked on life as an initially struggling comedian.
‘I supported him financially, too, well into his 30s, enabling him to live rent-free in the family home and paying for all his expenses; his bills, his petrol, even his food.
‘Despite all of this and the loving bond we once shared, Jimmy cut me out of his life eight years ago. It was sudden and brutal, and to this day I have not been given an explanation.’
Jim said that he had been banned from watching his son perform adding: ‘The loss forms the backdrop to my daily life and remains a pain I cannot eradicate.’
Jimmy lives in Primrose Hill in North London with Canadian partner Karoline Copping, a former commissioning editor for Channel 5. The couple have a six-year-old son.
A spokesman for the comic was approached by MailOnline for comment.
