Comic Jimmy Carr's dad says his own son be stripped of Limerick honour over 's**t town' insult

Comic Jimmy was presented with a Certificate of Irish Heritage by Limerick politicians as part of the Gathering Ireland initiative in 2013.

But now his dad, Jimmy Carr Snr, has called for the honour to be rescinded unless the comic issues a public apology to the city for a comment in his book.

Jimmy Carr and his father have both previously spoken about the breakdown of their relationship and the pair have not spoken in years.

In his 2021 book, 'Jimmy Carr, Before and Laughter', the Channel Four host made a quip about his parents' decision to move to Slough.

He wrote: "I might seem urbane, but I’m the son of two immigrants from Limerick who moved to Slough (they moved from a sh** town to another sh** town, I guess they knew what they liked)."

Speaking to the Limerick Leader, Jimmy snr blasted the joke and demanded an aology for the city.

“It’s the style of his comedy.

“I am not shocked or surprised that my son referred to Limerick and Slough as [sh** towns ].

"He is, after all, a shock jock. His defence will be ‘they are only words, I’m only having a laugh’.

"But there are people reading that Limerick is a s*** town and Slough is a s*** town.

"Ironically, we didn’t move to Slough, we moved from Limerick to South Kensington, London,” Jim said.

The businessman also slammed his son for including the joke: “How many potatoes does it take to kill an Irishman?” in his book.

“The Famine - that’s our Holocaust for God’s sake,” said Jim.

Referring to the breakdown of their relationship, Jimmy snr said he was not happy with how he has been portrayed by his famous son.

“I love him, of course, like a son but I am still very active in business and I can’t be having my name sullied by innuendo."

Last year, the 8 Out of 10 Cats presenter did an interview saying he wants a healthier relationship with his own son who was born in 2019, than he had with his own father.

Speaking on the Parenting Hell podcast with hosts Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe, Carr said that while he wants "the best" for his father, he doesn't want him in his life.

"It’s not a secret, I haven’t seen my dad 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,” he joked.

"It’s a weird thing where I’m acutely aware that things don’t always work out… I’m aware that sometimes it goes the other way and that could be terrible and there’s no bitterness and there’s no anger there.

"I want the best, I just can’t have that guy in my life," he added.

"There’s a bit of sadness there and you worry, 'Could something go wrong with my kid?' You want to prevent that, but it’s hard.

"I think it’s about being a father and being that figure for him but not in any way controlling."

His relationship with his father ended shortly before the death of Jimmy’s mother, Nora Mary, who died in September 2001.

The comic referred to “losing” his mother and father at the same time but said he was grateful to have “enough father figures and mother figures in life”.

Last year, Jimmy Carr came under fire for a joke featured in his Netflix special His Dark Materials.

The 49-year-old made light about the murder of Gypsies during the Holocaust, saying: “When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy and horror of six million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine.

“But they never mention the thousands of Gypsies that were killed by the Nazis. No one ever talks about that because no one wants to talk about the positives.”

Martin Collins, co-director of Traveller and Roma rights organisation Pavee Point, said that Carr’s comments were “dangerous and concerning.”

“These comments from Jimmy Carr go beyond racism, he actually glorifies genocide,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.

"Let's remember: a minimum of 500,000 Roma Gypsies were persecuted by the Nazis during the Second World War - men, women and children.

“And then this guy takes to the stage, and he begins to trivialise and make fun of this terrible genocide.

“So he is, in effect, glorifying genocide which is extremely dangerous and concerning.”