This Is Me Now

Jim Jefferies spends a good portion of his 2018 hour explaining what happens when a comic known for confrontational club sets becomes successful enough to get hired for private celebrity gigs. The centerpiece of the set is a lengthy, self-deprecating story about a bizarre birthday party he played for a billionaire friend of Mariah Carey, culminating in an Al Pacino impression that anchors the show’s best stretch of storytelling. He’s no longer the underdog, and he’s fully aware of how ridiculous his new tax bracket looks. Filmed at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, the special caught Jefferies at a career high, concurrently hosting his own late-night program on Comedy Central. The television gig’s influence is obvious in his structured political material, which covers the post-2016 American landscape and Brexit from his perspective as a permanent outsider. Between the political rants, he balances the hour with personal confessions, reflecting on the realities of co-parenting as a single father, an unsuccessful blackmail attempt involving a sex tape, and the double-edged sword of his famous viral gun control routine. While some long-time fans found the celebrity name-dropping slightly self-indulgent compared to his earlier work, his skill at turning his own professional missteps into punchlines remains intact.