If you’re familiar with Jim Jefferies, you know the native Australian does not care much for your sensibilities.

If you’re unfamiliar with Jefferies, being told that despite his father being a cabinetmaker, his tour being called Son of a Carpenter with him in angel wings, is pretty tongue in cheek.

Said tour will make a stop at Embassy Theatre on Friday, Feb. 28.

Shifting gears

Born in Sydney, Australia, Jefferies’ first break came during a high school musical, where he caught the eye of a talent scout and was signed.

After being awarded an operatic scholarship at Sydney Opera House, he was awarded a second scholarship to attend Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, outside Perth.

However, just months before earning his degree, throat nodules forced his singing career into retirement.

Lucky for him, in between studying musical theater, ballet, and classical music, Jefferies was also showing up at Perth open mics to do stand-up comedy.

It was comedy that became his sole desire when he returned to Sydney, although he knew his career would not reach the heights he wanted in Australia.

“You had, and I’m not kidding, maybe 12 rooms; two purpose-built comedy clubs and 10 rooms that did comedy occasionally, in a country that at that stage was 20 million people,” Jefferies told Rolling Stone’s Tim Whitty in a story last year. “And that’s not enough to make a living. Even to this day, if you’re a big comic in Australia, you’re doing morning radio. I don’t want to f—ing wake up in the morning.”

Punch heard ’Round the comedy world

Instead of vying for a slot as a morning radio host, Jefferies took off to the United Kingdom.

It was in Manchester that Jefferies got his “viral” moment when a patron at a comedy club approached him on-stage and hit him in 2007.

The incident was caught on the comedy club’s in-house video. Jefferies posted the video, which garnered plenty of attention and got his name out to an even larger audience.

Thanks to the internet, the clip made its way to the U.S., where HBO offered him a comedy special. Despite being under contract to do specials in the U.K., Jefferies paid to not fulfill the contract. That actually led to a financial loss for him to put on I Swear to God for HBO, but the exposure was well worth it.

A Satchel of Specials

That comedy special kicked off a run that has included eight stand-up specials, including three for Netflix, the latest being 2023’s High & Dry.

He also starred, wrote, and produced the critically acclaimed FX series Legit, which ran two seasons from 2013-14. The show was praised for its depiction of disability, casting many actors with disabilities during its run.

“That’s probably the thing that I’m most proud of in my whole career,” Jefferies told Rolling Stone.

He also starred in his own late night show, The Jim Jefferies Show on Comedy Central, which ran three seasons. He also hosts the Australian game show The 1% Club.

Along with stand-up specials and television roles, Jefferies has starred in such films as Punching Henry and Killing Hasselhoff, and lent his voice to the animated film Extinct. He will test out his dramatic chops in Him, slated for release this year with Jordan Peele among the producers.

Of course, the comedian also has a podcast, At This Moment, which he does alongside Amos Hill.

It’s the podcast, which aired its first episode on Jan. 21, that has had Jefferies in the news after he commented that the Village People song “Y.M.C.A.” is a “gay anthem” that was being used at President Donald Trump’s inauguration. 

That led to the song’s writer, lead singer Victor Willis, sending a cease and desist letter that threatened legal action if an apology didn’t follow.

He did clarify his stance on the subject on the Australian podcast Triple M Breakfast in classic Jefferies fashion: “I will concede that if he says the ‘YMCA’ is not a homosexual song. I have to take him on his word for it. But ‘In the Navy’ and ‘Macho Man,’ are as gay as all balls.”