An Evening with

Jimmy Cricket

With his special brand of family humour, Jimmy has enjoyed great success on stage, TV and Radio over many years. Having produced and written many of his own shows, he is famed for his catchphrase, 'And there's more'. However there really is more to Jimmy than meets the eye.

Jimmy was born into a large Irish family, with four brothers and one sister. His father was an undertaker by trade. Most people felt that the whole family must have been extremely miserable at home, because of their father's trade. But Jimmy remembers that it was completely the opposite. Their father had a wonderful sense of humour and the house was always filled with laughter. Their house was also filled with the reality of God. Very much a God-fearing family, they attended church every Sunday, and Jimmy realises that this is where his faith first took root.

Jimmy literally became 'an overnight star', reaching the finals of ITV's 'Search for a Star', and has never looked back. Summer Seasons, Pantos and tours still take up a huge chunk of his yearly diary.

For a comic to look funny, even before opening his mouth, is a real bonus and Jimmy quickly found that he had that edge over his contemporaries. 'The wellies and stage gear came from experimenting,' he explains. 'I picked up the hat in a jumble sale. I looked daft, so audiences expected my act to be daft,' grins Jimmy, 'and I'm pleased to say that I have never disappointed them!'

Jimmy spends as much of his free time as possible with his wife May and their four children. His favourite hobby is surrounding himself with happiness and contentment, and as much laughter as possible. Jimmy sees laughter as a very important release-valve, and his job is to open it, as wide as possible.

In An Evening with Jimmy Cricket, Jimmy relishes the opportunity to spend the first thirty minutes raising the laughter gauge as high as he can'. 'There are enough long faces in the world, and I don't plan to become one of them!' he says.

Chris Gidney from Christians in Entertainment then spends the following half-hour finding out how God and laughter fit together in Jimmy's professional and personal life.

It's an ideal, light-hearted evening of fun that will get them rolling in the isles, but with a very special message of God's love and special laughter medicine right at its heart.