The estranged father of comedian Jimmy Carr is reportedly suing him for defamation following the publication of his scathing tell-all memoir. The Mirror reports that Jimmy Carr Sr.—who hasn’t seen his son for more than 21 years—believes he has been defamed in his son’s book. Carr Sr, 77, has long been unhappy about his son’s jokes about him at his stand-up gigs but has now called in the lawyers following the release of the comic’s memoir, Before and Laughter. The pair has had an acrimonious relationship since the death of Carr’s mother, Nora, in 2001. In 2004, Carr tried to sue his father for harassment but the claims were thrown out of court. “I haven’t seen my father in 21 years and you know the line my mother’s dead to me? My father’s dead to me,” he said last year on the Parenting Hill podcast. “Which sounds very cold, until you meet the guy.” Carr Sr told the Limerick Leader that his son should be stripped of an honor bestowed by the local council after calling Limerick a “shit town” in his memoir. “He’s one sick comedian, literally and metaphorically,” Mr Carr Sr told the paper. “It looks like it anyway. Leave all that aside, I don’t want somebody writing that about Limerick in a book.” Carr, who is known for his stand-up and shows including 8 Out of 10 Cats, lives in north London with his girlfriend and two children.
