Jimmy Carr says his dad, who he hasn’t seen in 21 years, is ‘dead to me’

‘It sounds very cold until you meet the guy,’ comedian said

Jimmy Carr has revealed he hasn’t spoken to his father for 21 years, saying he is “dead” to him.

The comedian opened up about his strained relationship with his father during Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell podcast.

Carr, who has a two-year-old son with his girlfriend Karoline Copping, said: “It’s not a secret, I haven’t seen my dad in 21 year. 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.”

The 8 Out of 10 Cats star previously told Radio Times after becoming a father: “It could be a bit of a gear shift, because of the kind of comedy I do. But so far, I’m still telling the same jokes, I’ve got the same sense of humour.

Carr recently said he “got sick” with grief after the death of Sean Lock, who died of cancer in August, aged 58.

“I had a bereavement recently,” he said. “Sean Lock, my dear, beautiful, funny friend died, and I got sick, the grief really hits you physically.

Jimmy Carr opened up about strained relationship with estranged father (Getty Images)

“But to be able to laugh through that, to be able to watch old clips of him making me cry with laughter, the cathartic power of that.”

The comedian also reflected on Lock’s brutal 8 Out of 10 Cats joke about his tax avoidance scandal, which resurfaced following his death.

Carr, speaking about the quip, recalled: “I took a tomato to the face from Sean Lock.”