He was nearly in Mike Birbiglia's Don't Think Twice

 Jimmy Carr almost had a role in the American film Don’t Think Twice -  but was cut before the movie was shot.

Fellow comic Mike Birbiglia wrote and directed the film about a New York improv troupe, and says that Carr ‘gave me a lot of advice about the script’.

Carr also agreed to take the role of a fake TV psychic, but the character was lost as ‘it was too much of a digression’.

Birbiglia pays tribute to Carr in a major Chortle interview today, saying: ‘He gave me a lot of great notes along the way. I don't know if people realise how multi-talented he is but his sense for drama is pretty extraordinary as well.’

Although prolific on TV, Carr has not had much of a big-screen career.

In 2006, he was in Any & Dec’s Alien Autopsy, had a small role in teen action movie Stormbreaker and was part of the ensemble cast of Britcom Confetti. He then played ‘video store guy’ in comedy flop I  Want Candy the following year; and ‘gentleman’ in Telstar: The Joe Meek Story in 2008.

• Jimmy Carr is to chair Comedy Central USA president Kent Alterman ‘gamechanger’ session at the Edinburgh Television Festival in August, it has been announced today.

Published: 25 May 2017