Jim Jefferies Jokes About Hosting, Hecklers, Haters and … The Hemsworths!

The 48-year-old comedian sat down with TooFab exclusively, ahead of his new role as the host of FOX’s new competition series, The Snake. It’s social survival of the fittest, where each contestant — who all come from different professions — must leverage their unique skills, training and powers of persuasion as they face a multitude of challenges. In the end, the winner will leave the show with a huge $100,000.

“I’ve been called one several times, so I think it’s a good fit for me,” Jefferies joked, before guessing that he might be “the first” Australian game show host in America. “I might be more important to Australia than all of the Hemsworths put together,” he then quipped, referring to Chris, Liam and Luke Hemsworth.

When it comes his time in the entertainment industry, Jefferies explained he has encountered a few snakes on his journey.

“There’s been so many times that I’ve been screwed over or I’ve lost a deal or a promoter in some comedy club or something has taken me for a ride,” he admitted. “I find it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie, I’m not going to name and shame. I’m just happy to be still in the business.”

The Snake doesn’t just hinge on winning challenges — it’s about winning people over. But what makes this competition different from the rest is that there are no hidden moves or votes.

“You have to look them in the eye and you actually have to save one person and watch the other person be disappointed in you. Somebody that you probably have lied to that week,” he explained.

While Jefferies already knows who wins, he “genuinely liked” all of the contestants and found himself getting emotionally attached to the group as a whole.

“There is a scene in one of the earlier episodes of The Snake where one of the contestants, she is vomiting. Of course I held her hair back,” he revealed, proving just how much he cared for them all.

“I didn’t know whether I was allowed to, but I couldn’t watch chunks go into her hair,” he laughed.

While the game is about both being snake-like and calling out the snakes, Jefferies told TooFab that, in the real world, it’s always better to just let them be.

“I find it’s best when you see a snake, whether it be metaphorically a person or whether it’s an actual snake, it’s good to keep your distance and step around them while smiling,” he said, before saying politicians are the snakiest, along with some in the entertainment business.

“People who can’t answer questions. People who dance around a subject and won’t actually give you a straight answer,” he added of snake behavior. “A lot of people in this entertainment business, name your poison, whether it be agents, managers, club owners, whatever, there’s always someone.”

Jefferies has been doing comedy for years, starting out in Sydney, Australia before relocating to the United Kingdom, first achieving international attention in 2007. Since then, audience tastes may have changed at times, but that doesn’t stop Jefferies from pushing boundaries.

“I’ve been told that audiences have become more sensitive, but the way to get around that is to not read anything on the internet. I don’t read any comments. I don’t read anything. If you’re going to get upset by a joke that I’ve said on TV or whatever, you’re just speaking into the vacuum with other people,” he said.

“I can’t concern myself with that. If you start concerning yourself about one person getting sensitive, then you’re disappointing the thousand people who weren’t too sensitive,” he continued. “So you just try to be you. Hopefully you is something that people want to watch and people will enjoy. And you’ve got to block out the rest. And that’s all you can do.”

As for those haters, he’s still happy to have the watch.

“Hey, I’ll take hate views all day. If you hate me, keep watching on FOX, June 10th,” he joked, referring to the premiere date of The Snake.

Jefferies has been a touring comedian for decades. Since moving to America years ago and then becoming a American citizen in 2018, he’s learned a lot about how audiences differ depending on where he is in the world — especially when it comes to hecklers.

“So Americans, when they heckle, primarily Americans heckle because they want to correct you. So you’ll say something they don’t agree with and they’ll be like, ‘Listen, buddy. Hey, I blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ They’re having an argument with you,” he explained.

“British people will try to joke you. They will try to do a bigger joke with a bigger laugh than you hoping that they will take control of the room. And then you’ll go, wonderful job, and everyone will applaud,” he continued. “I’ll take any laugh that happens in the room. If the room’s having a good time, I don’t care if it comes from me or someone else, and I don’t care whether they’re laughing at me or with me.”

“Then the Australians… The Australians, because we’re a bit diggy. So, Australians, we try to trip you up. If they can sense that a punchline is just about to happen, they’ll yell some swear word just as you’re trying to hit that moment, just to throw you off your rhythm. And then screw that joke up. And then they’ll high five their mate,” he said.

Jefferies is currently on tour with his show Son of a Carpenter, where he said he has hecklers “every show.”

Along with touring, the comedian stars in alongside Marlon Wayans and Julia Fox in the upcoming thriller Him, about a promising young football player who joins an isolated compound to train. See what he said about his first dramatic role in the video above.

The Snake premieres Tuesday, June 10 (9:00-10:00 ET/PT) on FOX and will stream on Hulu.