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FX's new 'Legit' star to play the Trocadero

Aussie comedian Jim Jefferies portrays . . . an Aussie comedian named Jim.

GALLERY: Aussie comedian Jim Jefferies portrays . . . an Aussie comedian…

BY ELLEN GRAY, Daily News Television Critic graye@phillynews.com, 215-854-5950

Posted: February 01, 2013

JIM JEFFERIES likes Philadelphia: "I think the cheesesteak's an overrated food, but it's a cracking place."

The Australian comedian, whose new series, "Legit" (10:30 p.m. Thursdays, FX) launched Jan. 17, will play the Trocadero for the third time on Saturday.

Speaking Tuesday from Los Angeles, where he's been fighting a bad cold - he insists he'll be better by the time he arrives for the sold-out show - he quickly backpedaled on the sandwich slur. His objection, he said, wasn't to the cheesesteak but to any town's taking "ownership of putting cheese and meat together."

"It's like saying you decided to put mushrooms with chicken," he complained.

Not that Jefferies' comedy focuses much on food. In the savage but tender premiere of "Legit," his character (coincidentally an Aussie comedian named Jim), took his best friend's brother (D.J. Qualls), who has muscular dystrophy, to a brothel. In this week's episode, he helps to hook him up with a woman online.

"At least 80 percent" of the show and his act is drawn from life, he said, noting that he does have a friend with muscular dystrophy "who I did take to a brothel." An upcoming episode involving his being tied up and sliced with a machete also happened.

He's not sure how the latest event in his life, the November birth of his son, Hank, will affect his act, but "we'll find out" this week, he said.

"I haven't performed standup since he's been born."

On Twitter: @elgray

Blog: EllenGray.tv