Carlsberg Cat Laughs Comedy Festival - why it’s the best little comedy festival in the world

It’s happening this weekend. It’s in the best little city in the world. It’s something we’ve been anticipating greatly for the last year, following our great experience last year. It’s the Carlsberg Cat Laughs Festival and it’s going to be only mega. Or deadly, as they say down that way.

There’s a wonderful sense of anticipation of the festival in the city and the festival office at the moment. The build up has been happening for months and the preparation will result in something extraordinary, something funny and something just wonderful.

Rated as one of the five best comedy festivals in the world the Carlsberg Cat Laughs Comedy Festival has become an annual diary fixture for both comedy fans and comedians alike. The Festival has consistently showcased world-class comedians and captivated comedy fans for 15 years and it’s been brilliant for Kilkenny.

With nearly 70 comedians, 86 shows including nine speciality shows, five improvisers, across 15 venues and with more than 25,000 available tickets, the 2009 Festival promises to upstage itself this year once again.

With ticket prices remaining the same over the past three years, it’s the perfect way to avoid the ‘R’ word and get away from it all. Sure, what better place than Kilkenny to do that in?

Well we thought it was fun(ny), okay?

The line up this year really rivals any of the previous ones:

The Irish:

Loads of big names and great performers including Jason Byrne, Ian Coppinger, Neil Delamere, Brendan Dempsey, PJ Gallagher, Maeve Higgins, Jimeoin, Andrew Maxwell, Barry Murphy, Colin Murphy, David O’ Doherty, Ardal O’ Hanlon, Jarlath Regan, Karl Spain and Word Record Comedy Champion Tommy Tiernan.

Festival newbies:

Alonzo Bodden (USA) - the voice of Thunderon in the Power Ranger TV series; Derek Edwards (Canada); Hannah Gadsby (Tasmania); Greg Giraldo (USA) - reached number 4 in the Australian music charts with his song “Underwear goes inside the pants“; Ricky Grover (England); Russell Kane (England) - host of Big Brother’s Big Mouth on C4; Shane Mauss (USA) - HBO US Comedy Arts Best Stand Up 2007; Sarah Milligan (England) - describes herself as “encouragingly pessimistic”; John Mulvaney (USA) - writer for Saturday Night Live; Jon Richardson (England) and Hans Teeuwen (Holland).

The big (foreign) names:

Des Bishop returns this year - we’re hoping for a repeat of Léim Thart - Jump Around as Gaeilge. Lewis Black is a Grammy award winning comedian; Otis Lee Crenshaw is a fantastic musician as well as comedian; Dave Gorman is the BAFTA winning comedian behind Are you Dave Gorman?; Rich Hall is king of deadpan jokes; Dom Irreira has two Emmys and has been in everything from The Big Lebowski to Seinfeld; Andrew Lawrence has a festering comic negativity that is most definitely not for the faint hearted; Lee Mack, Ross Noble, Kathleen Madigan, Fred MacAulay, Adam Hills, Alun Conchrane and Bill Burr are all appearing too.

The MC’s

Some really great people MC’ing this year too - Dermot Whelan, Damian Clark, Aidan Bishop, Fred Cooke, Bernard O’ Shea, Paddy Courtney, John Henderson, John Colleary, Andrew Stanley, Gar Murrin, Elanor Tiernan, Eric Lalor and John Lynn will all be introducing shows.

Never been to the festival?

You’re not alone. Many of us were exactly the same last year. Kilkenny is quite a compact city (look, we have a Cathedral, so I’m technically correct) and it’s easy to get around. All the venues are quite close to each other as the map below will show. They’re in pubs or hotels, and the shows tend to be about 90 minutes or so long with four comedians on and an MC.

They’re starting on Thursday evening from 20:15 (last one ending at 22:45), Friday from 19:45 (until 23:45) and throughout the weekend the main shows are starting at 18:00 right up past midnight.

What shows are going on?

You can download the full programme and the show planner on the website here but some great shows (that still have tickets as far as I know) are listed below - check out the full list of availability here.

Thursday:

Langtons - 2015 - Jason Byrne, Lewis Black, Kathleen Madigan, Dom Irrera

Friday:

Ormonde Kilbride - 2000 - Jason Byrne, Alonzo Bodden, Russell Kane, Barry Murphy
Ormonde Kings Suite - 2015 - PJ Gallagher, Lewis Black, Alun Cochrane, Brendan Dempsey
Ormonde Kilbride - 2215 - Des Bishop, Shane Mauss, Jon Richardson, John Colleary

Saturday:

Club 51 at Kilford Arms - 1830- Ross Noble, Derek Edwards, Jarlath Regan, Paddy Courtney
Club 51 at Kilford Arms - 2045 - PJ Gallagher, Russell Kane, Alonzo Bodden, Rhod Gilbert
Orchard at Hotel Kilkenny- 2230 - Colin Murphy, John Mulaney, Russell Kane, Ricky Grover

Sunday:

Langtons - 1815 - Jason Byrne, Derek Edwards, Ricky Grover, Paddy Courtney
Hotel Kilkenny - 2015 - Ross Noble, Alun Cochrane, John Mulaney, Paddy Courtney
Ormonde Kings Suite - 2030 - Adam & Jason Spotlight on… Hans Teeuwen
Langtons - 2045 - Colin Murphy, Rhod Gilbert, Shane Mauss, Damian Clark
Ormonde Kilbride- 2215 - Ross Noble, Milton Jones, Hannah Gadsby, Bernard O’Shea
Rivercourt - 2215 - PJ Gallagher, Mike Wilmot, Russell Kane, John Colleary

What other stuff is going on?

There’s loads of other stuff going on in Kilkenny - lots of live music - check out KilkennyMusic.com to find out - and comedy acts in other places.

A couple of the other Festival shows I’m really looking forward to:

The International Improv:

This year’s improvisers are Ian Coppinger, Brendan Dempsey, Phill Jupitus, Steve Frost and Rob Andrist Plourde. Chosen from the best international improv troops around the world, Kilkenny sees them all perform together on the same stage for the first time.

Dead Cat Bounce:

Dead Cat Bounce are (mostly) from Dublin. They’re a sketch group with a very black sense of humour and a great eye for believable comedy characters. In 2008 the lads performed more than 56 shows in 24 days at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival and this January RTÉ aired The Dead Cat Bounce TV Pilot to public and critical delight.

Messing with You Tube:

Barry Murphy and David O’Doherty battle it out with the best videos on YouTube. Everyone has a couple of YouTube favourites they like to ruin a good party with; the sneezing panda, the battle at Kruger park, more cowbell. But, unlike these lads, not everyone has the time, inclination and professional dedication to trawl through the internet and find the all-time greatest YouTube clips.

Come armed with suggestions and pit yourself against the best by playing YouTube Tennis (We’re not actually sure of all the rules yet but that’s all part of the fun). You can also post your suggestions for The YouTube Of The Century Award on the website.

The Dark Show:

The Dark Show returns having been the underground hit of last year’s festival. Who’d have thought people would want to see comedians delve the more sinister recesses of their minds? Who’d have suspected anyone would want to sit through a whole show utterly devoted to taboo subjects and irreverent viewpoints?

Who, in their right minds, would want to put themselves through 75 minutes wondering if it’s PC to laugh?

Well, lots of people actually and if you’re one of them then come warm yourselves by the devilish glow of the unholy triumvirate that is Andrew Maxwell, Greg Giraldo and Andrew Lawrence as they rip open the can of worms trapped inside the darkest corner of Pandora’s Box.

and of course - great for a hangover cure - The Football Match

Oh it’s on! It’s definitely on! The Annual Football match between Ireland and The Rest Of The World is most definitely on! The rose coloured glasses are firmly attached and the kid gloves are off.

The result of last year’s football match vary depending on who you talk to; it was 4 – 2 or 5 – 2 to Ireland with either Neil Delamere or David O’Doherty scoring the winning goal but one thing’s for sure; Ireland won (unless you talk to someone from the Rest Of The World who are convinced it was 15 – 3 to them with Andy Parsons scoring a brace of hat-tricks).

It’s shaping up to be a proper derby grudge match with nothing less than comedic pride on the line. And with Karl Spain and Steve Frost commentating from the sidelines, you won’t miss a thing.

Anto never did get the hang of looking at cameras…

So, is that ALL that’s on?

Well no. Just go over to the Cat Laughs Website to find out more. There’s a big group of us heading down this year again - say hello to us if you spot us. I’ll be the one on the phone, they’ll be the one with the pints.

Follow the Cat Laughs on Twitter here - http://www.twitter.com/thecatlaughs and check out their website here.