We’re heading down to Kilkenny again this year. Who else is coming down? Let us know. If it was anything like last year, it’ll be mega (especially as I actually like the taste of Carlsberg). Don’t forget we still have FREE TICKETS to giveaway. Click here for more info.
The Journey Down
After a wedding in Wexford on the Friday of last years’ June Bank Holiday Weekend, we went back to my uncle’s house for the night and by the time we finally got up on Saturday, everyone else had already left. So, we pulled ourselves together, packed the car, switched on the GPS and got on the road……to Dunnes Stores just around the corner. After a surprisingly delicious breakfast (I’ve had some very bad experiences in some Dunnes Stores cafés) we finally embarked upon the Cill Chainnigh trail. We first stopped off in home village of one Mr Darragh Doyle before heading into Kilkenny City (because if you call it a town the locals will stone you) where we picked up a chilled out and happy (he had just found free wi-fi) Anthony.
It wasn’t long before we were sitting in the window of Morrisson’s Dinky Bar. Drinking ensued and we were laughing away long before we hit the first of our comedy gigs. Darragh was volunteering for much of the festival so had to depart and leave the rest of us to it. Needless to say this provided him with some great opportunities, not least the opportunity to interview the meek Josh Thomas. But we would meet up with him after the gig.
The Watergate Scandal
In 1972, Richard Nixon‘s staff broke into a hotel room at the Watergate Hotel which was the beginning of the end for the crooked President. Fraud, coercion, illegal wiretapping and political espionage were among the many crimes committed and it all stared at the Watergate Hotel.
The Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny is nothing like that. Random, hectic, zany, bizarre - therein lies the improvisational skills of Ian Coppinger, Michelle Read, Paul Tylak, Brendan Hunt and Michael Orton-Toliver. From singing musicals about the word ‘Meanwhile’ to the simulation of a man giving birth, from Donkeys doing the long jump (because cheese is great) to Super Hero Serial Killers, there was genius and hilarity in abundance.
We headed down to the Rivercourt Hotel, where Darragh was based to have our ‘final’ drink of the night. We were lucky to find a bunch of seats and nestled into them for the next couple of hours, before heading towards the taxi rank. This was looking to be the low point of the night - the queue for the taxis must have been approximately three hundred and seventy eight kilometers long (no exaggeration), and our destination, Graiguenamanagh, seemed like a distant hope. So, we decided to head up to the Kilkenny Ormond for a final final drink of the night.
We, like James Bond (me) , Jason Bourne (Anthony) and Maxwell Smart (Darragh) all rolled into one tipsy group, managed to wrangle our way into the Festival Club, where, after each evening’s carry-on, all the performers would go. We were thrilled to catch up with The Man, Ken and have an all-too-brief beverage with him. Meeting him almost eclipsed our photo op with the Improvarios, Brendan Hunt and Michael Orton-Toliver. Two lovely guys who were a fine example of American talent sneaking nicely into a very Irish festival.
The night also saw Des Bishop perform Léim Thart (Jump Around), both as Gaeilge agus as béarla. The man is very funny, and while he might not be my favourite comedian, he is one of the most provocative and inspirational I’ve seen in years.
The great Jason Byrne also posed for a photo-op with us, but I was too nervous to ask for a photo with Máiread Farrell (I’m not joking). I love her on Ray D’Arcy‘s show and she was very funny on the Panel when I saw her last year in the Mermaid Theatre. I need to grow a backbone.
We were the last to leave the club that night and is it any wonder - we had the privileged opportunity to perform on stage at the Smithwick Cat Laughs Festival.
A night that should have ended in a long queue for a taxi a number of hours earlier ended up being an amazing amalgam of meeting great people, dancing madly and admiring others from afar. We left the Ormond around 5am and, magically, a taxi was waiting for us. Mr Reggae Taxi Driver brought us home to Graiguenamanagh in the bizarre fog of Kilkenny and we all flopped straight into bed, already looking forward to what the second day might bring.
We certainly didn’t get up at the crack of dawn last Sunday morning. We were only getting to bed as the sun rose. However, we didn’t waste our day sleeping and by 11.30am everyone was up and at ‘em ready for day two of our Kilkenny Cat Laughs adventure.
Raucous Irish Raiders Run Rings Round Rest of World
Anthony and I surreptitiously made our way to The Field for breakfast/lunch while the others made a number of trips back and forth between Kilkenny and Graig. We had a lovely meal (mmm lasagne) before heading towards Fairgreen Football Pitch to watch a bunch of comedians run around in shorts, hungover, dehydrated and horribly unfit. To be fair, they were surprisingly good (but what would I know - the last time I ran around a football pitch I lasted three minutes and nearly died of a heart attack). The teams were Ireland versus ‘Rest of The World’ and most of them were taking it very seriously. At one stage I thought Des Bishop was going to throttle his own teammate for not trying hard enough. Jason Byrne, Tommy Tiernan, Neil Delamere, David O’Doherty, Des Bishop and Andy Parsons were among the many who turned out to play. Karl Spain was the commentator for the afternoon.
Despite a number of opportunities to take the lead, the Rest of World team finally succumbed to the might of the Hibernocomic’s footballing prowess.
Post match, we returned to The Field for a couple of pints before our first gig of the evening.
Blood on the Stagefloor
In the Kilkenny Ormond, MC Josh Thomas, interviewed here, acts in a very self-effacing and shy manner while delivering a brilliant but too short comic set. He was charged with introducing each act which began with Damian Clark who’s observational comedy styling was extremely funny. Although towards the end of his act, he seemed to waver slightly as much of the audience seemed to wonder where he was taking one particular routine. He shocked us all by performing the punchline to music and it was all worth the build up. Perfect comic timing.
Josh went on to introduce a comedian I have enjoyed watching on television for years, Andy Parsons. The bastard!! Now, admittedly, wearing a hat, waistcoat and tie to a comedy gig and then sitting in the middle of the second row behind two fourteen year olds is, in retrospect, a really stupid idea. Parson zoned in on me and made me his comedy punching bag for his entire set. Truthfully though, he was extremely funny and had me crying with laughter by the end. It was all in good fun and his final line finishing on me was comedy gold.
Jason Byrne, the big pull of the night, stood up on stage an instead focused on the two teens in front of me. Listening to Andy Parsons from the back of the room, Byrne had assumed that when he talked about the ‘kids’ in the front row he meant they were two adults who looked young. He was genuinely shocked to see two fourteen year olds in front of him. Byrne was without a doubt the best thing about the weekend - he tread the line between crude and funny with perfect ease, as he ‘educated’ the two boys on why they should avoid women and stick to masturbation. The man worked so hard and was pumped with so much energy that he gave himself a nosebleed on stage. Rather than stop, he continued brilliantly though with an audience member’s tissue stuck up his nose. Anthony got a great shot on his phone:
A Divine Comedy
Our final show was a collection of unknowns (well, unknown to me - many people seemed to know them quite well). A line-up of Kevin Gildea, John Henderson, Danny Bhoy and Mike Wilmot had me, at times, in convulsions of laughter.
I am aware that Lottie thought Danny Bhoy was particularly good looking, but he was extremely funny beyond his girlfriend-stealing handsomeness. Gildea struggled for most of his act but his ‘big finish’ utilising the back of pizza boxes was brilliant and he definitely redeemed himself with this routine. Wilmot was crude, loud, controversial and I couldn’t help but laugh despite myself.
“(I’ve had some very bad experiences in some Dunnes Stores cafés) ” - More of a Lives of Others post really thought, don’t you think D.
And as for Danny Bhoy - I mean - come on pretty and funny! What more can a girl ask for?
Oh I was at that Jason Byrne gig too! It was awesome! I saw Mike Wilmot at a show with Colin Murphy tho and I wasnt impressed! He was just too crude for me!
I have pre-booked a taxi in the graig direction! I learned my lesson last year!
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Awesome entry mate. Friday can’t come soon enough.