WITH GALWAY set to enjoy all the high energy fun, laughter, and sheer craic of the Galway Comedy Festival, there will be no better way to end the night than at the Festival Club.
The Bulmers Light Festival Club at Róisín Dubh will be the epicentre of all the #GCF22 mirth and mischief, keeping the revelry going with late night comedy, live music, the silent disco, and a chance to rub shoulders with comedy stars - and who knows what else might happen!
The Festival Club is all about late night vibes downstairs and big laughs in the little room upstairs, with live music from The Latchikos, The Camembert Quartet, Galway Street Club, and John Conneely Inc; The Dirty Circus ‘Late & Live Hallowe’en’ party; and cabaret and comedy from The Wild Geeze and guests.
The club is where the comedians and festival audiences retire after the serious business of comedy is done. It’s where everyone lets their hair down, the social side of things that is part of what makes Galway Comedy Festival such a major event in the city’s cultural calendar.
Gigs, Silent Disco, and The Dirty Circus
Downstairs at the Festival Club begins with two nights of the Silent Disco (10.30pm, Tuesday October 25 and Wednesday 26 ). Get your headphones, switch between the songs being played by two different DJs, and sing along. From time to time, take off the headphones and marvel at a room full of people dancing and singing to different songs without any music seeming to be played.
The #GCF22 live music nights promise to be some of the wildest, most energetic nights of the week - and you may even see a comedian or two joining the bands for a song. The craic starts with The Latchikos on Thursday 27. Led by the force of nature that is Aindrias de Staic, they have a sound and style like no other - Gyp-Hop - a driving fusion of Gypsy folk, Irish trad, hip-hop, virtuoso violin, and spoken word.
The Late Late Show house band, The Camembert Quartet, led by comedian, historian, and musician, Paddy Cullivan, play on Friday 28. Expect Paddy and the boys to deliver a set featuring everything from AC/DC to Glen Campbell, and Thin Lizzy to Lizzo.
A high-octane, bare-chested, busking riot is assured when the mighty Galway Street Club play on Saturday 29. Drawing members from all over Ireland, and across the globe, this much-loved Galway institution will give audiences a furious mix of Ska, Irish Folk, Trad, Americana, Blues, and Rock’n’Roll.
Another Galway institution, John Conneely Inc, concludes the live music shows on Sunday 30, with big band arrangements of Django Reinhardt, Nina Simone, and Cab Calloway, and fresh interpretations of songs from the 1980s and 1990s.
The final night of the Bulmers Light Festival Club will be one of naughtiness, decadence, and glamour with The Dirty Circus ‘Late & Live Hallowe’en Party’ on October 31. I will feature drag queen Mary Mac, who received a standing ovation for her support slot to Bianca Del Rio in Leisureland earlier this year; Frank Sanazi, ‘Ze Ubermeister of Lounge’, a brilliant and unnerving comedic mix, bending Frank Sinatra with a thoroughgoing satirisation of Adolf Hitler; burlesque dancer Memphis Shell; singer Barbara Vixen; and pole dancer Avatarguille.
Late night with The Wild Geeze
The Wild Geeze, the duo of comedian Breda Larkin and burlesque performer Laura Lavelle, host the late night shows at #GCF22. The late night shows are one of the highlights of the festival, where, in an intimate setting, comedians perform their darkest, edgiest material.
The shows, also part of The Bulmers Light Festival Club, start at 11pm, and take place in the Róisín’s upstairs bar, starting on Thursday 27 with Lorcan Hughes, one half of the Irish comedy music duo Totally Wired, and Biddy O’Loughlin, the Australian performer, of whom Out To Lunch Theatre Festival, Belfast, said: “If you're not easily offended, Biddy's worth listening to. Just don't bring your mother. Or your priest”.
On Friday 28, a true legend of Irish comedy, and a true original of Irish comedy, both take to the stage. Kevin Gildea (“explosively funny” - The Sunday Times ), began his comedy career in the sketch group Mr Trellis with Barry Murphy and Ardal O'Hanlon. Later the trio founded The Comedy Cellar, Dublin's longest-running comedy club. Belfast’s Paul Currie performs absurdist, high-energy comedy. Avoiding conventional jokes, Paul brings audiences on a hilarious journey through his delightfully strange mind. As FringeGuru.com said, “There was something extra original about this guy, it was like watching the Monty Python version of stand-up.”
On Saturday 29, it is the turn of Andrew Ryan (“rapturously funny” - The List ), a comedian who has found peace by having low expectations of everyone, even himself, and Andy Askins, who, with a guitar, a cheeky grin, and a captivating voice, rewrites popular songs, giving them a perverse twist to tremendous comic effect.
On Sunday 30, The Wild Geeze present the aforementioned Frank Sanazi, joined by Allyson June Smith, a festival headliner in her native Canada. She has received multiple nominations for Best Female Stand-up at the Canadian Comedy Awards, taped her own Comedy Now special, and been described by Jason Manford as, “one of the funniest comedians I’ve ever worked with”.
What a way to end the nights for the last week of October! The Bulmers Light Festival Club at Róisín Dubh is the place to be at this year’s Galway Comedy Festival..
Admission to the Silent Disco is €6. Tickets for the festival club
