Tommy Tiernan, Ardal O’Hanlon, Pat Shortt, Des Bishop, Reginald D Hunter, and Rich Hall are coming to Galway this October Bank Holiday Weekend for the Bulmer’s Pear Galway Comedy Festival.
The Galway Comedy Festival, which was launched last night in the Róisín Dubh, runs from Wednesday October 24 to Monday 29, feature leading Irish and international comics, improv, theatre, mime, a table quiz, a very special dinner show, photography, hip hop, and soccer commentary.
Tommy Tiernan will undertake his Six And The City tour of Galway city’ with shows in An Taibhdhearc (Wednesday 24 ); Seapoint (Thursday 25 ), Róisín Dubh (Friday 26 ), Clybaun Hotel (Saturday 27 ), Town Hall Theatre (Sunday 28 ), Factory at Electric, Abbeygate Street, (Monday 29 ). All shows start at 8pm and Tommy will be performing new material.
American born, British based, comedian Reginald D Hunter is cool, provocative, sharp, and wickedly funny and will bring his brilliant stand-up comedy to the Seapoint Ballroom on Saturday 27 at 8pm.
Irish acts
Des Bishop will present his new show Likes To Bang in Seapoint on Wednesday 24. Ardal O’Halon, who achieved iconic status as Fr Dougal on Father Ted, will treat to Galway to plenty of laughs in the Town Hall on Saturday 27.
It is extraordinary to think that when Pat Shortt takes to the stage of the Radisson Live Lounge on Friday 14 it will be his first time as part of a festival. Pat has more than 20 years’ experience under his belt, including D’Unbelievables and Kilnascully.
There will also be shows from The Rubberbandits, who won the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality of Thought or Performance at this year’s Edinburgh festival (Róisín Dubh, Thursday 25 ); Barry Murphy and Karl Spain will do a live commentary on the Chelsea v Man U match (Róisín Dubh, Sunday 28 at 3.30pm ); Sean Hughes (An Taibhdhearc, Saturday 27 ); Jason Byrne, Andrew Maxwell, Abandoman, Colin Murphy, Bernard O’Shea, Kevin Gildea, Eleanor Tiernan, John Colleary, and Galway comics Danny Dowling and John Donnellan.
From abroad...
The great Rich Hall has sold out every show he has played in Galway so get your tickets for his Róisín Dubh shows (Saturday 27, Sunday 28 ) now.
Neil Hamburger (An Taibhdhearc, Saturday 27, Sunday 28, 10pm ) promises to be one of the highlights of the festival, and for those who do not appreciate irony, the most offensive and controversial. “These gags are certainly not for the faint of heart, as he plumbs the depths of depravity for the sake of a laugh,” said Chortle.co.uk The Faulty Towers Dining Experience, where actors from Interactive Theatre Australia recreate a night in Torquay’s best worst hotel in the company of Sybil, Manuel, and of course Basil, takes place from Saturday 27 to Monday 29 in The Menlo Park Hotel.
The absurdist, surreal ,virtuoso comic stylings of Tony Law can be experienced through two shows - Tony Law’s Shitbox (Róisín Dubh, Wednesday 24, 9pm ) and Maximum Nonsense (Kelly’s, Thursday 25 ).
Another highlight is Terry Alderton in Monroe’s Live (Saturday 27 ). Inside the mind of one of Britain’s finest comic talents, there is a raging battle with ‘The Voices’ - two unpredictable and hilarious voices. Though often a challenge to Terry these two different sides of his ego/conscience often lead him into unpredictable comedy routines.
Bridget Christie, wife of comic Stewart Lee will show that she is as funny, if not funnier than her husband with her show War Donkey in an Taibhdhearc on Thursday 25;
The festival will host the Irish premiere of the comedy phenomenon Set List (Róisín Dubh, Friday 26 to Sunday 28, 11pm ), where comedians will be give a word (sometimes it will be found in a dictionary, other times it is a pun or made up ) and they will have to improvise around that.
Phill Jupitus will perform stand up comedy in the Town Hall with Rich Hall and Terry Alderton and perform his poetry on Saturday 27 in the Róisín Dubh.
Other acts to look out for include the mime-comedy of The Boy With Tape On His Face, the improv fun and madness of Whose Line is it Anyway?; heavy metal comic Steve Hughes, Carl Donnelly, Benny Boot, and Pete Johannsson.
Theatre
The next instalment of Conor Montague’s hilarious Who Needs Enemies? takes place in the Town Hall (Thursday 25 ) while Dick Walsh will perform his one man show Dangerman in An Taibhdhearc (Friday 26 ).
All shows start at 8pm unless otherwise stated. Tickets go on sale from 9am tomorrow. For more information see www.bulmersgalwaycomedyfestival.com
