The Galway Comedy Festival has revealed an ambitious line-up for its latest bout of autumnal amusement from October 22, to October 28, and this year it will break out of the city to what lies beyond.
Some of its 70 shows this year will be held in new venues across the county in Spiddal, Headford, and Tuam, along with regular haunts across Galway city.
British comedy megastar Russell Howard; the First Lady of Irish Comedy, Deirdre O’Kane; Irish comedy legends Dylan Moran, Dara Ó Briain, and Mario Rosenstock; and the newest wave of Irish comedy stars Shane Todd, Emma Doran, Sinéad Quinlan, Al Porter and Colin Geddis, have now been announced to play Ireland’s Comedy Capital.
They will appear alongside the previously revealed Ruby Wax, Des Bishop, Jimeoin, Michelle Wolf, David McSavage, Enya Martin, Micky Bartlett, and Fin Taylor.
Overall, a 70-strong line-up of international stars, homegrown comedy greats, and emerging talent, will play more than 70 shows across 17 venues, over seven days and nights.
A 70-strong line-up
“Laughter is the lubricant that makes life liveable,” says Russell Howard, a firm believer in comedy as the means to deal with a world in crisis. Relentlessly funny, endlessly charming and the undisputed king of feel-good comedy, Russell has a way of looking the world straight in the eye, and still finding hope through hilarity.
One of Ireland’s leading comedians, Deirdre O’Kane has been bringing her dazzling charisma to the stage in her latest show, the critically acclaimed O’Kaning It. In this show, Deirdre explores some of her darkest material yet, while still delivering side-splitting and occasionally guilty laughs.
Deirdre also joins Emma Doran for a live recording of their hit Keep It Tight podcast, where no topic is out of bounds, from the highest brow to the lowest pelvic floor.
Stand-up, broadcaster, actor, author, columnist, science communicator, and Gaeilgeoir, Dara Ó Briain is arguably Irish comedy’s Renaissance Man. From his days as host of RTÉ’s much-loved and fondly remembered The Panel, Ó Briain has become one of the biggest names on the international comedy circuit. He is a Mock the Week, QI and Have I Got News For You regular.
Dylan Moran has enjoyed playing Galway so much throughout 2024 that he is taking up the role of the 2024 festival’s Artist-in-Residence. As well as performing stand-up, this residency is likely to contain spur-of-the-moment brilliance. Moran delights in improvised music and art created on-the-spot. Think free-jazz from a Beat Poet with a paintbrush in one hand, and a drumstick in the other. Whatever happens, Moran promises to compel and surprise.
The legendary Ruby Wax will show just why critics called her “a voice that can be both comical and meaningful” in her show, I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was, as she deals with her mental health in a way that is both unflinching but brutally funny.
Ireland - and the world - has changed a lot since Des Bishop was last in Galway. So has Bishop’s own life, including a near-death experience in February when he fell more than 1,400 feet while skiing in Colorado. He also got married. Des will tell all in his, in-your-face, new show, Lately.
Des Bishop
Comedy for all
The medieval heart of Galway city always beats faster during the October Bank Holiday Weekend, especially with brilliant mixed-bill shows and solo sets from Rich Hall, Miles Jupp, Barry Murphy, Colin Murphy, Andrew Maxwell, Terry Alderton, John Colleary, Danny O’Brien, Sinéad Quinlan, Aideen McQueen, and Sharon Mannion.
Festival HQ, Róisín Dubh, will be the location for the Bulmers Festival Club, numerous solo shows, and the unmissable institution that is the Late Night KARLnival. Hosted by Karl Spain, this is where comedians gather to perform their darkest and edgiest material. You never know what might happen and you never know who will be there...
Galway Comedy Festival strives to go beyond stand-up to encompass comedy in all its forms and manifestations. Celebrating classic sitcoms in Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience and the Stars of Father Ted; the art of improvisation with the Stephen Frost Improv All Stars, and a screening of the film, The Hurler, featuring numerous Irish comedians. The Festival also provides a safe space for alternative performers via The Dirty Circus, which features burlesque, cabaret, drag and pole performances. Hector Ó hEochagáin will launch his new book The Irish Words You Should Know.
Galway Comedy Festival is also a reminder that comedy is not exclusive to the English language, but an art which crosses all kinds of cultural boundaries. Hence there is Gáire as Gaeilge, the annual stand-up shows in our native language, and a night of Polish language comedy from Antoni Syrek Dabrowski and Lukasz Kowalski.
Full programme, and tickets on sale at www.GalwayComedyFestival.ie
