THE ORGANISERS of the fourth Annual Galway Comedy Festival, which runs from October 21 to 25, have pulled out all the stops to keep ticket prices affordable for Galway audiences this year.
Organisers Pearse Doherty, Kevin Healy, and Gerry Mallon wanted to keep the prices as low as possible this year. For example, on the Friday night, you can see three different comedy shows for only a tenner each.
Also by doubling up acts, to do two shows in one day, audiences can cut costs. You can see Phil Nichol’s one hour Edinburgh show for only €10 or Reginald D Hunter’s one hour show plus 25 minutes of Steve Hughes for only €12.50.
Pearse Doherty hopes Galway audiences will enjoy having this line up on their doorstep.
“We set out to bring the best international and national comedy acts to Galway for the October Bank Holiday Weekend,” he said, “and thanks to the generous contributions of our local and national sponsors, we are delighted to be able to deliver such a varied programme, for pre-Celtic Tiger prices, in such hard times.”
Pearse also said that with Kevin Healy and the Róisín Dubh coming on board this year, The Galway Comedy Festival is now recognised “as a must for all comedians to visit”.
What’s on, where
The festival kicks off on Wednesday October 21 in the Róisín Dubh at 8pm with Phil Nichol in his new show A Deadpan Poet Sings Quiet Songs Quietly (€10 ) followed by The Only Apple in the Garden of Eden and Niggas, the new show from the brilliant Reginald D Hunter at 10pm (€10 ).
In the Radisson Live Lounge at 8pm are PJ Gallagher, Reginald D Hunter, Phil Nichol, John Donnellan, and MC Paddy Courtney (€22.50 ). Jason Byrne, John Lynn, and Karl Spain are in the Black Box Theatre at 8pm (€22.50 ).
On Thursday 22 at 8pm PJ Gallagher, Dead Cat Bounce, Eleanor Tiernan, and Neil Delamere will be in the Black Box Theatre (€22.50 ). In the Town Hall at 8pm, there will be comedy from the characters of Fr Ted, featuring Joe Rooney (Fr Damo ), Patrick McDonnell (Eoin McLove ), and Michael Redmond (Fr Stone ), with MC Frank Kelly (Fr Jack ), (€20 ).
On Friday 23 the comedy group as rock band Dead Cat Bounce play the Róisín Dubh at 8pm (€10 ), followed by Jim Jeffries at 10pm (€10 ). Over in Kelly’s at 8.30pm, it’s Nina Conti and her puppet monkey Monk, Maureen Langan, and MC Andrew Stanley (€12.50 ).
Maeve Higgins, Eric Lalor, Sarah Kendal, and Des Bishop play the Radisson Live Lounge at 8pm (€22.50 ), while the Fr Ted characters return to the Town Hall at 8pm (€20 ).
On Saturday 24 the Róisín Dubh will host the Stand Up Showdown at 5pm, with MCs Andrew Stanley and Damian Clark (RTÉ’s I Dare Ya! ), (€10 ). At 9pm, the Róisín will host the great Manchester punk poet and funnyman John Cooper Clarke at 10pm (€22.50 ). Upstairs in the Róisín at 9.30pm it’s Comedy Comedy with John Donnellan, Fred Cooke, and Danny Dowling (€10 ).
Holly Walsh, Maureen Langan, and MC Damian Clark will take to the stage at Kelly’s at 8.30pm (€12.50 ), while the stars of Whose Line is it Anyway?, with special guests Greg Proops, play the Town Hall at 8pm (€25 ). Colin Murphy, Nina Conti, Sarah Kendal, Colm O’Regan, MC Gerry Mallon will be in the Black Box Theatre at 8pm (€22.50 ).
The festival comes to a close on Sunday 25 with a number of shows in the Róisín Dubh - Aibe Philbin Bowman’s No Vietcong Ever Called Me Nigger at 6pm (€10 ), Andrew Maxwell’s The Lamp at 8pm (€22.50 ), and Carey Marx’s The Doom Gloom Boom at 10pm (€10 ).
Meanwhile in Kelly’s at 8.30pm it’s Kevin Bridges and The Al Pitcher Picture Show (€12.50 ), while in the Town Hall Theatre Stewart Lee takes to the stage at 8pm (€20 ).
In the Town Hall from 11pm on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, BOOM! The Best of the Fest, takes place. It will be the place to be seen that weekend.
See www.galway comedyfestival.com
