Sean Lock, Russell Howard, Omid Djalili, and The Faulty Towers Dining Experience are all coming to Galway for the October Bank Holiday weekend as part of the Bulmers Galway Comedy Festival.
The festival runs from Tuesday October 22 to Monday October 28, promising seven days of hilarity and laughs from more than 50 comedians performing at various venues across the city.
The full programme was announced at the launch party for the festival in the Róisín Dubh last night, hosted by the legendary British comic Phil Jupitus, who will also perform at the festival.
Comedians coming to Galway are Sean Lock (8 Out of 10 Cats, QI, Mock The Week ) will present his show Purple Van Man in the Black Box Theatre on October 27 at 7.30pm; Russell Howard, best known for his BBC show Russell Howard’s Good News, which takes a clever and hilarious look at the absurd stories and events in the news, as well as the oddities of media reporting; and the great Omid Djalili, whose credits include everything from The Infidel and Gladiator to Sky’s Little Cracker, and Moneysupermarket ads.
Police Academy’s Michael Winslow, whose vocal talents can recreate everything from the sound of an electric guitar to jet fighters taking off, has thrilled Galway audiences with his previous visits to the city, and will do so again at his upcoming comedy festival show.
Also playing is the acclaimed Stewart Lee who will perform his show Much A-Stew About Nothing in the Róisín Dubh at 8pm on Tuesday October 22 and Wednesday 23. The always popular The Faulty Towers Dining Experience, where scenes from the classic TV series will be recreated while audiences are served dinner by Basil, Sybil, and Manuel, takes place in The Salthill Hotel at 7.30pm on Friday October 25 and Saturday 26.
Also at the festival will be the ever popular improv group Whose Line Is It Anyway? and the Set List shows, where comedians are given a word or topic, which may be real or made up - past examples are ‘biscuit holocaust’ or ‘mistake wisdom’ - and from that they have to create a comedy set off the top of their head.
Other comedians coming to the festival include Frank Sanazi, whose stage act combines elements of Frank Sinatra, Adolf Hitler, and Las Vegas schmaltz; English comedy sketch group Pappys; the surreal stylings and outrageous hair of Tony Law; the Reverend Obadiah Steppenwolfe III, who will preach the virtues of Christianity and heavy metal; as well as Lee Mack, Eddie Pepitone, Eddie Brill, Paul Currie, Kevin Bridges, Mike Wilmot, Glenn Wool, Sam Lloyd, and Phil Nichol.
The festival will also host the best in Irish comedy. David O’Doherty will perform his show, David O’Doherty Will Try To Fix Everything on Saturday October 26, and there will also be shows from Jason Byrne, Andrew Maxwell, Neil Delamere, Maeve Higgins, Colin Murphy, Barry Murphy, Bernard O’Shea, Karl Spain, Jarlath Regan, London based Aisling Bea (who recently appeared on Seann Walsh’s Comedy Spectacular ), the stars of Father Ted, The Nualas, Kevin Gildea, Ian Coppinger, Joe Rooney, the Galway based Danny Dowling, Eleanor Tiernan, Eric Lalor, Colm O’Regan, Chris Kent, John Colleary, Fred Cooke, Galway’s Stephen Bennett, sketch group Foil Arms & Hog, and comedy hip-hop improv duo Abandoman.
As well as stand-up shows theatre, podcasts, poetry readings, and musical and sketch comedy. There will also be a Silent Disco Street Party, while Macnas will take to the streets with their 2013 parade on Bank Holiday Sunday afternoon.
There will also be a musical element to this year’s festival with disco legends Chic and the elder statesmen of alternative rock, Primal Scream, both playing during the October Bank Holiday Weekend.
The tickets for Chic are sold out but tickets for Primal Scream are still available. The band play Lesiureland on Saturday October 26 at 9pm. The Scottish quartet, led by vocalist Bobby Gillespie, are best know for their groundbreaking rock-house-techno masterpiece Screamadelica (1991 ), but remain a going concern, and their latest album, More Light, has been hailed as one of their finest releases, earning glowing reviews from MOJO and Pitchfork.
Tickets for Bulmers Galway Comedy Festival go on sale from tomorrow at 10am. For more information see the festival on Facebook; on Twitter @galwaycomedy; at www.bulmersgalwaycomedyfestival.com; and www.youtube.com/user/GalwayComedyFestival
