I had fully intended taking part myself, but at about 8.30 last Saturday morning I got cold feet and cancelled my booking for the comedy workshop at Cleeres. The instructor, Padraig Hyland, was taking the group of comedy novices for an eight hour session and then putting them on the stage at 7pm to make their standup comedy debut.
I headed over for the seven o’clock show, which was delayed until after the Leinster v London-Irish rugby game. I’m sure the extra delay didn’t help the nerves of the participants, waiting to lose their comedic virginity.
Padraig worked hard to warm up the sceptical crowd of about 50. As usual, nobody wanted to sit in the front row, for fear of being picked on. We three wiser, older, heads took our seats at the very back, but we weren’t able to escape the eye of the man on stage. I think almost everyone, regardless of where they were seated, drew some comment from our MC.
It then felt a bit like the Roman Colosseum as the four newly formed comedians were led in to face the lions.
We had four very different performances. First up was Ger Keogh , who’d travelled from Myshall in Co Carlow and had Richie Kavanagh in his entourage. Ger was an old style joke -teller and had the audience laughing out loud at his routine.
Next up was Sean Gaffney. I suspect Sean has attended many a Cat Laughs Festival and stalked the stage like a comedy veteran. Now that he’s dipped his toe in the comedy water I feel we can expect to see him tread the boards very soon again.
We don’t see or hear too many females on the comedy circuit, so it was good to see that 25 per cent of the performers were female in the shape of Triona Ryan. Triona’s topic was the behaviour of audiences at different types of concerts from classical to rock. Like all the participants her routine was short and made you appreciate the long agonising hours that the professionals spend to put an hour’s worth of material together. A bit like trying to put a column together every week, I suppose.
The last up was a local favourite on the Parliament pub scene. Ger Butler has been providing the wisecracks for a good many years for the locals but this was his first time to do it from the stage in front of an audience that was made up of many of his friends. I’m not sure whether this makes the experience more or less intimidating, but it didn’t seem to bother the bould Ger, as he rattled through his stuff and left the audience calling for more. Let’s hope we get ‘more’ at a future date from these four brave souls.
Coffee break
I didn’t stay late after the show as I had an early start for Dublin on Sunday morning. Too early as it turned out, and I found myself with time to spare in a near deserted Dublin city centre.
While trying to pass the time I wandered into Third Floor Espresso in Middle Abbey Street, which is actually on the ground floor. This isn’t a place that’s likely to produce the jar of Maxwell House. It’s very informal until it gets to the subject of coffee. They change the blend with the seasons and currently the coffee on offer is called “Frosty”, which, they tell me, is made up of a Bolivian Machacamarca, Brazilian Sao Judas, and El Salvadorian La Illusion. It’s described as “an incredibly approachable espresso, really sweet and fruity.”
I tried an incredibly approachable cup and very nice it was too at an equally approachable €2 a cup. Down at the back there were more coffees to be sampled and we were given descriptions and asked to write down in chalk what we thought. It was getting like one of those wine tastings at this stage, where you’re wondering what exactly you’re supposed to taste or smell. “Earthy”, “Bananas”, “Chocolately” were some of the words being thrown out. I was beginning to feel a bit jumpy from all the caffeine on an empty stomach, so I finished my blend of Bolivian Machacamarca, Brazilian Sao Judas and El Salvadorian La Illusion and headed back out on to the street.
I’m on a work to rule
In solidarity with all our colleagues in the public sector I’m implementing a ‘work-to-rule’ with immediate effect. This means I won’t be discussing any items in the column with people I meet on the street or in the pub. I won’t be taking on any new work practices, so plans to have the column in rhyme have been put on hold, as has the bilingual version. I will be cutting back on topics and will be ‘giving out’ about a maximum of two issues per column.
As is the case with the public service, I will be escalating action if our demands are not met. Phase two will mean no words of more than five letters will be used. If they are, only the first five letters will be printed. This may resul in pecul sente that may be diffi to under, but this is a serio issue that the worke of this count face and many sacri will have to be made if we are to succe in our missi. Worke of the world unite and we shall overc!
