The countdown to Galway Comedy Festival is on, and in 2024 it won’t just turn the city into Ireland’s comedy capital. In a bold new step, it will also spread its madness, mischief, and merriment into the county...
See galwaycomedyfestival.ie for all show dates and details.
Boasting Russell Howard, Deirdre O’Kane, Ruby Wax, Dylan Moran, Dara Ó Briain, Des Bishop, and Mario Rosenstock as headliners, Galway Comedy Festival can justifiably claim to be Ireland’s biggest comedy festival. Remarkably, the aforementioned are but part of a 70-strong line-up of top-tier household comedy names - both Irish and international stars - as well as a range of emerging talent, who will play 70 shows, across 18 venues, over 7 days and nights from Tuesday 22 October to Monday 28 October.
It has been more than a decade since Russell Howard last played Galway. He was big then. He’s even bigger now, and his comedy - topical, engaged, sometimes political, is both a call to action for progressive values, while also broad-based, utterly feel-good and optimistic for humanity. As the man himself said: “Laughter is the lubricant that makes life liveable,” and the tonic of Russell Howard is just what we need right now.
It’s also been a while since Des Bishop played Galway, and in that time a lot has changed - in Ireland, in the world, and especially in Des’ life! In February, he had a near-death experience when he fell more than 1,400 feet - the equivalent of five football fields - while skiing in Colorado. And he also got married. There will be no shortage of things to talk about and laugh about, in Des’s new show, Lately, which he brings to Leisureland on Sat 26 Oct.
Someone, however, who can hardly be kept away from Galway is Dylan Moran. Following an array of shows here during the summer, he returns West to, not only play solo and mixed bill shows at GCF, but to take up the role of Festival Artist-in-Residence. Quite what that will entail is impossible to say as yet, but think free jazz from a Beat Poet with a paintbrush in one hand and a drumstick in the other, spur-of-the-moment brilliance, and wild flights of fancy, and we’ll probably be on the right track.
Deirdre O’Kane is arguably the First Lady of Irish Comedy. A pioneer for women in Irish stand-up, she has paved the way for the likes of Emma Doran, Enya Martin, Sinéad Quinlan, Aideen McQueen, and Sharon Mannion - all of whom play this year’s Festival. Since returning to stand-up, Deirdre has been delivering some of her finest material, and more recently that material has become darker, edgier, as in her latest show, the critically acclaimed O’Kaning It, which she brings to Leisureland on Sun 27 Oct.
Comedians tend to be a multi-talented lot, but can any boast so many hats as Dara Ó Briain? Stand-up, broadcaster, actor, author, columnist, science communicator, and Gaeilgeoir, he is arguably Irish Comedy’s Renaissance Man. A big name, not only in Ireland but in the UK as well - he rivals Graham Norton for the title of ‘Britain’s favourite Irishman’ - this is a rare chance to see this peerless comedy talent up close and personal at Róisín Dubh (23 and 24 Oct).
Getting one of Ireland’s leading satirists, Mario Rosenstock, and one of Ireland’s most beloved comedians and actors, Jon Kenny, together in The Black Box (Fri 25 Oct) is impressive. Tying it together with Tony Kelly, writer/director of the surprise hit film, The Hurler, and having Karl Spain - who appeared in the film - MC the event, will surely make it an essential night for both comedy fans and sports fans, and a highlight of GCF24.
It is not just solo shows at the Festival. The mixed bills at The Black Box offer a smorgasbord of comedic brilliance, with Colin Geddis, Andrew Maxwell, Al Porter, Danny O’Brien, and Jason Byrne, to name but a few who will be appearing at the venue across. The more intimate surrounds of the Róisín Dubh’s Tigh He He will see the likes of Terry Alderton, Fin Taylor, Jessica Collins, and Ross Browne, offering further opportunities to enjoy a plethora of comedians in one venue on one night.
Galway Comedy Festival is a comedy festival with a true difference. Recognising that stand-up is not the only form of comedy, it will present Stephen Frost’s Improv All Stars; the return of the much loved Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience; comedy as Gaeilge and in the Polish language; and The Dirty Circus, where humour and wit are as much a part of a burlesque performer’s arsenal as glamour and sexiness - comedy then in the fullest sense of the word and in all its glorious forms.
Comedy in the County
Ireland’s second largest county will, during the week of the Festival, become the largest county on the island by intensity and volume of laughter, as GCF takes a bold new step by bringing the fun outside of the city with shows in Connemara and North and East Galway.
The Festival’s annual Irish language show, Gáire as Gaeilge, will take a trip to Cois Cuain, An Spidéal, featuring Aideen McQueen and Eddie Mullarkey, hosted by Hector Ó hEochagáin (Tues 22 Oct). In Keane’s, Oranmore, there is a treat for Fr Ted fans as Irish legends Joe Rooney, Patrick McDonnell, and Kevin Gildea present The Stars of Father Ted, while The Mall in Tuam will host the grouchy singing cowboy, Rich Hall (both Tues 22 Oct).
The final county show will be two Irish comedy pioneers on one stage - Dylan Moran, supported by Barry Murphy, in Campbell’s Tavern, Cloughanover, near Headford (Wed 23 Oct). It is not every day you get a chance to see someone like Dylan Moran in such an intimate setting, so get close to comedy greatness and support comedy in the county by booking your tickets now at galwaycomedyfestival.ie.
All photos courtesy of Galway Comedy Festival.
Words by Kernan Andrews.
