It’s no secret that I’m a musical comedy fan, so when I heard the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival in Kilkenny was putting on their first gig exclusively dedicated to musical comedy I had to stop on by and check it out! Taking place at midnight in the Ormonde Hotel’s Kings Ballroom, this was the first ‘stand-up’ gig I’d been too where it wasn’t just the comedians on stage who were chairless! Unfortunately this casual pre-nightclub style format wasn’t at all conducive to the gig running smoothly.

The MC for the evening was Fred Cooke. Fred is generally a very entertaining comedian who is no stranger to musical comedy, but he really struggled to connect with the crowd on the night who paid little or no attention to his requests for people to listen to the acts on stage. His attempt at melodica requests, which is a part of Fred’s repertoire I’m actually a big fan of, fell flat on its face because the audience weren’t involved enough with him as an act and Fred seemed to really battle to keep his focus while on stage. It was definitely not the quality of performance you expect from a comedian with as much experience and funny material up his sleeves as Fred has.

The first act on stage was Joe Rooney whose set involved performing some of the best musical impressions I’ve heard! Joe managed to get a decent group of audience members fully enthralled with his impressive guitar playing and there were plenty of laughs to be heard during his time on stage. I particularly enjoyed Joe’s impression of Bono (he has the body language and gestures spot on!) and the section on famous people he’d like to have as fathers had the crowd in stitches.

Doc Brown was next on stage and within a few moments he managed to win the crowd over completely with his clever rap comedy. Charming and funny, Doc has my respect for managing to create some hilarious and intelligent raps which really got the audience involved. I particularly loved his angry tea rap and highly recommend you try to catch him performing live soon for a guaranteed giggle

Last to perform on the night was none other than Damo, of Damo & Ivor fame. Judging by the reaction Damo received when he appeared on stage, this was clearly the act the majority of the crowd were most looking forward to seeing. Energetic and enthusiastic Damo had the audience singing along to the well-known hits ‘Everybody’s Drinkin’ and ‘Maniac 2012’ and the gig ended on a high note.

Overall the gig was a fun one but I think for a stand-up gig to be successful you need an audience focused on the stage which is probably best achieved by placing them in seats facing the correct way, rather than letting them wander about chatting while the comedians are trying to perform. It might at least eliminate some of the incessant and highly distracting noise that was a big problem at this gig. Thankfully most of the comedians on the night rose above the distractions and this musical comedy gig was definitely a welcome and popular addition to the festival line up.