Posts Tagged ‘10 Days in Dublin’

Wow, what a busy 10 Days in Dublin festival we had here at the Comedy Scoop eh? We had so much fun during the festival and got to meet so many great people. We have decided to come together and each give you our two favourite highlights from the festival and maybe you can let us know what yours were in the comments section at the end of the post?

One of my favourite things during the festival was Heroin(e) was Breakfast at Smock Alley. I went to see it on the second night and had felt a bit of the buzz about the first show going well so was hopeful of something good. What I saw was something amazing. I really enjoyed the play and to be able to pull humour out of something so obviously dark is nothing short of amazing. I take my hat off to all the actors who did a superb job in the production and really wish them well in the future, I know it will be a bright one for them.

- Amanda

My second highlight would have to be Diet of Worms. I chose these for a variety of reasons. Firstly to have the courage to do a live recording at a gig is something which deserves to be applauded. But not only that, these guys were just funny. From their actual dialogue which was hilarious to their various props such as half a door with a lock attached to it and various pairs of shoes and their commitment to the story, this all made for a very entertaining show for the audience. This was definitely a highlight for me and I would hope to see more from the Diet of Worms in the near future.

- Amanda

There were so many high points over the course of the 10Days in Dublin festival that it was more difficult than I thought it would be to narrow it down to just two highlights, but here goes nothing…

Mary Bourke’s show in The Workman’s was one of the best small gigs I’ve attended to date. Confident and in control I greatly admired how nonplussed Mary was by the poor turn out and found myself laughing non-stop during her hilarious gig. It’s a pity more people didn’t show up to see just how funny this quick-witted comedienne is for themselves but it certainly didn’t impact upon the quality of the comedy on the night. Mary is an easy pick as highlight number one and definitely someone to catch live yourself when you next get the chance.

-Mairéad

 

Highlight number two has to be the play ‘Spurt’.

This piece of fringe theatre really struck a chord with me and I found myself swept up in the emotional journey that was playing out on stage at The New Theatre. Thought-provoking and engrossing I couldn’t fault the production which made me laugh and cry in equal measure! Unfortunately it won’t be performed in Dublin again but it has certainly managed to ignite my interested in the world of ‘fringe’ theatre and I look forward to seeing more productions by theatre group ‘Come as Soon as You Hear‘ in future.

 

-Mairéad

10 Days was a resounding success in my opinion. It gave people a chance to catch some wonderful comedians at great prices. While I had the privilege of attending some great gigs and while it’s very difficult to decide my highlights, there were certainly some standout elements for me:

Rather than individual acts stealing the show for me, I wanted to express my thanks for the variety of comedy on offer. In the course of attending the festival I got to see a great mix of freeform comedians as well as more traditionally rehearsed acts, all of which managed to impress in their own way. From the casual hilarity of Kieran Lawless, to the more meticulous stylings of Chris Kent & Priscilla Dinan and then rounded out with some witty and relatable banter on modern pop culture from the Game Boys and Lorcan McGrane, there was something for everyone at this festival!

- Paul

This second set of appreciation will probably seem unusual but I wanted to praise the selection of venues that were used for the festival. The familiar surroundings of the International are always welcome but it added a wonderful touch of versatility and intimacy to the proceedings to experience venues such as The Parlour in Whelans and The Loft at the Twisted Pepper.

- Paul

So there you have it, all our highlights in one easy to digest collection! Now it’s your turn, just click submit comment below to share your own best bits from the 10Days in Dublin festival with us

Boy did we get snap happy during the 10days in Dublin festival! Here’s a random selection of some of our favourite shots

When I saw that Humourisms.com was to present a show during the 10 Days in Dublin festival I immediately wanted to go. As a fan of the website which you can see here, I was intrigued as to what each of the comedians could bring to the gig.

The gang

The gig began with Conor O’Toole introducing the announcer Kevin Lockard who then introduced the hosts for the evening, Damon Blake and George Fox. Damon and George described themselves as nerds, maintained that the gig would be very nerdy and even went as far as describing the host of comedians who we would see during the evening as the villains of Irish comedy. Really? I’m not entirely sure of that! They discussed everything from porn on the internet (we even saw a video of George explaining his porn addiction) to being Irish, this brought Kevin Lockard on stage to talk about his experiences of Ireland. Kevin had some funny material, some of it predictable including the old staple Irish drinking culture and the tracksuit wearing young people. For some of his set I found myself looking at Damon and George’s reactions (who had stayed on stage during his performance) which were funnier than what Kevin was saying.

Next up was The Glen Coco Experience. These were a strange sketch group. They started off well with a joke solo done by David and a punch line solo done by Conor which was quite amusing, they then did an audience participation sketch which had the audience laughing along but their last sketch got lost somewhere between the stage and the audience.

Kieran Lawless was a surprise comedian on the night. He did a short set. He had a mixed reaction from the crowd to his tales of being picked up at various places in Dublin and Galway. Tips from Kieran….if you want to catch him the best place to do this is a bus stop!

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Making it just in time to catch Chris Kent’s entrance to the stage in the international, I realised that I had no idea what to expect. To my shame, I had learned little about him prior to the performance and the promotional material I had seen did not give any indication of the nature of his comedy. So standing in the club watching him begin, I could watch with no particular expectations.

Opening with some casual conversation with the audience, the immediately likable Kent made the crowd feel right at home. Exchanging banter with one American in particular, Kent effortlessly managed to bring the audience member back into jokes throughout the night.

He shared with us his experiences of growing up in Cork and made some hilarious quips about career selection and the decline of work for tradesmen in Ireland. A qualified electrician, he made some very relatable and funny jokes about the pressure that his parents put on him to become choose a career and get work at a young age. We were then taken on a journey through his time travelling in Australia and New Zealand with one particular joke about hostels leading to what was possibly the loudest collective laugh I have ever heard.

Kent’s delivery was a perfect mix of dry confidence and razor sharp wit. Even the way in which he held himself and occasionally drank his glass of water communicated a calmness and accessibility that one won’t find in many performers. There was no over-the-top cursing or crudity to be found and Kent managed to pull off the difficult feat of telling descriptive and hilarious stories without losing any audience members along the way.

By the time the final 10 minutes of the set came around, my head was actually sore from laughing so much. Writing about comedy is quite difficult because it is hard to truly convey atmosphere and it’s difficult to gauge success over failure. So with Chris Kent I can bring it down to the most simple measure of success in comedy by saying that I have never been in a room with so much laughter resonating throughout the set and for any comedian, isn’t that the apogee of achievements?

For Chris’ gig listings follow him on twitter or check out his facebook page.

Sporting a Portal T-shirt and with a keen anticipation, I entered the International Bar to see Game Boys. As a lifelong fan of video games, I was hugely excited at the prospect of video-game themed comedy. Looking on the stage as I entered, I noticed a Gamecube, two controllers and a projector.  With a packed house waiting, all that remained was the entrance of the boys; did they deliver on my fanboy expectations?

The performance began with an introduction by two confident young men in suits. They explained the structure of the show to us while exchanging comedic banter with one another. The structure was as follows; the two Game Boys would take pot-shots at each other with “Your Mama” insults and then take turns, performing individually for ten minutes at a time. To determine what order they would perform in, the boys played a game of Smash Bros Melee, the winner would take to the stage first.

When the Game Boys arrived on stage we were introduced to Irishman David and American Kevin. The ‘Your Mama’ segment was quite standard fare but the quips were video game themed, this drew great laughs from the audience and it was easy to identify the hardcore gamers of the audience by the levels of reaction to some of the more geeky jokes. The boys then engaged in their friendly game on stage to determine the order of the set.

The first solo segment was provided by Cavan native David and proved to be a wonderful start to the proceedings. Moving away from the topic of games, David talked about racist taxi drivers, shared some hilarious stories from his hometown, his time abroad in America and even made some great jokes about the pretentiousness of Urban Outfitters (something which this reviewer can particularly identify with). In his second segment, he gave us a memorable story about history & philosophy which went down very well with the crowd. David displayed a great charm and quiet confidence on the stage. Immediately likable and very witty; he delivered articulate, well thought out and hilarious laughs in both his sets.

The sanguine and likeable sense of energy from American lad Kevin were also a treat and his less reserved style lent itself well to the performance overall. Highlights of his sets included tips on how to look taller, discussions about violence in video games and a hilarious quip about how many facebook “Friends” he has.  Intelligent and relatable tales of his experiences living in Ireland were well delivered and he clearly gets what makes Irish people tick.

The Game Boys surprised me in many ways. While I had expected the set to focus almost solely on games/nerdiness, what I found was an accessible, funny, charming and intelligent performance by some very talented young lads. Of course there is a lot to appreciate here as a gamer but the energetic and thoughtful humour on show here makes it easy to recommend to any fan of comedy.

If you want to see the lads in action check out their facebook pages here; David Reilly, Kevin Lockard