Posts Tagged ‘Sharyn Hayden’

Living in London? Enjoy Irish comedy? Then this is clearly the festival for you!

The line up for this first time 3 day festival takes place in the London Irish Centre Camden and features a stellar collection of top class and emerging Irish and London Irish comedians and musical comedy acts….

Friday 12 October; winners of the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year, The Musical Comedy Awards and Best Comedy Newcomer at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Abandoman headline. They create hilarious musical sketches at lightning speed live in front of their audience. No two gigs are ever the same. Also headlining is Neil Delamere, one of the top acts working in the Irish comedy scene today, best known to audiences for his regular appearances on RTE’s The Panel and BBC’s The Blame Game. Abandoman and Neil are supported by Fred Cooke who has supported Ardal O’ Hanlon and played alongside Tommy Tiernan, Dara O Brian, Ross Noble & Jason Byrne. MC on the night is Willie White who got his start in comedy in 2005 on Des Bishop’s Irish TV programme ‘Joy in the Hood’. Doors open 7pm

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*NB* The stage is also open to up and coming musical comedy talent who will be voted through each month to the IMCAs (Irish Musical Comedy Awards) final in 2013. Prizes for the winner include €500 cash and a performance slot at the Musical Comedy Awards UK.
To apply, upload your video to www.facebook.com/IrishMusicalComedy.

The first ever Irish Musical Comedy club opens its doors for business this Thursday for the first time. A brave venture some might say? I sat down with Sharyn Hayden, the driving force behind the club to talk to her about club and musical comedy in general.

Hi Sharyn, so Fandora opens on Thursday. Are you excited?

Trillt!! It’s great to get back to gigging full-time – the first night coincides with Jacob’s 1^st birthday so it marks yet another chapter! I know I’ve gigged a little bit here and there but this feels more like ‘officially’ getting back to work! There’s also a new website that I’m going to plug even regardless of it being nothing to do with the question that you just asked: www.sharynhaydencomedy.com

Haha! That’s perfectly alright! Seems like a significant night with a lot to look forward to. Tell us the idea behind it?

The Irish Musical Comedy Awards had such a great response and great feedback this year that I felt I had to continue to support musical comedy. It’s my absolute love anyway, and to find that other performers out there feel the same way was, firstly, a surprise, and secondly, the catalyst for opening a club dedicated solely to the genre. I’m also a humongous exhibitionist, so I have to get on stage!

Sharyn! expect some surprises on the night!

So a meeting of minds you might say? You’re background is in Burlesque, can we expect some surprises on the night?

If you are not expecting to see a comedy host in her underwear, then yes, you will be surprised ;o)

Hmm I guess we shall be prepared then….You obviously think that Ireland has a big enough musical comedy scene….what would you say to people who disagree?

Shrugs shoulders

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Summer is a happy festival laden season with a variety of events to suit every taste popping up all around the country. Today the 2nd annual Kerry Comedy Festival kicks off with a Father Ted Night at 8.30pm in The Laurel’s Pub in Killarney. Joe Rooney, Patrick McDonnell and Paul Tylak will be headlining the Father Ted bill and Paddy Cullivan (Late Late Show Camenbert Quartet) and Ursula Burns (who you’ll remember as the Winner of the Irish Musical Comedy Awards 2012) adding support. Tickets are just €18 so you’d be mad not to drop in and check out such a stellar line-up!

Tomorrow, Saturday 30th, you should really get yourself to the Carlton Hotel in Tralee at 8.30pm where the amazing line-up includes John Colleary of The Savage Eye, Fred Cooke (Republic of Telly, The Savage Eye), Jarlath Regan as MC, and the lovely Carol Tobin and Shayrn Hayden representing the ladies!! With tickets once again only costing €18 it’s sure to be a great value evening of laughter and fun.

Finally the festival will close on Sunday July 1st in The Hillgrove Hotel Dingle with Colm O’Regan and his brilliant show Ireland’s Got Mammies. Tickets are just €12 and include support from the very entertaining Colum McDonnell.

Get your tickets now on www.entertainment.ie but be quick, with a line-up like that they’re bound to sell out fast!

Where: The Kingdom

When: Fri29th June – Sun1st July

Time: 8.30pm

Cost: from €12-€18

Thanks to the hard work of Sharyn Hayden, Wednesday 25th April 2012 will now go down in the history books, as the first ever Irish Music Comedy Awards! I was lucky enough to get to experience the night firsthand and it was a blast

When I heard the venue changed at the last-minute I did struggle to visualise how 4 Dame Lane would work for this event but, as soon as I walked in, I really liked the feel of the venue. It turns out they’ve far more space upstairs than my previous visit led me to believe and it was pretty well laid out to accommodate the crowd and comedians! The only thing that was really lacking was a back stage area, which meant the finalists were sitting among the punters until it was time to get on stage. I personally quite liked this, as it meant each of the contestants had an opportunity to get a proper feel for their audience and, of course, they also got a great view of their competition performing!

Sharyn Hayden and the Judges

The three judges (Marty Miller, Amanda Brunker, Paddy Cullivan) obviously got the best seats in the house, right beside the stage, but they were cleverly placed so they didn’t block the audience’s view of each act. They also didn’t comment, Britains Got Talent style, after each act which meant the night felt more like a comedy gig rather than a ‘typical’ awards ceremony. For me this gave the evening a sense of being about supporting all Irish musical comedy not about pitting comedians against each other or seeking out their weaknesses and I think that was a big positive of the event.

Our host for the evening was the charismatic Fred Cooke, who did an admirable job of keeping the audience on side when anything started to go slightly awry, and of course there were a few mishaps along the way, it was the first event of its kind afterall! Fred managed to deal with a few hiccups in his script and various delays while some of the acts set up very well. I think Fred was a good choice of host, he interacted well with the crowd and they had a lot of fun with his material, especially once he pulled out his guitar.  It certainly wasn’t the easiest crowd to keep on side, but Fred managed to end the night as he started, with his energy and enthusiasm remaining largely undampened, even in spite of some of the crowd getting pretty restless as we approached the final few acts.

The acts themselves got a mixed reaction from the crowd, but that was inevitable with 12 different contestants, a comedian MC and 2 guest performances, everyone was not going to enjoy them all! Each of the acts did manage to make me laugh in some way during their slot though and I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of musical comedy talent that made it to the final. In case you’ve forgotten who they all were, in order of performance on the night;

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