Posts Tagged ‘The Guilty Folk’

Because The Guilty Folk are launching their debut EP ‘Charm Offensive’ online today!

Described in their own words as

charming, possibly offensive, and we had a ball making it with some very special guys. We hope you enjoy it.

Based on our experiences of The Guilty Folk we’re CERTAIN you’ll enjoy it! Want to try before you buy? Well here’s a little preview for you…

Here’s a preview of the “Charm Offensive” EP. Available on Bandcamp website on Monday for €5 http://soundcloud.com/aidancomerford/the-guilty-folk-ep-preview

Ooh, better yet here’s a sing-a-long version of AWLF, sing up!!

Find more from The Guilty Folk on facebook, twitter and YouTube.

I’m sure you are all aware now of the phenomenon that is “Singlehood”.  Starting in Dún Laoghaire’s Pavilion Theatre last October as a 20 minute vignette, Una McKevitt’s show has gone from strength-to-strength and it doesn’t seem likely to stop judging by the packed theatre tonight.

Singlehood revolves around the retelling of those familiar stories of loneliness, longing and relationship breakdown.

Accompanying the ensemble cast are The Guilty Folk, a delightfully humorous acoustic group who do a line in racy lyrics!

The appeal of Singlehood is the fact that we have all been there. Though the age of a lot of the interviewees who contributed to the stories was telling, with its internet- and Facebook-centric view of relationships.

Material for the show was compiled from interviews and the cast do an able job of bringing out the humour from the script.

The presence of the Guilty Folk was the undoubted highlight of the show.

The rendition of the song “AWLF (Audience We’d Like To Fuck)” was genuinely the funniest moment of the show and as a result everything thereafter felt flat especially as sometimes the cast allowed themselves to overact their scenes. This made it difficult to have any empathy with what are familiar stories and left me cringing in some parts.

There were some very funny and charming stories in here though, however I felt that were was considerable repetition in the nature of a lot of the stories which I’m sure comes from the fact that it is an hour-long show. I had a feeling of relief rather than of contentment hit me when the final notes of The Guilty Folks’ cover version of Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” rang from Sarah Williams’ ukelele.

There is ample material out there to develop this show into something much more substantial. As it stands it feels like someone I won’t call again. A shame, because I thought we would have gotten on fine.

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;

Read the rest of this entry »

Just browsing through my photos (and memory) of last night and realised it was pretty educational really! So, in not particular order, here’s a few things I seem to have learned amid my giggles…..

• The harp does NOT rock! (Ursula Burns)
• You will never recover from seeing your parents having sex! (Floozy & Bluesy)
• Sharyn Hayden looks like a Special K ad. lady (Fred you charmer!)
• Marty Miller isn’t from FM104 (lol!)
• Fred Cooke does a pretty mean ‘Thriller’ dance
•  ”Dublin is the centre of the Universe” (Nostril Shorts)
•  The Guilty Folk found us very attractive (AWLTF)
• Even a Massey Ferguson doesn’t guarantee you a ride at the disco (Johnny Graham)
• If in doubt always wear your tightest trousers (Really Tight Pants)
• The ‘Where’s Wally’ franchise have branched out to include the less academically able readers (Trevor Browne)
• Paddy Cullivan is not a big fan of boybands
• The InQuizition are ‘rimprov’ masters!
• Awkward moments make for very funny song lyrics (Steve Bennet)
• “Abalone are a type of mollusc” (Marcus O’Laoire)
• “You can be a gangster but still have manners!” (Brendogg & Bolsak)
• I’m missing an “essential fashion item” :O (Totally Wired)
• Amanda Brunker isn’t afraid to take on her haters
• The Rubberbandits are far more entertaining  in the flesh than on the telly!
• I need to get my hands on a better camera! Inspite of that final fact I’ve included a few of myshots that made me giggle, I’m sure we’ll have better ones up soon thanks to the wonderful Sharyn
  

  time to get back to your rap roots lads!

who needs a mic stand?

nostril shorts indeed!

Stevie Wonder's guest appearance!

'gay best friend'

So the finalists for the IMCA’s have been announced. Here are the 12 (there was originally supposed to be only 10 but there are so many very talented musical comedians out there that we had to bump that number up to 12!) Here they are in alphabetical order in all their glory! Enjoy! To see them battle it out for the top prize, head along to the Laughter Lounge on April 25th!

Brendogg & Bolsak

Floozy and Bluesy

Johnny Graham

Marcus O’laoire Read the rest of this entry »