Lynn Cahill, producer, Smithwick's Cat Laughs Comedy Festival
In 1994 Lynn Cahill was running a theatre company in Kilkenny with Richard Cook and was, by her own admission, "fed up being broke". "We were in the back of Cleere's pub, talking about how perfect Kilkenny would be for a festival. I wanted a choral festival but Richard kept saying comedy is where it's at. He was right. I don't think the Cat Sings festival would have the same ring to it."
Running the Cat Laughs is a full-time job, but Cahill is often asked what she does for the rest of the year. "People don't realise the work involved," she says. "There are more than 70 comedians involved and 30,000 people coming to see them. We have to see every comedian perform, so we do a lot of travel to festivals such as Montreal and Edinburgh. I know that sounds great, but we are seeing 80 comedians in a week - by the end of it, nothing makes me laugh. I sit there stone-faced."
She describes the logistics of bringing in the comedians as "like herding cats with a ladder".
"The week itself is a white-knuckle ride. We have comedians flying in to Waterford, Cork, Shannon and Dublin, and have to get them all here. Once the event starts, it's about looking after sponsors. Ray D'Arcy does a show from Langtons on Saturday morning and on Sunday we have our soccer match, where the Irish comedians take on the rest of the world. It's such a laugh - they all think they're Pelé. It's a tradition for me to spend Sunday evening in casualty looking for crutches."
Kilkenny is not the only comedy festival in Ireland, but Cahill believes it still has an edge. "It's genuinely different. The comedians love coming. I don't think it is as stressful for them as the major festivals abroad."
The comedians aren't the only ones who seem chilled out. "We've done this 13 times now, so I think if I was still getting stressed I'd want to be looking for a career change. I get stressed about cooking dinner for friends, but I don't stress out about producing the festival."
In conversation with Michael Kelly.
Smithwick's Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, Kilkenny, May 31st to June 4th. www.thecatlaughs.com