SOME 25,000 people travelled to Kilkenny for the Carlsberg Cat Laughs Comedy Festival this weekend and the consensus was that this year’s programme was one of the best ever.
Now in its 16th year, Cat Laughs is now firmly established on the international comedy festival calendar, and this year’s laugh-fest featured 47 comedians from all around the world.
Worth some €8 million to the local economy, Cat Laughs specialises in attracting tomorrow’s big comedy stars. One of the big highlights this year was the Kilkenny debut of the fast-rising US comic Moshe Kaser, who wowed audiences with his razor-sharp gay Jewish material.
Also making a big impression were the UK's Simon Amstell (known for his hosting duties on TV's Never Mind The Buzzcocks) and off-beat poet Tim Key (current holder of the Edinburgh Fringe comedy award), who brought a literary dimension to proceedings. Key is unlike any act you've ever seen: he presents a series of free verse offerings that manage to be as nuanced as they are downright hilarious.
Two big Irish names – Dara O’Briain and Des Bishop – both performed superb sets, and the soon-to-be-enormous young Scottish comic, Kevin Bridges, enthralled with his cutting observational style. Still just 23 – and thanks to some rapturously received TV appearances over the past few weeks – Bridges has gone from playing to a handful of people to selling out 9,000-seater venues in the UK. Tipped to be as big as Peter Kay or Michael McIntyre by the end of the year, Bridges won many new fans in Kilkenny, and has confirmed a headline show at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre this October.
As always, the annual Ireland vs Rest Of The World football match on the Sunday afternoon attracted a huge crowd, with the brave Irish team (all 12 of them it should be mentioned) overpowering the Rest Of The World in a narrow 3-2 win, thanks mainly to a virtuoso performance from veteran Barry “Cryuff” Murphy.
There aren’t that many football games where you can see a winger essaying a dribbling run while smoking a cigarette and clutching a can of beer.
With a new festival director at the helm, Australian Rebecca Austin, there was less of an emphasis on straight stand-up this year, with more theatrical style shows featuring heavily.
The big winners were the multi-talented US physical comedy duo, The Pyjama Men. A sort of contemporary vaudeville act, they combine mime, improv and vocal effects to present a complete murder mystery theatrical show without scenery, props or costume changes.
Most of the 70 shows over the five days were sell-outs, with punters travelling from the UK and the US to take in this uniquely laid-back and stress-free festival. The great appeal for performers is that unlike almost all such comedy fests, there is no competition/award dimension, and TV cameras don’t get in.
For bigger acts this means a welcome chance to try out new material and sand down all the rough edges before heading on to the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal next month, and on to the Edinburgh festival in August.
By tinkering with its format only when necessary and keeping the festival as a fun long weekend as opposed to the trade shows of Montreal and Edinburgh, Cat Laughs keeps both performers and audiences laughing.
The festival continues today, with the final two shows at 7pm and 11.15pm. All ticket details are at carlsbergcatlaughs.com