The World Cup matches couldn't haven't been better timed for some 30,000 people who descended on Kilkenny over the bank holiday weekend for the annual Murphy's Cat Laughs Comedy Festival - even if it meant soccer/comedy fans got only a few hours' sleep a night as they valiantly tried to keep on top of both events.
Now in its eighth year, this "Wit Weekend" boasted full-house signs and a Mardi Gras atmosphere as people bounced between television screens and comedy shows.
Ireland's match against Cameroon on Saturday morning saw a number of hardy souls do a round-the-clock watch, fuelled by the festival sponsor's products, and the hundreds who gathered in the city's Ormonde Hotel for the early kick-off were treated to a live commentary from one-third of the "Apres Match" team in the shape of Barry Murphy's alter ego Gunter Grun. The hungover masses were later refreshed in the Watergate Theatre where acclaimed British comic Bill Bailey (star of TV's Black Books), kept up the party momentum with a rollicking good set.
Irish comics Ed Byrne, Dara O'Briain and Deirdre O'Kane all had a great 90 minutes but the main draw of the festival was D'Unbelievable solo star Pat Shortt (aka Maurice Hickey) whose series of shows sold out in record time and even prompted an outbreak of ticket touting. Elsewhere rising English comic Daniel Kitson showed why he is the new comedy name to watch, while the exceedingly odd US act Emo Philips had them busting a gut.
If the football and comedy weren't enough, there was also a cartoonists' festival featuring work by Dave "Speedbump" Coverly, Gilbert "Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" Shelton and Dylan Moran. A series of short Irish comedy films including Guy's Dog and Fade To Grey proved popular, but the real success of this year's festival was the addition of a mini-comedy literature festival. There were big crowds for Pete McCarthy (author of bestseller McCarthy's Bar) and the hugely talented US writer David Sedaris. The writer of the sitcom Cheers, Rob Long, was also in attendance as was Sunday Times columnist India Knight.
With the ever popular festival club in full swing until the early hours, there were a lot of heroic 18-hour days put in. Which probably explains why the local shop was sold out of both Red Bull and paracetamol.
