In the week in which an Irish waitress received an MBE for her services to British tourism, English comedian Paul Merton was in Dublin doing his bit for Irish comedy. On Monday night, Paul was in Pravda (the new pub on Liffey Street built around the theme of a permanent queue at the front door) for a reception to announce details of the fourth Murphy's Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, which takes place in Kilkenny from May 28th to June 1st.
Paul's three gigs at this year's festival will, believe it or not, be his first stand-up performances since 1989. Had this prospect made him nervous, one wondered? Not until journalists had started asking him that question, he replied.
According to the festival director, Richard Cook, Cat Laughs now has such momentum that there is no problem generating hype. Richard's wife, actress Pauline McLynn (aka Mrs Doyle from Father Ted), was there to lend a hand. The last episode of the final series of the cult show was due to go out last night, and included cameo appearances from journalist Liam Mackey and comedian Mark Doherty, both of who were in Pravda on Monday. Mark and fellow comedian Barry Murphy are currently conspiring to create a new sitcom/sketch show for RTE titled Stuck.
Former Scrap Saturday co-creator, and more recently film-maker, Gerry Stembridge, was also there. Two of his scripts are due to become movies this year: Ordinary Decent Criminal, about Martin Cahill, to be directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan, and another, under the working title All About Adam, he is directing himself.
This year sees even more extensive US involvement than usual - a large proportion of the acts are from the US - once again, Richard's festival co-director is American comedian Michael McCarthy, who took time off from his regular show at the Irish Times pub in Los Angeles to be at Monday's party.
Richard Cook says he is having a tough time finding novelty angles for the festival, but this year does see a rather unusual element - a venue named after a performer. Yes, US comedian Rich Hall, who quipped at the 1994 festival that punters were confusing him with a venue, will this year find them more confused than ever. Others helping to cajole the giant Cat into its fourth successful year were Murphy's brand manager Ann O'Leary, comedians Brendan Dempsey and Barry Glendenning.