The State of the Press Part 3

There’s been a lot of kerfuffle recently about previously free, soon to be free and not free at all magazines published here in Ireland. In the course of these debates a number of names seem to appear time and again. We tend to forget that most magazines have a limited shelf life. This point was recently driven home after reading an obituary of one of Britain’s foremost magazine publishers of the last thirty years, Jack Hutton. Jack Hutton was the editor of Melody Maker but he also introduced a number of other music publications to generations of music lovers. These included Sounds and Kerrang. As is normally the case with most thing I ramble on about, I have a pretty tenuous link with Jack Hutton in that I know his daughter Mandy. It was Mandy who inspired her father to begin publication of Popswap, a magazine that went on to achieve regular circulation of 650,000 teenage readers. In some ways I like to draw parallels between Mandy and myself. By this I mean that I have inspired myself to publish a blog that goes on to achieve readership figures in the tens and sometimes even the twenties.

Closer to home, and closer to the original topic, there recently came the decision from State magazine to make the move from charging for their wares to providing them for free. As such I’ve decided to do a quick scoot over a number of publications that are available free to the Irish public. Given that I’m based in Dublin a few of these publications are only available in the city or surrounding areas. Others are available online or by post. Some of them are relatively new to the world whilst some are old chestnuts (very seasonal choice of words there). Let’s run the rule over them.

Tax Briefing – Issue 69 – September 2008

Published by the Revenue Commissioners I failed to find one interview with Times New Viking or even a mention of the new Fujiya & Miyagi album. How they expect to challenge the might of Hotpress with this offering beggars belief. It does however cater for music lovers who purchase online by giving us the Average Market Mid-Closing Exchange Rates v. Euro as Supplied by The Central Bank. This is useful in determining exactly how much you paid for that reggae 12 inch ordered on E-Bay from some bloke in Norway.

See for yourself: Tax Briefing – Issue 69 – September 2008

Connected – Issue 39 – September 2008

This little blighter has been available around the place for more years than I care to remember. It’s short, succinct and covers a glut of musical angles. A5, with a laminate cover it means that it’s not much use for an emergency dump. In fact all it does is spread it around rather than help wipe any off. But that’s another story altogether. From a musical perspective it hits many right notes with the public. Highlights in this particular issue are an interview with Roots Manuva, a short eulogy for the soon to be defunct Electric City and an interview with Jon Averill.

See for yourself: Connected Magazine

The Irish Comedy Review – Issue 1 – Autumn 2008

I chanced upon this first issue on a stroll about town today and it is in fact the inspiration for this post. I’m not convinced about this comedy thing. As regular readers will know, I’m a fan of comedy. The publication's cover star is Jarlath Regan and this fails to inspire confidence. I’ve seen this chap a few times recently and he’s not that funny. The old adage does state that I should never judge a book (or magazine) by its cover. It’s not any better when I read the editorial inside. The accompanying picture of the editor looks like a Photoshop effort. The hair doesn’t look like it belongs to him. Maybe it’s a comedy hairpiece. That said I keep reading and find an interesting interview with one of Ireland's least known but great comedic talents, Mark Doherty. The rest of the content is not all that bad for a first effort. Aside from this I’m intrigued as to how a magazine running to 46 A4 pages can afford to be published when there are only three pages of advertisements in it. It appears that basic economics do not apply to comedy magazines. Now that's a laugh.

See for yourself: (Launching October 1st at www.irishcomedyreview.ie)

Dublin City News – Issue 3 (Central Area) – August 2008

This is kind of out of date at this stage but lets have a quick run through it anyway. To give an idea of the breadth of this magazine, it treats issues such as water conservation, highlights of the Phoenix Park, urban garden design and European Neighbours Day. I’d never heard of any of these bands before and the reviews of them are very hard to fathom. I gave up pretty quickly on this one.

See for yourself: Dublin City News – Issue 3

Analogue – Issue 5 – September 2008

I’ve been casting my beady eye over this publication since its inception. I liked the ad-hoc nature of the first edition where there was only minor emphasis on publishing conventionalities such as design, typesetting and that sort of thing. They’ve upped their game over since then but its still essentially a student publication. We all know that students have notions of themselves and that can sometimes manifest itself in the most surprising ways. I find Analogue surprising because although there are a couple of archetypal student contributors, the majority of it is really good. The article on the Irish heavy metal underground and the pages on artists featuring at the Electric Picnic appealed. I wasn’t so keen on the Album Swap feature. My reason for this is based on personal experience. I’ve been asked before to list a top 5 favourite tunes/albums and explain my rationale for picking it. Unfortunately no matter how earnest your rationale is, you always end up sounding like a bit of a sap. The article served to remind me how stupid I've sounded myself. On a more positive ending, Analogue has tidied up its initial ramshackle look and looks none the worse for it. They’ve also engaged in some artistic patronage by getting some bloke called Scalder to do some illustration. Well done.

See for yourself: Analogue Issue 5

music, comedy and other pursuits

Myself and my two eldest boys decided that we’d check out ‘Show & Prove’, a breakdance showcase that took place in the Spiegeltent yesterday afternoon. I’ve had a keen interest in break dancing since my childhood days in the Dublin suburbs. The first two albums that I ever bought were both breakdance albums. Unfortunately all my enthusiasm never transferred to the art of breaking. I could manage the odd pop, a half decent moonwalk and some poor backspins. Myself and the kids have spent hours on YouTube checking out various b-boys strut their stuff. Nothing compares to the real thing though. Thanks to Paddy from the Choice Cuts Crew for sorting me and the kids out. We had a rare old time of it. The breakdancers hailed from all around Europe by the looks of them. I don’t know any of their names but a lot of them were shit hot. There were a couple of ropier dudes, including one skinny Spaniard., that I could have beaten in a battle. Fortunately I preserved my modesty and just stuck to watching. Sounds on the day were provided by Paddy and Mat. Big up. As I mentioned previously, the Choice Cuts gang have a few gigs in The Spiegeltent as part of the Fringe Festival. Tonight sees rap legends The Sugarhill Gang take to the stage. You can also catch the Trojan Sound System and The Dynamics next Friday evening. That’s one not to be missed.

We met up with the rest of the family and decided to check out the in-store appearance by Lisa Hannigan in Tower Records. I’m so glad that we did. Since I bought the album the other day its been on full time in the gaff. It’s very well produced and in some ways it reminds me of the ‘Hour of the Bewilderbeest’ by Badly Drawn Boy and some old Mary Margaret O Hara stuff. By that I mean the production reminds me of it, not the music. Anyhow, the missus and the kids squashed up to get a good view of the performance and they weren’t disappointed. There’s something alluring about Lisa Hannigan and her music. Herself and her band seemed at ease with each other and the audience. They were brilliant. I, however, was carrying a heavy child and sweating profusely. I could only stay for four and a half tunes before I had to get out for some air. The kids were snapping that I made them leave, they loved it. The new album ‘Sea Sew’ is out in all record stores. You can catch Lisa on her current tour of Ireland, she’ll be playing The Button Factory this coming Friday and will be in Whelans on the 20th for an afternoon and evening show.

Right, I’m not hanging around. I’m off to see Jimmy Carr in the Olympia tonight. The last time I saw him he had his book of jokes open in front of him and just read the whole lot out. I also tried out a joke on him in the lift. Let’s hope we get on better tonight.

not one, not two, but three. yes, three things of note!

Tomorrow sees the official release of the new album 'Ritual' by Jape. Now before I get into the music I'll disclose that I think Richie Egan is a top bloke. Not only is he a top bloke but he's got a good buzz about himself and all things related to his music. One of the tunes, 'I was a man' has been getting a decent bit of airplay on the likes of Phantom FM. However there are some other real gems on this album that runs to just over 40 minutes. The album cover is another job by M&E and I should also point out that Mattie from M&E is another top bloke. Mattie and his good lady Emelie made the last video for Richie, the one where he's pelted with fruit. They've got a great buzz going on too. They've been at it again and they've made a video for 'Graveyard' another of the tunes from the new album. They play the song live in what appears to be Mount Jerome cemetery (you can see the chimney for the cremations behind them). Anyhow I've listened to the album once this evening and my favourite so far is number 6. It's playing in another room so I couldn't be arsed getting up to look at the CD cover. Rock on Richie Jape and to the staff member of the record store that sold it to me before he was supposed to. Stick it to the man and all that! It's out tomorrow. Buy it.

As if one new album by an Irish artist wasn't enough to fill a post, I just recently received an e-mail from my old pals Rollers/Sparkers. These chaps released the 'Geography for the Leaving' album in 2004 and have just gotten around to following it up with their new album entitled 'Hames'. Once again I'll declare an interest. These boys are also some of the nicest chaps you'll come across and along with their bookish looks and rapier wit they also manage to create some great sounds. I've been lucky enough to see them twice. I'm also lucky enough to regularly meet one of the band members cycling down Capel St in the morning. Cycling two abreast can be quite a thrill. His cycling wets leave a lot to be desired though, he tends to opt for those garish yellow jackets.

*EDIT: It appears that they have had an intervening album and that Geography for the Leaving was actually an EP. Ooops.

Anyhow, their album release is coming up on Friday 27th June on Lazybird Records. The launch gig will be in the Boom Boom Room, which is now located downstairs in Murray's of O'Connell Street. They'd love it if you came down, immersed yourselves in the gently undulating soundwash and bought their new CD. As if that wasn't enough of an attraction the support act will be Dara O'Brien in a tabla and sitar duo that will question everything you've ever held dear about the Occident. They'll also have Neil Donovan (whose Dad I used to work with and who incidentally is another top human being, his Dad that is, although Neil's very nice too) and Paul Watts spinning some tunes. Sound!

And finally, I bumped into the best hugger that the southside of Dublin has produced. He is the multi-talented musician, clown and generally good vibes guy Bryan Quinn. Some of you might know him from his trumpet playing, others might have seen his clowning and acting efforts with either of the Doherty brothers, David or Mark. As it happens BQ is directing a childrens play that's on in the Project Arts Centre over the next couple of days. Its stars David O'Doherty and Maeve Higgins and is called 'I can't sleep'. I told BQ I wouldn't make it but then I promised the kids that I'd bring them.

Here's Jape singing in a graveyard with Mattie:

JAPE 'Graveyard' : Live from the grave
Uploaded by MatthewANDemelie

he who laughs last, missed the punchline

Myself and the missus took a short sojourn away from the children to go and laugh at funny people down in Kilkenny. It was Cat Laughs time again and for the third year in a row we managed to get down for it. We only went down for the Sunday this year and there were a few sad faces around the town from the prior nights comedy and associated activities. The first vision that greeted me on arrival at the hotel was a very hungover looking Bren Berry. He was clutching some football gear and allegedly going to play a game of football. Most people won't know who Bren Berry is, so i'll tell you. He's not a comedian but is the ex-guitarist with the band Revelino. These days he's managing the Vicar St venue so he's probably all pally with the comedic fraternity. Most people won't remember Revelino but suffice to say they were a moderately successful Dublin band in the mid-nineties. Couldn't tell you what they're up to now.

As it turns out Bren was heading to the annual Ireland vs Rest of the World soccer match. I popped up to it myself to check out lots of fat tubby Irish comics play a bunch of other comics, most of whom looked like they'd never played soccer before. The one notable exception was British comic, Russell Howard who looks like he plays a bit of Sunday league football. Anyway the match wasn't that good. I think Ireland won.

We had three shows to go to and the first one had four comics on the bill. Doing the Mc stuff for the first gig was Neil Delamere. First up was a Canadian, Tim Nutt, who managed to do a fairly decent routine in the sweaty venue. Second up was the UK comedienne, Josie Long, who I thought was pretty good. A lot of her jokes seemed to go over the heads of most of the audience. I imagine that it would be better to go and see her in a smaller venue where the intimacy would suit her madness. Here she is banging on about her five favourite books on YouTube. The last comedian was the afore-mentioned Russell Howard who it turns out is not only good at football but he's pretty funny too. You might have seen him on that Mock the Week programme cos I've just remembered that that's where I've seen him before.

Next show up was compered by Kildare comedian, Jarlath Regan, who has some show coming out on TV3 soon. It's going to be interesting to see what sort of comedic output comes from over by the Naas Road. Jarlath appears to be a nice enough chap and coped well with the beered-up culchie mad fuckers who were sitiing in the front row . The first up this time was a young Australian bloke called Josh Thomas who mostly banged on about his fucked up family and childhood and his gay brother. At times he made me laugh but at other times he just seemed to be a bit ragged and losing his train of thought. Here he is about a year ago performing four minutes of the routine that I saw yesterday. Next up was an English bloke called Robin Ince who was fairly highbrow for the lads in the front row. Here he is doing some material from two years ago that he also did yesterday. I'm quickly finding out that I shouldn't watch the Paramount Comedy Channel as it means I've inevitably seen most of their show before I see them live. Last on the bill was Navan madman Tommy Tiernan. I usually think he's shite but he was all a tizzy about some news headline that had appeared in some tabloid paper. It turns out that the day before he'd made some reference about Madeleine McCann and some aul biddy got upset and rang Joe Duffy. He told the same joke again and to be honest it was all a bit of a storm in a teacup. Tommy Tiernan, best summed up as a bit of a mad fucker who can be funny sometimes.

Last gig featured a slimmed down bill of three comedians. MC bloke was Karl Spain who sweated on me and spat at me a couple of times. I'd arrived late and had to sit at the front beside some mad South African girl who kept commenting on the jokes for the entire gig. She was a fucking pain in the hole. First up was US comedian, Reginald D Hunter, who was pretty good. I'd seen him last year and enjoyed him more back then. Here he is doing his thing. The other comedian was bloke from the UK called Lee Mack. I've seen him a couple of times on the tellybox but he was pretty funny in real life. Here he is doing a Live at The Apollo gig last December.

The festival club last night was exactly the same as last year and the year before. The same dodgy band played and invited a few comedians to showcase their musical talents. Des Bishop did his Jump Around party piece but much more interesting was Rich Hall singing the same verse of Fulsom Prison Blues over and over again. I'd seen enough.

reggae reggae to the maximum

A week is a long time in politics. In the world of blogging it must be a fortnight. In my world its just seven days. Which brings me nicely to the purchases over the last seven days. As the post's title suggests there may be some reggae involved.

I'd like to herald the arrival of a new seven inch from All City Records that has just hit the shelves. It's a new tune by T-Woc called 'Warning' and it features Brother Culture on vocals. It's a proper stepper and there's a great dub version excursion on the flip. Check it out.

I ventured down the back of Tower Records ground floor the other day and a Trojan seven inch box-set was staring me in the eye. It's the 'Haunted House' Skinhead Sevens selection and it features some real skinhead reggae gems on it by the likes of The Upsetters, The Cimarons and The Black Diamonds. It has eight seven inches in the box-set and a great picture on the cover. See above.

I dropped into Oxfam today and came across the third Bstrd Boots seven inch release for one euro. It's the Drums of Death remix of two Roots Manuva tunes, 'Witness' and 'Join the Dots'. I'm really liking it. This means I now have about 8 different remixes of 'Witness'. That could be a future podcast.

I also picked up some other prize gems in the same shop. Three twelve inches from the early nineties. The first is a Sabres of Paradise release that was released to raise awareness in the UK about the Criminal Justice Bill. Its the 'Repetitive Beats' EP and features tunes by Primal Scream and On U Sound. The second record was the seventh release on the Philly Blunt label, an off-shoot of Roni Size's V Recordings. It's called Bass-Switch and its by Firefox and Glamour Gold, who are better known as Roni Size and DJ Krust. It's not a patch on the earlier Philly Blunt releases but it still holds its own considering an awful lot of shite jungle was being released around this time (1996). The final tune from Oxfam is an old Shut Up and Dance release from 1992 by IC3. It was simply called The EP and featured MC Duke. Duke later produced for the jungle label Suburban Base. The tunes on the e.p. veer towards the rap sound that SUAD were into at the time. It still sounds deadly.

Keeping with Shut Up and Dance, I popped into the new premises that Beatfinder are occupying and I think I made the first purchases in the new premises. The first was another SUAD record by PJ and Smiley called The Art of Moving Butts. The second was a Hal Roach comedy album recorded live at Jurys Cabaret. I can't wait to mix those up.

good evening. this is the JBC

ding dong

I was posting about a new 'comedy' series on Irish TV over at Clamnuts the other day. As a result I was reminded that there has been some funny stuff made for Irish TV over the years. One of them was 'Paths to Freedom' but I can't find any clips that feature Rats. I did find some clips for Ding Dong Denny O'Reilly that had been shown on RTE Two and a mate, The Knuckler, features as the fiddle playing Napper Tandy Jr but the real star is Paul Woodfull playing Ding Dong. Besides this I can't find any funny comedy that's been shown recently on Irish TV. I did find this old clip from Spike Milligan that harks back to an Ireland of old but it would have appeared on the BBC many years ago. It was obviously before everyone became politically correct.

laugh, I nearly wet myself

Every Soupy Norman episode

Courtesy of the hard working 'National Disgrace', here's all the episodes of Soupy Norman that he took the time to upload to YouTube. Fair play to him, I don't know where he gets the time.

he who laughs last.....

I'm fresh back from the Smithwicks Cat Laughs Comedy Festival in Kilkenny. I could only stay for Friday and Saturday night this year but it was as eventful as ever. This year I decided to steer clear of telling my crap jokes to comedians as it didn't seem to go down too well last time around. The peculiar thing about Kilkenny is that over the course of a couple of days you see so much comedy that you really start to think that you can do it yourself. This is of course delusional because i've found out that more than a few of the comedy pros find it hard to make people laugh. In fact some comedians, as I've found out, are not at all funny. here's a whirlwind review of my festival:

Friday night: Pre-comedy preparation involved drinking a fair whack of alcohol. This should have set me up for the Tommy Tiernan gig in the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel or so you'd think. I wasn't sure what to expect from our friend from Navan and it appears that he wasn't sure what he was going to say for most of the gig. He started out all guns blazing and burnt out after twenty minutes. There were long drawn out gaps where he would just waffle on about all manner of shite and the only laughter to be heard was the nervous variety (that laughter where someone is laughing even though nothing funny is happening). After forty minutes I couldn't wait for the gig to end, it was becoming excrutiating. Tommy informed all and sundry that he has given up drink, smokes, sex and several other vices. It appears that he has given up comedy also.

Later Friday Night: Down to Langtons for a multiple billing of comedians. Langtons must be the worst comedy venue ever. It has a marble floor that echoes every chair moving, bottle-falling etc. It's as hot as fucking Hades also and there appears to be no air-conditioning in the venue. Dom Irrera is the MC for the other acts. He's a bad-a-bing New York comedian who I've seen a few times but he tends to use the same jokes year in year out. He's a regular at the festival and at this stage he's more Goodfellas pizza than Sopranos but I'm not sure that the venue, heat and drunk crowd suited his act. Ah well, he carried on regardless and introduced Joe Rooney.

Joe is an Irish comedian who has been around the block on a few occasions. He's starred as Fr. Damo in the Father Ted series and was also part of the original Ding Dong Denny O Reilly and The Hairy Bowsies. It appears that he's not been doing as much comedy in recent years (he's concentrating on doing jingles and voiceovers) but he's still a good laugh. He seemed to go down pretty well with the crowd. Next up was Des Bishop who in my view is more of a social commentator than comedian. However what the fuck do I know as he appears to be well loved by most of the festival goers. I must have seen him have his picture taken with a cameraphone wielding, cackling culchie cáilín about 200 times over the weekend. He seems to revel in the attention. Last on the bill was Australian comic Steve Hughes. This guy is great. Although I'd seen most of his show before it was still funny second time around. He was clever in his delivery and insightful in his comedy content. He was definitely the highlight of this particular show.

Later on Friday Night/Early on Saturday morning: I was up until about 4am, drinking and talking shite to anyone who'd listen. Thankfully Barry Murphy of Soupy Norman fame was willing to lend an ear as we were smoking outside. I complimented him on the Soupy Norman show on RTE and he seemed pleased with the plaudits. However in a very un-comedian like manner he was bigging up his co-writer Mark Doherty instead of accepting all the glory. I've always liked this guy but this single show of self-deprecation sees him shoot upwards in my estimation. Humility is something sorely lacking amongst most comedians but Mr Murphy is a gent.

Saturday morning: Up and out to Langtons for the OB Ray D'arcy show on Today FM. All the comedians are being interviewed and there's a lot of sore looking heads, my own included. Andrew Maxwell runs in panting and well shook, sits beside me and asks who's in charge of things. I tell him I haven't a clue so he goes off to find someone important. He doesn't get interviewed. He need not have bothered getting up so early.

Saturday evening: First up is a another revue gig with the following: The host is Dara O Briain and the others on show are Reginald D. Hunter, Shappi Khorsandi and John Bishop. John Bishop has featured on The Panel where his knowledge of the Irish political scene has been shown to be sorely lacking. However when he is doing his own thing he is very good. His Liverpudlian cheeky chappy delivery make for a good show and I've seen him three times now and he has rarely repeated the same joke. This is a highly uncommon attribute for a gigging comedian. Next up was a six-month pregnant Shappi who delighted the audience over the course of her 20/25 minute show. Female comedians are as rare as hen's teeth in Kilkenny but this lady put on a very good show and endeared herself to the audience almost immediately. Big up. Girl Power and all that. The final comic on the bill was Reginald D Hunter from the US. He was excellent. Funny, sharp, original and a bit of a buzzer. The whole thing was held together by the slick, professional and funny Dara O Briain. I'm becoming a big fan of Mr O Briain. As with Barry Murphy he doesn't seem to have the hang-ups and ill-temper that seems a prerequisite for a career in comedy.

Later on Saturday: There's a bit of a gap between the last gig and this but we still make our way up to The Village Inn to check out a one-man show by Andrew Maxwell. It's his first at this festival. We arrive early but The Village Inn would not be the nicest of pubs. We spot Delaneys Bar and Grocer across the street and head in there for a couple of scoops. It's an oldschool Irish pub and stocks pint-bottles of Smithwicks, Cidona, Guinness and Bulmers. Pint bottle heaven. We get chatting to Seamus, the landlord, and he tells us that he has a bit of room out the back that would be perfect for a comedy gig. He also tells us that the orgainsers have never even come looking to use it. It's a pity because its nicer and more welcoming than some of the kips that have shows on in them. Seamus and his wife are top people with a top boozer. Check it out next time you're in Kilkenny. We head across to Andrew Maxwell who does a brilliant gig. In essence the gig was really three long stories but it was still my favourite of the weekend. There was an enormous amount of goodwill from the crowd and Pauline McLynn and her 71 year old mother seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Apparently Paulines husband Richard has played a part in organising the festival since its inception. To my untrained eye he looks like a less muscly version of the singer in Right Said Fred. I'm not sure if that's a good thing though.

We race Pauline and her mother to see David O'Doherty in Cleeres. They immediately have the upper hand by having a taxi waiting outside the gig and make it there a long time before us. It's standing room only when we get there, mainly due to the fact that the place only holds about 50 people. O'Doherty is polished in his delivery and his songs are pretty good but I've now seen this same show three times in the last twelve months. This, coupled along with the fact that someone was dropping some of the smelliest farts ever meant that I didn't really enjoy the gig. My missus, whose shoes were killing her at this stage would not walk back to the hotel in the torrential rain. She was mean and single-minded and made sure that she got the taxi ahead of Pauline McLynns mother this time around. Sorry about that Mrs McLynn.

I had to come back on Sunday to get to the Dublin v Meath match in Croke Park. Driving home from Kilkenny in the rain was a nightmare but I got home in the end. Dublin v Meath was a draw. As with the Tommy Tiernan gig, the longer it went on the more excrutiating it became to watch. Meath brought on a chap who looked like he'd been surviving on a diet of Smithwicks and McDonalds Happy Meals for the last few months and he managed to rescue a draw for Meath. With such performance enhacing qualities Tommy Tiernan might want to start the same diet.

no laughing matter

I chanced upon Soupy Norman on RTE television last Thursday evening. It's written by Barry Murphy (Apres Match) and actor, clown and comedian Mark Doherty. It takes a popular Polish soap opera, edits the pictures and then overdubs it with Cork accents. It sounds a bit weird and if the truth be told it is. However this is not the first incarnation of Soupy Norman. Murphy and Doherty were previously put to work by Armando Iannuci for his 'Time Trumpet' series. In the original clip above the Cork accents aren't used but i think you'll get a good feel for 'Soupy Norman'. It should also help if you're slightly intoxicated when watching it, then it makes perfect sense.

On a related topic, Mark Doherty, is of course the brother of David O Doherty ( he must have picked the name O for his confirmation). There's a new comedy show on RTE2 on tuesdays at 10.45pm featuring David and it's called 'The Modest adventures of David O Doherty'. David and lots of other comedians will be in Kilkenny this coming weekend for the Cat Laughs festival. The comedian that I really want to see is a chap called Michael Redmond. He's Irish but he plies his trade in the UK. His most famous televisual appearance must be as Father Stone in the Irish comedy 'Father Ted'. Here he is in all his glory.

fork handles

I was wandering about the house this evening and I started laughing to myself. One of my earliest comedic childhood memories is the 'Fork Handles' sketch by the Two Ronnies and for some reason I thought of it tonight. Thanks to the magic of youtube I can share it with you all. Judging by the year on the clip I must have seen a repeat in later years. It's still great.

it's a serious business

I bought the 7" of 'Thou Shalt Always Kill' by Dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip a few days ago. It's a simple enough synth riff and drum machine with some banter over it. It's going to sound pretty funny when I play it in a few years time. It's more of a commentary than a song but it's still pretty good. It will serve as a snapshot of 2007 for posterity. The video is at the bottom of the post.

I also picked up a 7" by Dublin based prog rock outfit Twinkranes the other day. It's called 'Plateau' and you can listen to it or check out the video on their myspace. They're a good bunch of buzzers and they've made a few of their tunes available for download. Well done the Twinkranes. I must admit that I'm not overly au fait with the Dublin rock scene at the moment. I must try harder to check out a few more bands over the coming months.

I've a jolly old blag lined up for the June Bank Holiday weekend. I'm heading off to the Smithwicks Cat Laughs comedy festival in Kilkenny. Their website hasn't been updated yet so I'm not sure who I'll be going to see. I went to it last year and saw around 25 acts over two days. It was the best and only comedy festival I've ever been to. The place was bathed in sunshine for the few days we were there and i'll be hoping for similar clement weather this year. You can't move in the place without bumping into comedians. They say you should never meet your heroes and thankfully I didn't, as Bill Hicks died a few years ago. He wouldn't be in great shape. However I did attempt to crack a joke to Jimmy Carr in a lift and he gave me a death stare. He also had a bit of a sweaty head on him! I met Kevin Gildea in the chip shop and he was pretty surly too. It's true what they say you know! Comedy is a serious business!

that's another fine mess

I chanced upon a 'Laurel & Hardy' album in a record store yesterday. It was of particular interest as i always wanted a copy of their 'Trail of the Lonesome Pine' song.

Laurel & Hardy remind me of wet afternoons back in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Their movies always featured on the Monday Matinee on TV. If it wasn't them featuring it was Buster Keaton, Abbott & Costello or some of the British comedians such as Alastair Sim, star of the St Trinians movies.