Boom Boom – The Explosion of Irish Comedy

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Boom Boom - Colm Meaney Image Name: Boom Boom - Colm Meaney Description: Boom Boom - The Explosion of Irish Comedy Copyright: © RTÉ Stills Library RTÉ. This image may be reproduced in print or electronic format for promotional purposes only. Any further use of this image must be re-negotiated separately with RTÉ. Use is subject to a fee to be agreed according to the current RTÉ Stills Library rate card.
Boom Boom - Colm Meaney Image Name: Boom Boom - Colm Meaney Description: Boom Boom - The Explosion of Irish Comedy Copyright: © RTÉ Stills Library RTÉ. This image may be reproduced in print or electronic format for promotional purposes only. Any further use of this image must be re-negotiated separately with RTÉ. Use is subject to a fee to be agreed according to the current RTÉ Stills Library rate card.

Broadcast Details: Thursday 24th July, 10.15pm

RTÉ ENTERTAINMENT: This week Colm Meaney remembers some of the successful Irish comedy programmes and the puppets who stole the nation's hea

 

Seize the opportunity to laugh again at the jokes and stories that defined a generation with Colm Meaney, as he looks back at the growth and development of Irish comedy.

Not so long ago Irish comedy meant Paddy jokes and old codgers dressed as leprechauns. Then something happened. Maybe it was the Celtic Tiger, or maybe it was boredom. Whatever it was, Irish comedy exploded in the nineties, and now comedy writers and comedians from Ireland rank amongst the very best in the English-speaking world. How did this transformation come about? Who were the funny men and women who found Ireland’s new voice? And what the hell were they on about? Boom Boom – The Explosion of Irish Comedy combines rare and priceless performances from the archives with contemporary interviews with the comedians who started it all.

Confidence came from comedy success in Dublin, London, and Edinburgh and soon spread among Ireland’s new wave of comedians. Irish television producers began to realise that there were a growing audience of young people who wanted Irish comedy on their TV screens.

Successes included Don’t Feed the Gondolas which brought us the likes of Sean Moncreiff, Des Bishop and Brendan O’Connor. The Panel gave a platform to some seriously funny people, including Andrew Maxwell, Neil Delamere, Colin Murphy, Dara O Briain, Ed Byrne. Murphy went on to present his own hilarious and decidedly skewed view of Ireland and the world in The Blizzard of Odd.

RTÉ’s soccer coverage had become required viewing for the banter of the panel. What began as a little light relief at the end of big matches lampooning Eamon Dunphy and John Giles grew into the hugely popular Aprés Match, featuring Barry Murphy, Gary Cooke and Risteard Cooper.

Meanwhile, over on RTÉ Two, two puppeteers who had already taken Irish and British television by storm with their first creations, Zig and Zag, were going over to the dark side. Their new characters gave vent to their own rude and often scatological sense of humour.  Meet Podge and Rodge.

But one comedian made it his business to rub official Ireland up the wrong way. Tommy Tiernan’s appearances on the Late Late Show over the years have been legendary.