Seize the opportunity to laugh again at the jokes and stories that defined a generation with this look 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.
As Irish comedy entered the new Millennium, it was clear that a new generation had taken over. From Father Ted to Aprés Match and from Dylan Moran to Tommy Tiernan, Irish comics had become superstars, conquering all before them at home and abroad. And it was perhaps this sense of achievement that finally brought a level of maturity to Irish comedy.
Michael McElhatton had been developing his North Dublin rapper called Rats for a few years when he teamed up with director and co-writer Ian FitzGibbon. Paths to Freedom not only drew a large and appreciative audience, but it said something about the new Ireland that struck a chord with the wider community.
Another comedy troupe who forced us to re-evaluate what we meant by comedy went by the name of Naked Camera. Ambushing the public with secret filming the series recalled Mike Murphy’s classic sequences, but PJ Gallagher, Maeve Higgins and Patrick McDonnell took the form to a whole new level.
Impressionists took a different tack, populating the airwaves with a cast of hilarious caricatures. Today FM’s Gift Grub recalled the glory days of Scrap Saturday, while the talent of Risteard Cooper brought satire back to TV in The State Of Us. But the most peculiar of all is Soupy Norman, the creation of one of those original Comedy Cellar veterans, Mr. Trellis performer Barry Murphy. No-one could have predicted twenty years ago, as Ireland stood on the cusp on a comedy explosion, that we would be laughing our heads off at a re-dubbed Polish soap opera. But we do. And that means that Irish comedy has either become very sophisticated, or very peculiar…