Comic and writer Karl MacDermott introduces his new show about about 'a comedy nobody. Who still longs to be a somebody. Or at least not a complete nobody'. We'll let him explain more...
My first comedy performance in twenty-seven years took place on the same night as the worst riots in Dublin in one hundred years. I'm reminded of that old line about comedy and timing.
It was a work-in-progress try-out of my new stand-up theatre hybrid show called The Comedy Nobody. Despite the apocalyptic mayhem and destruction occurring on the streets outside, some hardy theatregoers actually attended and thankfully the evening didn’t end up having to be re-named The Comedy.....Nobody Turned Up.
I use the word theatregoer intentionally, because despite the show’s subject matter being the world of stand-up comedy and that deep yearning for guffaw-filled aural affirmation from a crowd of complete strangers, the actual performance is more of a theatre piece, with a structured script, lighting and sound cues and a cast of characters popping up and disappearing just as quickly.
On the night of November 23rd, my venue was remarkably close to the eye of the storm. And, in a way, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been fire-bombed. Because most of the venues I played during my career back in the 1990s all seemed to shut quite quickly after I performed in them. In fact one time, it was right in the middle of my act. Bailiffs suddenly entered stage left. Just before my biggest laugh. Comedy and timing again.
on the same night as the worst riots in Dublin in one hundred years.'
The venue list was impressive. An Béal Bocht. The City Arts Centre. Andrew’s Lane Theatre. The Da Club. In the business, it became known as ‘The Curse of MacDermott’. But then people would say "Okay. But who’s MacDermott?" So then it became known as ‘The Curse of... Who’s That Guy Again’?
Truth be told, I never had a great profile. But, despite my venue-shutting reputation, I was fairly busy back then. Staging many shows similar to The Comedy Nobody. Inhabiting that genre-unique zone between stand-up and theatre. My most successful was An Afternoon With Klaus Barbie’s Pen-Pal which wowed them at The Gilded Balloon as part of The Edinburgh Fringe. Naturally, a few years later that venue burned down.
So now, five months on, after some re-arranging, editing and darling-killing (thank you, Stephen King) I’m embarking on a three-date Comedy Nobody World Tour of Ireland in late April. The Comedy Nobody is about a comedy nobody. Who still longs to be a somebody. Or at least not a complete nobody. But if he wants to avoid being a complete nobody, does that mean he’s happy being an incomplete nobody? These are the thoughts that pre-occupy him as he cares for his ailing mother, attends a weekly self-help group for failed comedians called The Comedy Casualty Club and contemplates updating his comedy material while enticing his former agent Sisyphus O’Shea of SOS Management to take him back and help him relaunch his stand-up career in the now changed booming comedy industry of Ireland 2024.
The Town Hall Studio, Galway (on April 25th) and The Axis Ballymun (on May 8th and 9th) await The Comedy Nobody.
I’ve heard on the grapevine that both venue managers have taken out some extra insurance.
Find out more about Karl MacDermott and The Comedy Nobody here.
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