Cat Laughs: my top 10 comedy acts

From a little-known Eddie Izzard to Dutch Dalísm, BRIAN BOYDpicks his most memorable sets

LIKE FITZCARRALDO’S attempts to build an opera house in the Peruvian rainforest, the idea of staging an international comedy festival in Kilkenny was a punchline in itself back in 1995. But the 18th Cat Laughs festival is taking place there this weekend, and many comics and comedy fans now favour it over Edinburgh, Melbourne and Montreal. Here, in chronological order, are 10 of the best performances over those years.

1 Eddie Izzard 1996Relatively unknown at the time because of his refusal to appear on television, Izzard was the best stand-up around when he made his Kilkenny debut, in the festival's second year. At a packed Watergate Theatre he put in a performance that is still talked about. The naming of Engelbert Humperdinck and Mr Spock's fetish for Twix bars were among the many highlights from a man at the peak of his powers. Yes, his early stuff was his best.

2 Laura Kightlinger 1997The American opened with a line about waking up hungover one day, going down to her kitchen, opening her fridge and finding her boyfriend's head inside. And the material got darker from there. What worked in her favour was that she dressed like a bimbo but had some of the most devastating material ever heard at the festival. Kightlinger went on to work as a writer and producer of Will Grace.

3 Mitch Hedberg 1998Perhaps the greatest Cat Laughs performance ever. The late US comic came over as Lenny Bruce crossed with Kurt Cobain. Weird non sequiturs and hallucinogenic imagery collided to form what can only be described as abstract comedy. He had one line I loved (delivered in his trademark drawl): "I was in a band when I was at school. People either loved us or hated us – or thought we were okay."

4 Paul Merton 1998Before Have I Got News for You, Merton was one of the brightest and best circuit comics around. With Flann O'Brien as his main influence, he indulged in surrealist set pieces of the highest order, but in this Cat Laughs show he talked about his psychiatric-hospital stay (prompted by his sudden fame and an adverse reaction to anti-malaria tablets). Poignant, revelatory and brilliantly funny.

5 Peter Kay 1999With his star in the ascendant, he put in a magnificent show at the Village Inn. It was comedy at its purest, with none of the showbiz affectations that mar his work today.

6 Après Match 2000Still new, still feeling their way around and still a bit out of focus, the trio of Barry Murphy, Risteárd Cooper and Gary Cooke had the soft anarchic feel of Vic and Bob – albeit crossed with elements of Monty Python and Hall's Pictorial Weekly. Coltish yet scabrous, their first big live outing was a triumph.

7 Mark Doherty 2001Top English comics still trade Mark Doherty one-liners, such was his status as the comedian's comedian. The very best Irish comic you've probably never heard of, Doherty (whose younger brother is the comic David O'Doherty) sculpted his material. As laddish and panel-show-friendly comedy came to dominate, Doherty bowed out to write and act in plays and films.

8 Johnny Vegas 2002The English comedian did one show from inside a bin – not as a tribute to Beckett – one on the street and one in his bedroom. And ceramics were involved in all three. Part autobiographical, part character comedy, this was genius (with a bad home perm).

9 Zach Galifianakis 2004Like Tom Waits with attention-deficit disorder, the crumpled-looking American comic had it all. From pithy observations about the proliferation of coffee-shop franchises ("Starbucks have even opened up a branch in my car") to poetic flights of fancy in which he would outline characters such as "the pretentious illiterate", he impressed on every level. Galifianakis went on to star in the Hangover films.

10 Hans Teeuwen 2009Oddly, when people walk out of a show it can indicate comic greatness on stage. The Dutch comedian, who performs in English, usually splits the audience 50/50. If you don't walk out (or stare at him blankly) you jump aboard his mystery train. Although people who couldn't get their heads around his style walked out of Teeuwen's 2009 Cat Laughs show, those who persevered were rewarded with weirdly brilliant Dalíesque stand-up.

The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival continues until Monday;

[ thecatlaughs.com ]