Meanwhile, in Galway

ELICITING INSTANT chuckles or heckles, live comedy is one of our most immediate, interactive forms of entertainment, so we should celebrate those gag-merchants who can truly engage a room. Especially when it’s 7,863 km away from the microphone.

At the Roisin Dubh in Galway this Saturday, Andrew Maxwell, Danny Dowling and compere Paddy Courtney will be joined by character comic Neil Hamburger from Las Vegas and comedy musician Jessica Delfino from New York, their sets broadcast live onto a giant screen via the internet phone software Skype, the pair seeing and hearing the crowd respond in real time. More guest stand-ups are being lined up to participate from destinations unknown.

The brainchild of comedians John Donnellan and Galway-based Kiwi Dowling, Skype Comedy seeks to redefine "stage presence".

After roadtesting the format at their regular "Comedy Comedy" nights, Dowling is convinced that this Galway Comedy Festival gig is only the beginning. He plans to perform at next year's Edinburgh Fringe and embark upon a world tour without ever leaving Ireland.

There are precedents. In 2007, Ross Noble concluded his Nobleism tour in Liverpool with a show simultaneously broadcast to 43 cinemas across the UK, though his interaction with his extended audience was almost entirely one-way. Last November, Cecelia Aherne used Skype to chat live at book events in Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Sydney and Singapore from her home in Dublin.

Dowling admits that using Skype encourages "lots more visual comedy, you have to make it shorter and quicker" and that it's necessary to retain comedians physically in the room because any more than 10 minutes of a Skype set and the audience begins to lose focus.

Nevertheless, the creative and economic potential for artistic collaborations across continents would appear to be huge. If Skype develops their open channel software as rumoured, allowing anyone with an internet connection to tune in, gigs like this could be experienced by millions.