There was a remarkably good turnout at Tuesday night's party in the International Bar to kick-start the Murphy's Ungagged Comedy Festival in Dublin this November. Given that the Galway Ungagged festival had just finished the night before, it would have been excusable if a few of the comedians had stayed at home to nurse their heads and write more jokes.
Undeterred, they came out in force on Tuesday night although there were a few mournful laughs when Ann O'Leary of Murphy's congratulated them on being there in body if not in spirit. However, O'Leary got her biggest laugh (definition of intimidating: making a speech to a room full of comedians) when she referred to "a certain comedian" throwing a pint of water over an unruly heckler in Galway.
Barry Glendenning was not nearly so cryptic: "Yup, it was me. There wasn't a peep out of him afterwards." The remainder of the "speeches" were made by comedy trio, The Nualas, who performed a song "we wrote last night and hope is still relevant today". Keen-eyed Nuala fans quickly pointed out that there was a new Nuala in town - Karen Egan has parted company with the group and has been replaced by Susannah de Wrixon.
De Wrixon, who was recently one of the judges for the Dublin Fringe Festival awards and also pops up on Konvenience Korner, is taking a year out from her acting career to join the Nuala train. There is another series for BBC radio on the cards, as well as a tour which includes dates in London and Melbourne over the next year. Mark Doherty was sharing a few pints with fellow comedians Brendan Dempsey and Eddie Bannon. Doherty, who writes and stars in Couched, the new Network 2 comedy show, with Barry Murphy, declared he was pleased and surprised by how well the show is going down. "We didn't think people would get it really," he grinned.
The Murphy's Ungagged Comedy Festival, which runs from November 11th to 15th, will be bringing comedians including Ben Elton, Perrier Award winners Tommy Tiernan, Dylan Moran, and Edinburgh Festival hit Johnny Vegas to various venues around town. However, the fastest-moving tickets at the moment are apparently for author, Loaded magazine columnist and former drug dealer Howard Marks - which says something about Irish audiences but I'm not quite sure what.