LAST night was fairly hilarious all around. First of all was the gathering in Camden Street's Cassidy's Bar, where director Richard Cook announced details of the Murphy's Cat Laughs Festival in the company of Mr President a Bill Clinton lookalike, Tim Waters. Like his American alter ego, Waters downed a pint of Murphy's and took questions from the floor.
Cook's fiancee Pauline McLynn was in London appearing in Rory Bremner's show but comedians Dermot Carmody, Barry Murphy, Mark Doherty, Jason Byrne (an award winner at last year's Edinburgh Festival) and John Henderson were there.
The Cat Laughs Festival lineup looks better than ever this year with Rory Bremner, Dylan Moran, Canadian Greg Proops, Mike McShane and Kevin McAleer all due to appear.
The party moved on to the Carrolls comedy party in Lillie's Bordello - including Barry Murphy (whose wife, singer Flo McSweeney recently gave birth to their son Luke), Jason Byrne and Dermot Carmody. Anne Gildea of The Nualas was there along with her brother comedian Kevin Gildea who is rather incestuously going to marry another Nuala, Susan Collins.
The occasion encouraged an awful lot of silliness, and also attracted some of the finalists from the Carrolls Comedy Club Tour who will compete on Thursday next in the Gaiety. The evening, compered by Barry Murphy and Dylan Moran, marks the first Carrolls New Comedy Awards, run in conjunction with the BBC New Comedy Awards, and will function as the Irish heats for the stand up awards in the Edinburgh Festival.