Dara Ó’Briain and Tommy Tiernan are the two big homegrown stars of this year’s Sky Cat Laughs line-up, announced today. The 20th festival, which takes place in Kilkenny from May 29 to June 2 boasts an impressive mix of Irish and international talent, also including Scottish superstar Kevin Bridges.
Further Irish stars are Ardal O’Hanlon, Des Bishop, Barry Murphy, Jason Byrne, Bernard O’Shea, Neil Delamere, David O’Doherty, Colin Murphy, Colm O’Regan, Karl Spain, Eleanor Tiernan and Chris Kent.
The line-up also includes a number of Beyond The Joke favourites, including quirky American Al Lubel, rising star Ivo Graham, outspoken Alfie Brown and feisty Beyonce fan Katherine Ryan. American political comic W Kamau Bell, Pete Holmes, Tiffany Stevenson and Neal Brennan are amongst the comedic talent making their debuts.
Another attraction is the return of Cheers star George “Norm” Wendt - who hosted the very first Cat Laughs in 1995. Early Cat Laughs stalwarts Dom Irrera, Rich Hall and Adam Hills are also back alongside Grammy award-winning Lewis Black, Jake Johannsen, Kathleen Madigan, Mike Wilmot, Glenn Wool and Harland Williams.
Sky TV is sponsoring the event for the second year and there will be exclusive previews of two new Sky productions – Sky 1 HD’s eccentric travel show 50 Ways To Kill Your Mammy, featuring Baz Ashmawy and his 71-year-old mother, Nancy. And following last year’s premiere of Charlie Brooker’s A Touch of Cloth II: Undercover Cloth, Sky is presenting the sequel A Touch of Cloth III: Too Cloth For Comfort, starring John Hannah, Suranne Jones and Karen Gillan.
Naoise Nunn, artistic director for the Sky Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, commented: “The line-up for this year’s festival is very exciting – our best yet. The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival has played an enormous role in establishing modern Irish comedy and helped launch so many now-household names in comedic talent. It’s a testament to the Cat Laughs that these huge success stories are coming back to the festival that gave so many their starts. This year’s Sky Cat Laughs will be an enormous celebration and we encourage everyone to get their tickets early and be in Kilkenny this June bank holiday weekend for the mother of all parties”.
Full programme, tickets and venue information here.
