Irish Funnymen to Fly the Flag at Melbourne Comedy Festival

The 2010 Irish Comedian of the Year and former Edinburgh Comedy Award winner David O’Doherty has two shows in the festival ‘David O’Doherty is Looking Up’ (a collection of his own sketches, musings and songs, which runs at the Forum Theatre) and ‘David O’Doherty Presents Rory Sheridan’s Tales of Antarctica’ (a character show in which he plays an “awful polar explorer”, due to be staged at the Melbourne Town Hall).

Here’s O’Doherty at last year’s Melbourne Comedy Festival All Stars.

Joining David in Australia for the festival is rock ‘n’ roll comedy supergroup Dead Cat Bounce, made up of James Walmsley, Shane O’Brien and Demien Fox. Their show ‘Howl of the She-Leopard’ will feature their usual brand of comedy rock anthems and takes place at the Trades Hall.

A 2011 single from the group:

Also on the bill is everyone’s favourite Gaeilgeoir Des Bishop, with his latest stand-up show ‘Des Bishop Likes To Bang’, which showcases his new-found passion for drumming and his love of wordplay. The show runs at the Hi-Fi.

Here’s Bishop’s famous routine about the immersion:

After performing sell-out shows during last year’s festival, Jason Byrne returns with his ‘People’s Puppeteer’ routine this year, promising a show that is “anarchy-packed and of acrobatic proportions”. His show runs at the Athenaeum Theatre for the duration of the festival.

A clip of Byrne in the city a couple of years ago:

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which is in its 26th year, takes place from March 28 to April 22.

-Story by Linda McGee