Galway Bulmers Comedy Festival
Roisín Dubh
27th October 2011
First Published November 1st in Sin Newspaper
Ruck and Roll, Baby!
Never arrive late to a comedy gig. There will invariably be two seats left directly in front of the stage which you and whoever is accompanying you will have to take. Oh, and never bring a friend who thinks it is ok to go out in what appear to be his pyjamas in public - this will attract unwanted attention from hungry comedians. Without making reference to his size, (he does enough of that himself) Karl Spain was one very hungry MC on the night. He immediately devoured my dubiously dressed friend, and took a minute to savour the poor girl unfortunate enough to have one of those laughs. You know the one: the Peppa Pig laugh. "Do you do that all the time? I'm only asking because that's the first time I've made a woman make a noise in a long time." Spain warmed up the crowd so they were in a party mood by the time Dead Cat Bounce, ehhh.... bounced onto the stage at 10pm. The festivities were enhanced by the appearance of local favourite John Donnellan in between.
Dead Cat Bounce is a Wall Street term which signifies a slight increase in stock prices after a severe slump. It is regarded as a mere gradual upward blip. Dead Cat Bounce is also a three piece Dublin comedy rock band. Comprising of three Trinity College graduates; bassist Shane O'Brien, James Walmsley on guitar and vocals, and "comedy drummer" Damien Fox (it says so on his business card). The band's career could hardly be more dissimilar to the term from which they derive their name. It hasn't been a gradual upward blip, but rather an explosion to prominence in Irish comedy circles since their appearances on RTE2's Republic of Telly last year.
The set list reads like something you'd find scratched on padded walls in institutes. ‘Overenthusiastic Contraceptive Lady' is a song Durex wouldn't like to get too popular, as it might have an effect on sales. "I just want your lovin' girl, I don't want your babies, so I promise to aim for your chest," is but one of the lines from this song which had the audience rolling around beneath the bar stools. More guffaws for ‘Outsized Orthopaedic Shoe,' an epic tale of friendship between a man with one leg shorter than the other, and his shoe. ‘Christians in Love' portrays the carnal adventures of a newlywed couple "getting to know each other" for the first time. "Like a chimpanzee at a buffet car, they're just grabbing at things before they know what they are, and seeing if they can fit them in their mouths". The girl with the unfortunate laugh has reached unprecedented decibel levels by the end of this song, and many other audience members are in tears of laughter.
However the biggest cheer of the night is reserved for the lads' most well known song, ‘Rugby'. The video for this ditty is on YouTube and is well worth a watch or ten, featuring as it does Brent Pope and the mulleted one, former Irish hooker Shane Byrne. The song calls into question the heterosexuality of rugby, with such insightful lines as "we're fooling the world that there's nothing sexual, in a ball shaped like a giant testicle". This gig was rucking brilliant.
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