A man who requires no introduction but we’ll give him one anyway… ladies and gents, put your hands together for the great Ardal O’Hanlon! Ahem. Now that that’s out of the way, we heartily recommend you pop along to Ardal’s Vicar St gig on October 4 and see if their MC does a better job. Ardal will likely be in typically side-splitting form too, by the way. Plus it should be a walk in the park compared to some of his previous gigs. Speaking to Hot Press last summer, O’Hanlon didn’t need to think twice when recalling his most bizarre set.
“I’ve done stuff in prison!” he bellowed. “It was tough. Years ago, myself, Barry [Murphy] and Kevin [Gildea] did some shows in Wheatfield. One of the gigs was really nice, it was for young offenders. It was improv and we asked for suggestions, that was quite funny. We did some sketches slagging off the wardens. Did we incite any riots? Not really but you could see some of the prison officers getting a bit twitchy: ‘This has gone on long enough! Let’s wrap it up quickly!’”
Bear that in mind, potential hecklers. Taking to the Olympia Theatre stage the very next night is the very much on the other end of the spectrum Roy Chubby Brown, who can always be relied upon to turn the air blue with his profane-laden brand of love-it or-loathe-it comedy. “If easily offended, please stay away” goes the standard precursor, and for good reason. Arguably Britain’s most unapologetically rude export; Brown has turned shocking audiences into an art form. The only thing louder than his voice? His suits.
Elsewhere, Tommy Tiernan’s ambitious, far-reaching and occasionally chaotic World Tour of various counties in Ireland continues apace with stops in Kildare (September 26 – 29), Kilkenny (October 2 and 4) and Carlow (3 and 10) while Andrew Lawrence brings his There Is No Escape show to Whelan’s on October 5.

BEST OF THE REST
The Night Joe Dolan’s Car Broke Down at the Olympia Theatre from September 26 - 28
Recent Hot Press interviewee Adam Hills heads up Vicar St with Happyism on September 27
Zany sketch trio Foil, Arms and Hog hit up Cork’s City Limits Comedy Club on September 28
Gearoid Farrelly takes over the Ha’Penny Bridge Inn on September 29