Andrew Maxwell opens up

Regarding his appearance at the Carlsberg Comedy Festival in July, after which many punters complained publicly, Maxwell tells interviewer Olaf Tyaransen, "I cried all night, man. I had never blanked out on stage before. It was nightmarish.

"I was genuinely baffled that it went any further," he adds. "I put out a public apology, and I thought that was that."

While warm in his praise for his home country elsewhere in the interview, the London based comedian makes it clear that he doesn't see Ireland through rose-tinted spectacles.

"There's a lot of sleeveen fucks in Ireland," he says. "There's a lot of mediocrity in Ireland, and there's a lot of hypocrisy in Ireland, and there's a lot of just genuinely nasty bastards with their reins on the horse in Ireland.

"And I knew that, sooner or later, I'd do something that would fuck up and they'd have a crack at me.."

Speaking about the controversy surrounding Tommy Tiernan's supposedly anti-Semitic remarks in the Hot Press Chat Room at Electric Picnic, Maxwell is supportive of Ireland's most popular comedian. "It's just a colossal storm in a teacup," he insists. "There's a colossal amount of vested interest to keep people focusing on an appalling crime that happened a long time ago, as opposed to an appalling crime that is happening right now.

"Alan Shatter has made an ass of himself, but he's a mediocre politician," he adds. "I doubt if Alan Shatter really believes that Tommy is anti-Semitic. Tommy's big in Ireland, but he ain't shit compared to the Israeli-American lobby, man. They're by far the most powerful fuckin' lobby in Washington, and they watch all media, and they cover everything."

Ina fascinating interview, conducted in advance of the Galway Comedy Festival, at which he is scheduled toappear, Maxwell also talks about his education in Mount Temple, the school he shared with U2, working with other Irish comedians on The Panel and the trials and tribulations of life as a working comic.