Dublin's Vodafone Comedy Festival reveals its biggest line-up yet for 2018

This year’s festival is shaping up to be the most exciting yet, with over 120 acclaimed performers from Ireland and across the globe confirmed to bring laughter and craic to Dublin’s beautiful Iveagh Gardens. The festival will take place across five fully seated venues over four fun-packed days from 26th – 29th July and tickets will go on sale this Friday, 15th June at 9am.

The line-up once again boasts a mix of Ireland’s biggest names in comedy including Tommy Tiernan, Jason Byrne and Deirdre O’Kane; acclaimed podcasts (The Blindboy Podcast, Jarlath Regan’s An Irishman Abroad and The Alison Spittle Show), plus a host of star-studded comedy acts from around the world such as festival favourite Rory Scovel, Michael Che from Saturday Night Live, Michael Kosta from The Daily Show, as well as Sam Jay, Tim Dillon and Janelle James, who have all just recorded Netflix specials, along with Ireland’s own Aisling Bea.

This year’s festival welcomes 20 amazing US comics this year including Nicole Byer, who hosts Netflix baking show ‘Nailed It!’, Adam Cayton-Holland (from TRuTv’s ‘Those Who Can’t’), Jamie Lee (the female lead in HBO’s ‘Crashing’), Joe List (Netflix’s ‘The Stand Ups’), Rhea Butcher, (from ‘Take My Wife,’ which she co-created and co-stars in with her wife, Cameron Esposito), and alternative mavericks Neil Hamburger, John Early and Kate Berlant. Also joining the festival are New York hip-hop/comedy scenester Cipha Sounds (who has teamed up with Alicia Keys to turn his improv show into a television series), Jermaine Fowler (the star of ‘Superior Donuts’), Billy Wayne Davis (who has just released his second comedy album with Jack White’s label, Third Man Records), Sara Schaefer, Shane Torres and Nigerian-American comedienne, Yvonne Orji, who is currently developing a sitcom based on her life entitled ‘First Gen,’ which Oprah Winfrey and David Oyelowo are executive producing.

Our UK line-up includes Lolly Adefope, who stars in the US comedy ‘Miracle Workers’ this Summer alongside Steve Buscemi and Daniel Radcliffe, Tom Allen (Presenter of ‘Bake Off: The Professionals’), rising Scottish comedienne Fern Brady, YouTube star Mawaan Rizwan and festival-favourites The Improv Allstars and Seann Walsh. Rob Kemp brings his multi-award-winning show ‘The Elvis Dead’, an audio/visual mash-up show telling the story of Evil Dead 2 through the classic songs of Elvis Presley. This show is part of a very exciting Saturday night double-bill featuring the red-hot Dreamgun: Film Reads troupe who will once again take a beloved film script and stuff it full of jokes and nonsense.

Homegrown talent continues to be at the heart of the Vodafone Comedy Festival and this year will see household names from the Irish comedy scene such as Tommy Tiernan, Jason Byrne, David O’Doherty, Neil Delamare, Barry Murphy, Bernard O’Shea, Abandoman and Kevin McGahern take centre stage. Fresh from hanging up her ballroom dancing shoes, Deirdre O’Kane will join fellow renowned funny women Alison Spittle, Enya Martin, Joanne McNally, Katherine Lynch, Tara Flynn, The Nualas and the aforementioned Aisling Bea at this year’s festival.

Festival goers can also expect to laugh their socks off at many of the talented rising Irish stars including Danny O’Brien, Julie Jay, Aoife Dooley, Catherine Bohart, Davey Reilly, Ryan Cullen, Martin Angolo, Ashlee Bentley, Richie Bree, Aidan Greene and Hannah Mamalis.

There is an ever-growing number of amazing Irish social media stars and the festival hosts many of these at The Social Club show as well as Enya Martin of ‘Giz a laugh,’ Snapchat supremo Tony Cantwell, Farmer Michael & Kathleen, Shane Clifford, Emma Doran and impressionist Al Foran. Foil, Arms & Hog have mastered the art of social media and have sold out 15 nights at Vicar Street this year on the back of their hilarious weekly videos.

The Vodafone Comedy Festival proudly supports Ireland’s comedy club scene and this year they will host The Comedy Crunch, Chaplains, The Workmans Comedy Club, Cherry Comedy, Dublin Improv Comedy, INN Jokes, The Comedy Cellar and The International Comedy Club.

The legendary Turning Pirate folks will be entertaining attendees all weekend with their kaleidoscopic troupe of musicians and street entertainers and the ultra-intimate Horsebox Theatre (4 seats only folks!) will be cracking audiences up again in all its Victorian splendour. The Laughter Lab will once again host ten amazing, fun-packed and unique free shows across the four-day comedy extravaganza – there will also be tickets to win for these shows given away soon!

Festival Director, Bren Berry, Aiken Promotions said: “We are delighted to announce the line-up for this year’s Vodafone Comedy Festival today. It’s hard to believe that this is the twelfth year of the festival and it’s really pleasing to see its reputation around the world grow every year. Vodafone is a fantastic partner and have helped make it a better festival every year. As always, Aiken Promotions and Vodafone are proud to champion Irish comedy and we are excited that so many of them are having the success they deserve at home and abroad.”

Gerry Nixon, Sponsorship Manager, Vodafone Ireland said: “We are thrilled to once again be involved with the Vodafone Comedy Festival, a highlight of the Vodafone Centre Stage comedy and entertainment programme and the summer events calendar for so many Irish people. The festival embodies what Centre Stage is all about, connecting people to the things that matter most - friends, fun and laughter. This year’s line-up leaves us spoiled for choice with so many opportunities to catch performances from familiar names, as well as new faces in the world of comedy.”

Tickets for the festival are on sale this Friday, 15th June at 9am and are sold on a show-by-show basis. 20,000 people are expected to attend the four-day festival, which is strictly an over 18s event.

For full details of the Vodafone Comedy Festival line-up and programme information, visit www.vodafonecomedy.com