Cat Laughs | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Status | Active |
Genre | Comedy Festival |
Frequency | Annually |
Location(s) | Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, |
Country | Ireland |
Inaugurated | 1994 |
Founder |
|
Website | thecatlaughs |
The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival is a comedy festival held over the first weekend in June each year in Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland. It was founded in 1994. [1] It has been referred to as the "Best Little Comedy Festival in the world" by The Guardian and RTE. [2] [3]
Cat Laughs was envisioned in 1994 by Lynn Cahill, who ran Bickerstaffe Theatre Company in Kilkenny. As a means to expand the company's programme, she considered with her business partner that Kilkenny was great for a festival. After originally planning a choral festival called "Cat Sings", her business partner Richard Cook suggested a comedy festival instead. [1] For the first two editions, no Irish comedian closed the festival due to the audience preferring British comics. [1] The first edition was sponsored by Smithwick's before being sponsored by Murphy's Irish Stout until 2015 when Smithwick's returned. [4] The festival experienced a major financial loss in its inaugural year, with debts ranging between £70,000 and £100,000. The festival's second edition was held with the hopes that the debts from the first edition could be paid off. By 2002, the festival had become a profitable venture; 2002 the first year that the festival received support from the Arts Council, which provided a grant of €95,000. [5]
The festival is traditionally held over the June Holiday long weekend. [6] Each comedian is previewed at other shows by the festival directors before being invited to perform at Cat Laughs. [1]
Many comedians from the UK and Ireland have attended including; Dara Ó Briain, Ed Byrne and Eddie Izzard. [7] [8] Some notable names in stand-up, like David O'Doherty, have gone from audience member to headliner over the festival's history. [7] The festival has also been used as a way to launch the careers of comedians from outside the United Kingdom and Ireland. [9] Other notable Irish comedians who have worked Cat Laughs include Tommy Tiernan, Dylan Moran, Joanne McNally, Jason Byrne, Neil Delamere, Alison Spittle, Karl Spain, and Eleanor Tiernan. [10]
A tradition developed over the years that as a part of the festival, the Irish comedians would play a football match against comedians from the rest of the world for the Cat Cup. [11] [7]