Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year

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LADIESH AND GENTLEMEN…

badcomedianUrrgh… My hangover this morning (afternoon? No, right now is first thing in the morning for me) is directly proportional to how drunk I had to be to get on stage last night. (Last night was the stand-up thing I referred to in a previous post.) All told, it really wasn’t that bad. I learned a couple of things. (1) If you curse, people will laugh. (2) If you shout a curse, people will cheer. As it happened, I was very lucky in that my set was bookended by quite possibly the two worst comedians of all time. That definitely made me look good. But Paddy Courtney, who mentored me, told me about this indescribable buzz I’d get from being onstage. And I gotta say, I didn’t feel it. For me, it felt more like telling a funny anecdote in the pub, except with a lot more pressure and a lot less spontaneity. I was glad when it was over.

By far the biggest surprise for me, though, was the other girl, Katie, who, like me, was also giving it a go for the first time. Yesterday, when we were getting our comedy masterclass from Paddy, she had nothing. It was like the Leaving Cert or something. I wasn’t that well fixed myself, but I didn’t care because my friend was even more screwed. Fast forward to last night and she came out with a set of just unmitigated filth. She was absolutely brilliant. So that’s the last comedy lesson I learned. (3) If in doubt, the dirtier the better… And me like an eejit, without a cock or a gee in my entire set.

Now I’ve got about an hour and a half to prep for an interview with James Taylor. All I know about him so far is that he was in that Simpsons episode where Homer goes into space…

May 20th, 2009.

7 Responses to “LADIESH AND GENTLEMEN…”

  1. Andreas Says:

    …and heroin, don’t forget to mention the heroin.

  2. Johnny Says:

    Eoin

    Was there last night, talked to ya briefly after. Just wanted to say it again here man you were absolutely fucking hilarious. Way better than the real comics.

    Cheers,
    Johnny

  3. Paul Says:

    Dude! James Taylor! Two-Lane Blacktop! With Dennis Wilson! Out of the Beach Boys and the Manson Family! And Warren Oates! Out of Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia! And they all did drugs! Lots of drugs! Just don’t talk to him about his fuck-awful music and you’ll be fine.

  4. Eoin Says:

    We did, we talked about the Beatles and hanging out with Obama and stuff, he brought up heroin (thanks Andreas) so I didn’t have to. Had a fair few joke questions prepped – he’s playing a cruise ship this summer (okay, the Queen Mary II, but come on, what a gimme!) but I didn’t use them. He was just so old and sincere and gentlemanly and fucking likable a guy, it seemed just wildly inappropriate. He invited me to his concert in the O2 and to meet him backstage, but I probably won’t take him up on it. I’d just start kissing the ass of everyone I ever interview if I did.

    @ Johnny – cheers man

  5. Eoin Says:

    Okay, just spoke to my mother. She thinks James Taylor is like (Justin Timberlake x Zac Efron)²

    Goodbye journalistic integrity, hello mother’s good books!

  6. Colin Says:

    Blink and you’re off becoming a comedian. Crazy. Good to hear it went well.

    But was it a set you could perform for your Mother ? Even without the curses.

  7. Eoin Says:

    Ah Colin, I coulda performed it for my granny. Maybe that’s where I went wrong.

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