comedy

This Isn’t Funny

The wasted life and tragic death of Mitch Hedberg, who died five years ago this week. See Mitch at his best here.

Catholic Mass: A Critical Analysis

Previously, I reviewed the Nitelink, Brendan Thompson getting his mickey caught in his zip and, of course, your ma. Those all took the piss. This on, the other hand, was written for the Irish Times. Therefore I’ve striven to make my opinions as boring and not insane as possible. The Vatican has, apparently, issued a whole load of guidelines about what a mass sermon should be.

Last Sunday, I was asked to head along to mass and offer up my verdict. I wasn’t hugely impressed with what I found. Read the rest of this entry »

THIS IS FUNNY

Just spent a long, long afternoon in Dublin with the maestro of low key musical whimsy David O’Doherty. I doubt anyone’s ever used the words David O’Doherty is a harsh task master in a sentence before, let alone in that order. But I’m taking the plunge here and now: David O’Doherty is one harsh task master. He really is. That is all.

Published: Irish Times, May 23 2009

“WOULD IT BE FAIR TO CALL YOU IRELAND’S ANSWER TO FLAVOR FLAV?”

EOIN BUTLER talks to super-sized comic Karl Spain

Everyone remembers the ‘Karl Spain Wants a Woman’ programme. Would it be fair to describe you as Ireland’s answer to Flavor Flav?
No, I’m Ireland’s guy that everyone shouts “Hey, did you find yourself a woman yet?” at on the street. I actually met my girlfriend Rachel through that show and we’re still together after three and a half years. We were having dinner the other night and it came on Sky News that Katie Price and Peter Andre had broken up after three and a half years. So we were laughing – we’ve outlasted Peter and Jordan! What were the odds?

That’s amazing, so you did a show called ‘Karl Spain Wants a Woman’ and you actually got a woman out of it? Why didn’t you do a follow-up, like, ‘Karl Spain Wants a Bungalow and a Flat-Screen TV’?
Well, it’s funny you should mention bungalows, because there was some talk of doing a series in which I would try and buy a house. But nothing came of it. I still joke with Rachel that she cost me a second series of Karl Spain Wants a Woman . Read the rest of this entry »

SO A PRIEST, A RABBI AND A MINISTER… ETC. ETC.

Tripping Along The Ledge productions, in association with EoinButler.com, are proud to announce my first, nay, only ever stand-up comedy set will take place in the Ha’penny Bridge Inn on Tuesday, May 19th. It’s to tie-in with the Carlsberg Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, which takes place in Kilkenny later this month.

Basically, myself and two other non-comedians have been railroaded into undergoing an intensive, like, one hour crash course in how to do stand-up. Read the rest of this entry »