September 25th, 2005
The big Comedy rip-off
The word “rip-off” is being trotted out a lot at the moment, but there seems to be a big problem with the accuracy with which comedy gigs are advertised here of late.
Earlier this month, Ronnie Corbett, of Two Ronnies fame, played Dublin�s Olympia as part of the Bulmer’s Comedy Festival. Corbett was on stage for six minutes before he introduced a band, who proceeded to play for another 40 minutes. I don’t know what happened after that, as the irate woman who called Joe Duffy’s Liveline about it, left the show at the point and tried to get her money back. Organisers MCD apparently gave her no redress on the matter when she said she had paid to see Ronnie Corbett, and not a jazz band.
Last night my brother went to see Denis Leary in the Point Depot. As a big fan, and having stumped up 30 euro each for two tickets, he was really looking forward to it.
Leary came on and did his usual booze and fags irreverence and was quite good apparently. He then introduced a comedian called Patrice O’Neill who was ran through some gags for 40 minutes. Leary returned for another 10 minutes before announcing the intermission. After that he returned to the stage just to introduce Dave Cooke, another American comedian who was also on for about 40 minutes. Leary emerged for the last time, did seven more minutes of his routine, introduced the band and two comedians and that was that.
If there’s to be a support act, so be it. If there are other acts on the bill that don’t interest you eating into the time slot for the act you want to see, it should indicate this on the posters.
Is this just a new standard running order for comedians, where they bulk up 45 minutes of material with other acts? Or was the chopped up schedule to facilitate Denis Leary’s smoke breaks?* Or maybe - in his own words - he’s just an A-S-S-H-O-L-E.
*He actually smoked on stage, so does he pay the fine or does the promoter?
September 26th, 2005 at 3:04 pm
> *He actually smoked on stage, so does he pay the fine or does the promoter?
depends on if he is reported or not. maybe u should call joe duffy?? i think there has been a relaxation in this when it comes to backstage at venues and gigs - the dressingrooms in places like the Olympia and Vicar St are still smoke-filled
September 28th, 2005 at 2:28 pm
Hey Sinead! I was at the gig with your brother and I have to say I was disappointed. I was wary of going beforehand, simply because we bought the tickets on the basis of it being Denis Leary and then we saw it being advertised as Denis Leary ”and Friends”. On my ticket though, it just has ‘Denis Leary’. False advertising? If I wanted to get a refund on that basis, could I?? The gig itself was nothing to write home about unfortunately - I actually thought one of his ”Friends” (Dane Cook) was a lot funnier. Which reminds me of the last time I went to see Leary, a good few years ago now, he had Tommy Tiernan as support and he was a whole lot funnier as well!! Leary was checking notes on stage, due to jetlag according to him, which didn’t do a lot for the flow… And as for the smoking thing, The Point Depot is fined €3,000 each time somebody lights up (according to Denis…!!) To sum up - I won’t be going to see any Denis Leary gig ever again….