Stephen Dixon, Deirdre Falvey
Description
The past decade has seen an explosion of Irish performance comedy. Father Ted broke all the rules of sitcom and had cartloads of awards heaped upon it
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. Throughout the 1990s a series of Irish comedians won the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe - Sean Hughes, Dylan Moran, Tommy Tiernan - and others blitzed the So You Think You're Funny? newcomers' awards. Ireland's comedians are hot in British and Irish entertainment - TV, radio and live - with a remarkable diversity of styles - Patrick Kielty's manic matiness, The Nualas' musical parody, Ardal O'Hanlon's surreal stand-up, Jason Byrne's chaotic madness, Graham Norton's camp confidence and D'Unbelievables' audience-grabbing bravura.
What's happening? Why is Irish comedy suddenly centre-stage after years of working on the edge? This book, the first major exploration of the phenomenon, looks behind the scenes for the answers, interviewing the comedians themselves, presenting their jokes and routines and placing it all in the context of the seismic social changes in today's Ireland.
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