Christiane O'Mahony is a harpist, comedienne, actor and playwright (why isn't "playwright" spelt "playwrite"?) She uses the harp as part of her stand up and is very funny with it. Y'know when someone brings a harp or indeed any instrument onstage at a comedy gig there are the begrudging purists who think, "stand-up is about one person onstage talking into a mic". Well that's a load of bollocks. If you're funny you're funny, and Christiane is funny with or without the harp. She is multi-talented and great craic to be around and is the only person I know of who's parents paid someone to try and talk her out of a life in show business. She is currently touring with her own play "Women of The Rising" so has taken a break from stand up but hopefully she will be back in the clubs soon. I really enjoyed talking to her and could have nattered away for another hour or two. I just realised we never mentioned Harpo Marx!
On Wednesday March 30th I recorded my second live podcast upstairs in the Stags Head and the bill was chock-a-block with talented artistes. First up was the band Cronin with a moving version of The Wedding Present song Octopussy. Cronin are an indie band from Leeds/Mullingar/Drumlish who have recorded with Shane MacGowan. Actress/comedian and star of RTE's Bridget and Eamonn, Sharon Mannion talked about Roscommon, learning to embrace being funny and trombones. Writer/comedian Paul Tylak talked about wanting to be lead singer in a band and our incredible first meeting involving water pistols. All three of us then improvised our take on a possible 2016 Rising. Cronin played their song In Loneliness Lives Love and David McSavage joined the band to improvise what sounded like an undiscovered Velvet Underground song about Solpadeine. We finished with a version of (A Message To You) Rudy. And that was our second live Pod-a-Rooney, tadaa!
One night upstairs in the International Bar Jason Byrne took to the stage and brought along a side kick or wing man. It was PJ Gallagher. He barely said a word and Jason started putting elastic bands on his head. I can't remember what reason he gave the audience for doing this or if he gave any reason at all but it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen live onstage. It wasn't making a point or being clever. It was just funny the way Harpo Marx or Tommy Cooper is funny. PJ just has natural funny bones. This was years before the invention of Naked Camera characters like Jake Stevens or The Dirty Auld Wan which catapulted PJ into the public consciousness. He always wanted to just do stupid stuff just for the hell of it even back when he worked in a sound and lighting warehouse with Jason Byrne. At a time when it seems like a lot of up and coming comedians have their future careers mapped out on an Excel spreadsheet for that alone he should be applauded.
I first came into contact with Paul Woodfull when he was ents officer in NCAD and I was in a band called Guernica. Well I suppose if you are in a band named after a Picasso painting then the chances are you'll get booked in the art college. I then saw him perform as lead singer of the U2 parody band The Joshua Trio. At a time when it felt like sacrilege to say a bad word about U2 in Ireland it was a breath of fresh air to see Paul's interpretation of Bono as some kind of messianic preacher. Arthur Mathews was drummer in The Trio and it was at these gigs that the character Father Ted was born. Paul, Arthur and Graham Linehan also performed some sketches in The Comedy Cellar. He has various performance alter-egos, including DJ Gary on RTE radio, cabaret singer Tony St James and republican balladeer Ding Dong Denny O’Reilly. He has written and performed on RTE's Stew, Val Falvey and Pictorial Weekly and has co-written the stage musical I-Keano. He also created and performed in the bands Abbaesque and The Glam Tarts. Myself and Paul have recently released the song The Craic We Had the Day We Died For Ireland.