`Is that it? Is it just people talking?" was the bemused reaction of a member of the audience at one of the preview nights of Ireland's first purpose-built comedy club, The Murphy's Laughter Lounge on Dublin's Eden Quay. Indeed it was just people talking, but there are four of them each night and they're professional gagsters, so it's supposed to be more than "just talking". The Laughter Lounge, which holds 400 people and is officially opened tonight by Jo Brand, will run for three nights every week (Thursday to Saturday) featuring the very best of British and Irish comedy talent. It hopes to become "Irish comedy's Abbey Theatre".
It might sound a bit jaundiced and cynical to wonder why The Laughter Lounge will succeed where so many comedy venues before have failed. Despite a healthy amount of comedy clubs around the country (Cork, Galway, Belfast) and some successful home-grown venues in Dublin, all previous attempts to establish a permanent, large-scale venue dedicated solely to stand-up comedy have floundered. This is due to the perception that there isn't the same sort of comedy culture in this country as there is in Britain, where going out to a club is considered no different than going to the cinema or the theatre. As Eddie Izzard noted once about the relative lack of comedy clubs here: "It's because the Irish think they're funny enough without actually going out and paying in to hear someone else do it."
"I'll tell you why The Laughter Lounge is going to be different to all other attempts at breaking into the comedy market in Ireland," says Malcom Hardee of London's Up The Creek club, who is a co-organiser of the new club. "It's because we're in it for the long haul; we have a very good sponsorship deal with Murphy's and uniquely the venue we're using, which used to be a cinema, is purpose-built. This is important because it's not like staging comedy in a venue which is traditionally associated with other activities like music or theatre. "Because only comedy takes place here, we have the lighting and the sound and the arrangement of the audience in all the best possible positions to appreciate what is going on. The comedians like it that way and the audiences will like it that way too."
Hardee certainly knows what he's talking about. A performer of some merit himself, he also knows about the industry of comedy from all conceivable angles, because apart from running his own Up The Creek club (one of the most successful venues on the London circuit) he has also managed acts such as Harry Enfield, Gerry Sadowitz, Tommy Cockles (aka Simon Day) and worked as an agent for Jo Brand. Something of a cult figure on the circuit, Hardee's "unorthodox" (to put it mildly) approach to comedy has been immortalised in his best-selling autobiography, I Stole Freddie Mercury's Birthday Cake. "We've got a tried and trusted formula in Up The Creek that we will be using in The Laughter Lounge and that is to put on the famous faces off television alongside the more exciting up-and-coming acts. The great thing about having this club in Dublin is that so many Irish acts, such as Sean Hughes, Ardal O'Hanlon and Dylan Moran, have made it big in Britain and there's plenty of local talent around, and all the indigenous acts are really strong performers. "The way it's starting off is we're putting on two English acts alongside two Irish acts every night, but that may well change in the future. There's a balance to be struck between the more famous English names and the sheer quality of the local acts. We'll be remaining very flexible on that one," he says.
Do you really think the club can get 400 paying punters three times a week? "I know what people say about the comedy culture in Ireland and the fact that going to see stand-up is still not seen in the same easy, casual way it's seen in Britain, but I'm convinced that the quality of the acts will pull the crowds and, not to labour it, but the fact that the club is purpose-built is a great help. There'll be nothing getting in the way of the comedy, the way there can be in pubs sometimes. "But having said that, we're not going to make this into a corporate venue. Anybody who knows anything about me or my club knows there's a certain anarchic feel to everything I do and that will certainly be the case with The Laughter Lounge."
Where did the idea come from? "There's an Irish guy called Peter O'Mahoney who used to come to Up The Creek all the time and when he decided to open up a similar sort of club in Dublin he asked me to help out with booking the acts and all of that. Already the English comics who have played the venue have been raving about it and I think that's because Irish audiences appreciate the more clever, surreal stuff that they do and they can be a bit more imaginative and not use the sort of straightforward approach that they have to use on the highly competitive English circuit. "We've got a good mix of comics lined up also, apart from all the local talent, we'll be bringing in people like Steve Frost, who some people might know from doing the One Word Improv show with Eddie Izzard, and there are people like Miles Crawford, who might appeal to more mainstream tastes - he's done stuff like the National Lottery programme on television."
All very well it seems, but what about the Dublin-based comics who have seen similar ventures come and go before and have reasons to be a bit suspicious of hyped-up talk of "radically changing Ireland's comedy culture"? As a founder member of the semi-legendary Mr Trellis comedy trio, Barry Murphy was one of the people responsible for establishing The Comedy Cellar in the International Bar, Ireland's longest running comedy club and the birthplace of many a famous act.
"I've already played the club and while it is a bit strange to play in a cinema, I've been impressed by how formal and regimented the club is - it's very professional," says Murphy. "You usually get two types of comedy club, the one which is run by comics for comics, which is always a good idea and the one which is run by business people interested in making money - this club is a mixture of the two. "I think all the performers will enjoy the fact that there is no distraction or competition when you're on stage unlike other venues and that the people who come along to the shows are under no illusion that it's anything other than a comedy club. My only concern is that the entrance price of £10 is a bit steep, even if you're getting two hours of a show with four different acts but I think that may come down in the future," he says.
Why won't it go the way of other similar ventures then? "I think all the other previous attempts to bring this level of comedy and commitment have had to make a lot of money very quickly to justify their outlay. I know that about a quarter of a million was spent on The Laughter Lounge, but I think they have more of a long-term view of things. I think it will do well, I've certainly enjoyed playing it and it's the perfect size of venue for acts like Phil Kay - people who are on their way up to filling the Olympia. "But the most interesting thing will be seeing what sort of punter they get in," adds Murphy. "Will they get the sort of person who goes to the Comedy Cellar or will they get a new comedy audience? - we'll soon find out."
The Laughter Lounge on Eden Quay (the old Screen Cinema) officially opens tonight (9 p.m.) with a show that features Jo Brand, Steve Frost, Miles Crawford, Barry Murphy and Mark Doherty. The same five comics perform tomorrow night and Saturday night. Tickets are available on 1800 266339.
