The Vodafone Comedy Festival kicks off on Thursday. The festival, running over the next four days at Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens, features more than 120 comedians from Ireland and across the world. Those attending can expected side-splitting laughs from homegrown acts including Tommy Tiernan, David O’Doherty, Jason Byrne, Aisling Bea and Deirdre O’Kane. The festival will showcase rising Irish comedic talents such as Danny O’Brien, Julie Jay, Aoife Dooley, Catherine Bohart, Davey Reilly, Ryan Cullen, Martin Angolo and Ashlee Bentley.
Michael Kosta (The Daily Show), Joe List (Netflix's The Stand-Ups), Rory Scovel, Michael Che (Saturday Night Live), Kate Berlant and Fern Brady will lead the international line-up. The event will be MC'd by Bernard O'Shea, Karl Spain, Tara Flynn amongst others.
In support of the Irish comedy club scene, the festival will host The Comedy Crunch, Chaplins, The Workmans Comedy Club, Cherry Comedy, Dublin Improv Comedy, INN Jokes, The Comedy Cellar & The International Comedy Club.
Podcasts
Acclaimed podcasts such as The Blindboy Podcast, Jarlath Regan's An Irishman Abroad and The Alison Spittle Show will make an appearance, and the Turning Pirates with their band of musicians and street entertainers will amuse festival goers throughout the weekend.
For those who want to save a bit of cash, the festival’s Laughter Lab will hold 10 free shows over the four days. If you are looking for a more intimate gig check out the Horsebox Theatre, which only seats four guests, for some Victorian splendour.
There will be four new festival tents this year – The Gas Station, The Punchline, The Funny Bone and The Jokeshop.
A number of bars will serve non-alcoholic beverages, beer, wine, prosecco and spirits at the event. Food will be supplied by Kerala Kitchen, Dog House and Burger Republic.
Friday and Saturday’s shows will take place at 4.30pm, 7pm and 9.30pm. Sunday’s shows: 4.30pm, 7.30pm and 8pm. The events will take place across five fully seated venues.
Each event is ticketed separately. Prices range from €20-€30. For more details see www.ticketmaster.ie. Some 20,000 people are expected to attend the four-day festival, which is strictly an over 18s event. As it is a ticketed event, you cannot visit the Iveagh Gardens unless you are taking part in the festival.
Vodafone Comedy Festival 2018 is at Iveagh Gardens, off Harcourt Street, Dublin, from July 26th to 29th. vodafonecomedy.com
