BCG at the Vodafone Comedy Carnival 2018, Part 2

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Monday 5th November 2018

<-- Part 1

Mystery Coaches and the Karlnivals

A brisk Saturday morning brings us to Eyre Square and an event unique to the Vodafone Comedy Carnival: The Wild Atlantic Wahey Mystery Tour, which we'll discuss in more detail elsewhere. In a nutshell, though, two buses helmed by comedy tour guides take craic-happy locals to three pubs along Connemara's spectacular Wild Atlantic Way, each of which have a secret comedian in them. Comics one and two are easy to guess - they're on the bus - but the final act is already there awaiting us in the village of Spiddal: a certain wild-haired punsmith, whose appearance raises local eyebrows. Top fun.

Also warping the tour theme this weekend are the Comedy Club Crawl - which is similar to the Wahey one, but takes in several of the city-centre's top comedy venues, without the bus - and Karl Spain's Open Top Bus Tour, which is like one of those regular city tours, but with the eponymous comic's own take on Galway's many noteworthy bits, from the green-domed cathedral to the Spanish arch (no relation).

Spain is also the man behind the Karlnival, a busy late-night bash where the onstage comics do whatever they fancy and loads of others pitch up for a post-show pint. Our first Karlnival experience is on Saturday night, where the bill is impressive, but can't quite compete with the previous evening, which had one of the best mixed-bill line-ups, ever: Dylan Moran, Rhys Darby, Rich Hall and Glenn Wool, among others. Crikey.

Tonight's is great too: Andrew Maxwell and Angela Barnes bemoaning the big issues, Kerry Godliman and Abigoliah Schamaun keeping things closer to home, Milton Jones punning contentedly and Paul Currie finishing off with four new earworms in the space of one panda-based routine. Meanwhile Karl offends anyone foolish enough to sit near the front.

Thankfully we eschewed the traditional go-home-on-Sunday city-break tradition and booked Monday flights instead: good decision, it turns out, as this Galway Sunday is an absolute belter. Two fantastic solo outings first, kicking off with Phil Nichol's hugely acclaimed Your Wrong, pared down to a tight 70 minutes tonight which certainly doesn't do it any harm.

This is as good as stand-up gets, as the one-time Edinburgh Comedy Award winner mixes a cliff-hanging story with a bravura display of his on-stage skills, from serious acting to some seriously impressive punchlines. Tremendous work.

Hairy Mayhem and Massive Heads

It's a memorable afternoon for the aforementioned Paul Currie, next, as he performs his first ever Best Of show in the Mick Lally. This is an all-ages affair with a kid-heavy front row, but still features the wild-haired Northern Irishman's 'serious juggling' social commentary bit, medieval-style puppet torture and a conspicuously naked Ken doll. The adults largely wet themselves while the cool kids try to pretend they're above this kind of thing but eventually suck it up and throw themselves into it too.

We grab a chat with Currie afterwards, who fills us in on the Macnas parade that will pack the streets an hour later. As a puppeteer himself (Currie's latest show Hot Donkey is about him working for Jim Henson's company), he's collaborated with Macnas, who were previously best known for U2's big heads. Now their parade is one of Ireland's must-see events.

"It was set up by a bunch of crazy eccentric artists," he says, as we grab a seat among his post-show chaos, "and it's just the most beautiful thing, because it runs through the middle of Galway. And the Galway streets - as you've probably noticed - are quite narrow. But they give it full welly, like you're in the middle of Buenos Aries."

He's not wrong. Well, the temperature definitely isn't Amazonian as we wait a good hour or so for the wee-and-you'd-miss it parade, which probably lasts about 15 minutes, but it's absolutely worth it: a wonderful array of gasp-inducing figures and floats on the theme of 'transformation.' The first thing we spot is a winged guy flying above the floats, followed by huge wolves, an inner-lit child-man, a bucking winged Pegasus and a huge grumpy guy vaguely reminiscent of the wife's dad. Lovely, and scary. The parade, that is.

One last mixed-bill show before we go, at Galway's legendary live venue, Roisin Dubh. Tanyalee Davis is in good form, flirting with a front row fellah and fuming at public transport; Phil Nichol does a naughtier club set than his thoughtful full-length show, then Reginald D Hunter wraps it up, having enjoyed a unique Galway experience. He'd headlined at the An Droighneán Donn pub on the Wahey mystery tour a few hours before, over in Spiddal. It's a long way from Georgia.

Loudly leading the laughing at the back of the Roisin Dubh this evening, though, is Jamie Bowen. He'd begun our Galway entertainment with that Rhys Darby warm-up slot on Thursday evening, and has hung around to support his fellow acts. That's the spirit.

The Vodafone Comedy Carnival will return to Galway in 2019. vodafonecomedycarnival.com