Maeve Higgins

The Irish women making TV's best comedies

From Channel 4's Derry Girls to RTE's Nowhere Fast, female-led Irish comedies are coming thick and fast. We talk to the people behind them, and ask if they can help drive societal change.

Maeve Higgins talks fart jokes and Iraqi comedy clubs

Comedy can be found in the unlikeliest of places.

Maeve Higgins interview

On a recent visit to Iraq, Maeve Higgins realised how important comedy is to people in difficult situations.

Why Maeve Higgins not planning a return to Irish soil

Comedian Maeve Higgins has no plans to return to Irish soil after relocating to New York last year.

January: comedian of the month #12 - Maeve Higgins

My first Comedian of the Month for the new year is the fantastically funny Irish star of The Alternative Comedy Experience, Maeve Higgins.

Radio Times review

As the title promises, these sessions from Edinburgh's Stand Comedy Club are the opposite of ordinary television comedy: rough around the edges, whimsical, occasionally controversial. This instalment is especially refreshing because it boasts an all-female line-up. Familiar faces Bridget Christie and Josie Long are joined by Maeve Higgins who has novel ideas about exercise, Helen Keen on modern relationships and self-professed "geek songstress" Helen Arney performing a surreal ode to the sun. Christie fans should tune in purely for her energetic tirade about Stirling Moss.

The Alternative Comedy Experience is a show 'curated' by Stewart Lee to showcase what he considers to be some of the most exciting stand-ups around today. As with most undertakings by Lee, this is in no way meant to pander to the general population. The show features a line-up of stand up comedians, cutting between sections of their material and backstage clips with Lee himself interviewing the acts. The line-up is predictably eclectic, this week featuring Andy Zaltzmann, Glenn Wool, Stephen Carlin, Sam Simmons and Maeve Higgins.

It's unlikely that you'll enjoy every stand up on each show, but the mix of styles and material mean that you are almost certain to find something that you will like, and maybe even discover someone you would not have previously considered. In earlier episodes I've greatly enjoyed Tony Law's routines, having previously discounted him based on certain panel show appearances.

Maeve Higgins was my highlight from this week's show, though, with a fantastically understated routine of ideas for films in which she could play the starring role. It was a real disappointment that her segment was so short, and I hope that we see more of her in next week's final episode. Andy Zaltzman and Glenn Wool were funny as usual, although in entirely different ways. Stephen Carlin seemed to rely too heavily on material derived from Scottish stereotypes, and didn't bring anything new to the table that we have not seen in some form or another before.

Unfortunately I just didn't 'get' Sam Simmons. Certain members of the audience seemed to really enjoy his incoherent rambling and energetic delivery, so I can't fault his appearance; this show is meant to push the boundaries of TV stand up, acting as almost an antithesis to shows like Live at The Apollo (which it directly follows on Comedy Central).

The thing I like most about this show, though, is not the acts, nor is it the short interview sections. It's the realism. Although the show is heavily edited, you really get a feel that it is being thoroughly honest; it's in a proper comedy club (it stresses this at the beginning), the audience are up for it but not overly forgiving, and when jokes don't land they don't leave them on the editing room floor.

One new panel show that is actually championing those very same creative comedians that are so loved on the live circuit is E4′s Show & Tell. Presented by Chris Addison, it simply invites comics to bring a few things in and talk about them in a humourous way - what's unusual is that the comics aren't the familiar shiny-suit, observational types or one-liner merchants that we're used to seeing on TV.

Take last week's line-up: Maeve Higgins, Nick Helm and Elis James. Excellent comedians, but hardly household names - and for this, the show is to be applauded. Because they're great! Charming, eloquent and all thoroughly deserving of this airtime, and each contributing to a genuinely lovely show that takes its time. Let's hope for a re-commission.