Self-described as "a big hairy culchie", the Sligo-born John Colleary has become something of a very familiar face around Ireland - thanks largely to the blistering satirical TV series The Savage Eye, along with the RTE music quiz show Hey Ho, Let's Go, a burgeoning acting CV, and all that fine stand-up work...
As usual, the interview took place over a casual pint/pot of tea in Dublin's much-loved city centre pub, Neary's. So, you know, it gets a little loud.


FUNNYhow? with John Colleary

 Having broken through with the sweetly incompetent hospital radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury, English comedy character creator TOM BINNS spent over a year preparing his phony psychic Ian D. Montfort. Which may explain why he's been so damn convincing at it. "Half the audience think I'm a real psychic, and I get people congratulating me on my powers afterwards. It's bizarre..

FUNNYhow? with Tom Binns

As the girls take their LockUp Your Husbands show on the road, we talk to The Nualas legendary Carmel, as she reveals just what it is that tickles her fancy. At least, we think that's what she said.

FUNNYhow? with Sue Collins

The sharp-dressed, razor-tongued AL PORTER has had quite the year, rising from panto pin-up through cult underground stand-up to the shiny, happy, old-school entertainer that you see today.
And it’s hard to miss Al Porter these days - as next month’s Vicar Street show Al Porter Is Yours has yet another date added, Al is busy bouncing between his daily appearance on 2FM’s Colm Hayes’ lunchtime show, guesting regularly on TV, and talking to just about every producer and publisher in the land, all keen to get on board before the Tallaght comedian goes full supernova.
To top it all, the grumpy Dave McSavage has even given our boy the thumbs up, regarding him as “one of the few comedians that actually make me laugh”. Nice.
We caught up with Al as he hurried from one such meeting so he could make it to RTE for his daily slot there. We were lucky to get him... 

FUNNY how? with Al Porter

From Joan Rivers to Katherine Ryan, from Roseanne to Jo Brand, it’s clear that funny girls come in just as many shapes and sizes as funny guys. So, why does Joanne McNally, on first inspection, seem to be something of an anamoly? A good-looking thirtysomething from a wealthy family, when this Killiney looker hits your average stand-up stage, it’s immediately plain that she’s not quite like the others. Especially if one of those others is her good mate, the potato-headed PJ Gallagher.
It’s a twist that McNally has been using to her advantage as she builds up a fanbase, touring the country extensively with PJ and Eric Lalor on last year’s Concussion tour.
Now, as McNally puts the finishing touches to her upcoming solo tour, and continues her growing on-the-road education with Gallagher again, in Separated At Birth, a show the pair co-wrote, this rising comedienne takes time out to talk with IFTN’s Paul Byrne about being funny, being female, being Ferroro Rocher and being flatulent. We may have made that last one up.

IFTN

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