This and that

Last night I competed in The Kilkenny Festival's "Comedy Talent Search"; Craic Attack! at the Black Box, in Belfast. 13 competitors were vying for a spot in the semi-finals in Dublin, in order to be in with a chance to gig in Kilkenny on the 25th May.

Comedy competitions are odd; they tend to take the fun out of comedy, which seems a bit redundant as there's plenty of pre-existing things about doing comedy that will take the fun out of it soon enough. Any gig is already enough of a popularity contest without the need for it to be an actual popularity contest. All this aside, it's all good; it's a gig for those who take part and (hopefully) someone who deserves the spot at Kilkenny will get it.

Old and new hands of Northern Irish comedy were there last night, and it was genuinely pleasing to see the blanket support all the comics gave to one another before and after each other got up and then off the stage. With 13 folks doing 5-7 mins each of their best made for a great night. I would have enjoyed it more if I weren't on second to last and wasn't stressing out for most of the second half. In the end, Mr Lorcan McGrane Esq (PhD Pending) triumphed and is through to the semi-final in Dublin, either on the 16th or 17th May, check out the website for details if you fancy going. Failed Human Morgan Hearst and Pun-Liner Maestro Sean Hegarty were runners up. Congrats!

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I've been busy lately gigging around in preparation for The Norwich Fringe Festival 2011, where myself, Ruaidhrí Ward and Lorcan McGrane are due to do our one man shows, during the 26th - 28th May period. Rua and Lorcs have recently performed their shows again at The Black Box in Belfast, whereas mine has yet to make its debut.

Named "I Was Dark And It Was Drunk", the same name of this blog, the blurb for the show goes thus:

"Marcus Keeley is a stand-up, writer, poet, film-maker and general dissenter. He relays his estranged musings on contemporary life and his own personal failures in an irrepressibly cynical, deviant and charming fashion."

Suitably vague, I'm sure you'll agree. I've got a lot of the bits and pieces of the show, the work in the next few weeks will be to put it all together, perhaps with a narrative, perhaps not. I'll be incorporating a very Voicebox-style feel to it (read: ramshackled), with videos, poetry, powerpoint, and so on, It's always nicer to feel like there's a story or you've "learned" something, rather than a series of disconnected gags.

The comedy line up at Norwich looks pretty good this year, with the likes of Wil Hodgson, Andrew O'Neill and Peep Show's Isy Suttie. Check out the official website here!

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More or less a year since, I'll be back at The Empire doing a quick 5-7 mins. Although I think this time round I'm listed as "Marcus Keely" as opposed to "Macus Keeley" last year, on the website and elsewhere. Interestingly (or not) "Macus" is how Detective Monk pronounces my name, so at least I can pretend he's storming about behind the scenes at The Empire, sitting people down, making them a cup of tea then demanding to know where their cars are parked. I'm looking foward to it, last time I was bricking it and massively nervous and was very surprised and pleased when I did it. As far as I know I'm on with our very own Liam Watson and Scotland's Mark Nelson. It's all kicking off on Tuesday the 26th of April.

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Just in case you want to hear about all of that above and more, check out the excellent comedy podcast Failed Human with Morgan Hearst. It's episode 5 and this time it's my turn to gibber on about comedy and other such nonsense. Check out previous episodes for even funnier people!