My first time on stage in front of an audience: Our favourite female comics
Ahead of the Cat Laughs Festival, talks to some of our favourite female comics about their first time on a stand-up stage.
Joanne McNally
My entrance to stand up comedy was not through the traditional route. My first gig was on PJ Gallagher’s Concussion Tour in Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo, which is large.
I went out with a really surreal story about being a giant Orphan Annie and dancing with Oliver — it took me a few shows to realise people weren’t that into stories about the surreal.
I hope to God I’ve gotten better since then — I’d be really worried if I wasn’t! I feel like I am myself on stage now, but there’s always an edge to what you’re doing. They say it takes 10 years for a comic to find their voice. I don’t think any subject matter is off the table.
If it’s done well and humanely and its funny, then I think anything is up for grabs.
I think that with everything that is going on in the world at the moment, comedy is really suffering. Now people will err on the side of being offended and as a result, comedians are rethinking what they are saying because of the climate.
You do have to push back a little bit though. It’s a comedy gig – it’s not Mass, and I don’t think it’s helpful coming to a comedy without an open mind. We’re not oracles – we’re just comics!
Book tickets here.
Book tickets here.
Eleanor Tiernan
My approach to my first stand up gig was completely foolhardy and nobody should do this – I entered a competition in The Ha’Penny Bridge in Dublin.
As if the pressure of a gig wasn’t enough, I decided to put myself up against other comedians to be berated instead! To be honest, if I didn’t do it this way, I’m not sure I would have done it at all.
The first gig is such a thing to be gotten over that you have to find your way up there and do it. It doesn’t matter how it went — the fact that you got up and did it is what is important.
The other thing I did, which was quite good for me, actually, was that I invited everyone I knew to the gig. Other people would be a little more cautious and keep it more on the down low, but not me! Luckily, the people who came were really up for it and made it much easier for me.
I got through to the next round, so I wasn’t terrible. I’ve died plenty of times in that room since, and that would be pretty normal for your first year as a stand up, when you are trying to learn how to be better. I’m not for or against any particular subject matter, but how I approach a subject has changed.
At the beginning I would have been more of a character act, and in that sense I wasn’t free to interact with the audience that much. Now, my act comes more from the first person, and that gives me the freedom to understand the audience and give them what they want.
I think getting good at stand up is about trying to be as open and honest as you can; it’s always better when there is a risk to what you’re saying – that’s what the audience are there for.
Book tickets here.
Alison Spittle
My first gig was in Kavanaghs in Portlaoise. I worked at a radio station in Athlone and Bernard O’Shea was the breakfast DJ there. Keith Walsh worked there too, and Bernard challenged Keith and I to do stand up comedy and to support PJ Gallagher on his tour.
Keith gave me a lift down to Portlaois and we were both nervous, but we did it, and I fell in love with stand up comedy there and then.
I wasn’t that invested in it, because I didn’t see myself being able to make a career out of it, but once I did my first show, that all changed.
The adrenalin was like nothing I ever felt before.
The material was a big long story about my granny, and when I look back there probably were no punch lines in the whole thing – it was a giant anecdote. I probably did terribly, but I felt I did great.
These days, I understand more about what to perform for different audiences. Like, if an audience is really drunk, I know I’m going to have to ramp it up a bit. These are the skills you learn along the way.
The biggest lesson I have learned is not to be afraid of the audience; they are on your side and as a performer you are fully in control.
Book tickets here.
Hannah Mamalis
I had vaguely thought about doing stand up, and a friend put an alternative comedy show in Dublin called the The Black Hole In The Wall and asked me to perform a blog post that I had written. It was terrifying. It’s definitely a whole other thing to any other kind of performance.
It’s something that has stayed true over time for me, in that just before every stand up gig it feels like I am walking up to my death.
Then it’s brilliant; you might have a few minutes where you’re a little shaky and getting used to it, but once you’re up there, you are able to enjoy the buzz and connection with the audience. After that first gig I knew that this is what I wanted to do.
Confidence takes a bit longer. An audience doesn’t want to be looking at you and worried for you.
That’s the last thing you want your audience to feel for you; and it stops your connection with them, which is what makes the show what it is.
Book tickets here.
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