This much I know: Gearóid Farrelly, comedian

Gearoid Farrelly started doing standup in secret.  

I started doing standup in secret. I was doing a degree in Business Studies but left after the diploma to do a Masters in Theatre Studies. That opened my mind. I did amateur plays and musicals in college and progressed onto doing one-man shows. Then I began writing my own sketches and when I was offered a spot at an open mic night I thought, why not?

I hope nobody has a recording of any kind of that first stand-up gig — that’s my worst nightmare. I used to play these terrible characters. I wore a polo shirt and a woolly jumper that night and, as I actually went down pretty well and because I’m superstitious, I insisted on wearing the same outfit for countless gigs after that, even though it was often so boiling that I thought I’d die.