Cork is funny. No, really. Really funny.
For the past 7 years, comedian Chris O’Leary has been running Comedy Cavern in what he calls ‘the nicest room in the country to do comedy.’ He makes the case for Cork as the comedy capital of Ireland
It’s just over ten years since Chris O’Leary made his first tentative steps into comedy while living in London. The thought of being a comedian had never crossed his mind before “but when I saw it was available to do, I said I’d give it a go.”
Like most comedians starting out however, it wasn’t at all plain sailing. In fact, it was rough seas.
“I did five or six gigs over there, the first one went not great to say the least and then I did another one which was absolutely horrendous, but when I came home I felt it was something I’d like to do more of.”
This desire to do more stand up led O’Leary to establish the Comedy Cavern, a club that brings some of the best comedians in Ireland and abroad to a stage in Cork every week.
“We started in Coughlan’s pub about seven and a half years ago. At that time, there wasn’t much comedy outside of City Limits and Coco Comedy Club, which used to be only on Wednesday nights. Now and then new nights would start up, but there wasn’t much stability in the Cork scene.”
All of this has changed however and it’s no exaggeration to say the comedy scene in Cork is thriving.
“There are far more opportunities now. Especially post-Covid, when there was definitely a rise in audience numbers and a lot of people wanted to see comedy in the immediate aftermath of that, even though that might have levelled off by now.”
“Cork is a good place to be for a comedian. Possibly the best in the country, although there is a great scene up in Belfast too. There are more opportunities to gig here in Cork than anywhere else though.”
While O’Leary is originally from Belmullet in County Mayo he moved to Cork when he was nine years old.
“I could claim I was from here, but it wouldn’t feel right!”
What he has to say about the difference between the comedy scene in Cork and Dublin is not just capital city bashing; it’s much more measured and well thought out.
“Dublin is too crowded with people doing comedy and the gap between professional comedians and those just starting off is much wider. It’s also a very stratified city and it’s very natural in any environment for people to split into different tribes. I mean people who live in Dublin 4 wouldn’t know people in other parts of the city, whereas in Cork it’s more mixed.”
“There’s more open mics in Cork as well, which is a huge advantage and the nights are run quite professionally so the standard is higher in the city.”
It’s well known also that there’s a strong camaraderie between comedians in Cork, which O’Leary puts down to a couple of factors.
“If you go to any of the nights you get to spend time with people and if anyone is at the same level as you you’ll encounter them, so there’s a feeling of everyone pulling together.”
“I suppose as well there’s no feeling of an industry in Cork, there’s nothing to get from it except maybe laughs! And there’s a lot more freedom in that.”
“The stakes are arguably lower and we all get on well, as well as can be expected anyway, and everyone is trying to get better at the art of comedy and always looking to learn off from other people and it’s less bitchy than other places.”
Running the Comedy Cavern however, involves quite a bit of work and inviting full-time comedians to perform in Cork brings its own challenges because as things stand, there isn’t any funding available to comedians, a situation which O’Leary can see both pros and cons for.”
“To some degree one of the issues is that the marginal cost of putting on a night is zero. I have a background in economics so I know a small bit about this!”
“You can put on a show with no budget, you can flyer people on the street to get them in the door, whereas if you want to put on a stage show or a theatre production it’s completely different so I understand it from a financial perspective.”
“If the Arts Council were to fund money, you’d have to figure out why you are giving money to people. At the moment it seems to be stuck between either making a massive commitment to comedy or giving them nothing.”
“But at the end of the day what comedians need is an audience. You could get money to pay comedians in a festival, but you mightn’t necessarily get more of an audience. And you could say if a comedian was to apply to do a show in Edinburgh that it might be helpful to get some funding, but how do you assess the quality of their show?”
“It’s not like there’s a course you can do or a qualification to be a comedian! All you have to do is get up on stage, get people to laugh and you’re a comedian.”
Despite the lack of funding, O’Leary continues to grow the Comedy Cavern and is now well-established as someone who both nurtures new talent and brings bigger names to the city, all the while retaining his original passion for being on stage.
“It’s exciting getting in international acts and when they sell out it’s very satisfying and a vindication of sorts for all the work, but until it sells out I’m only thinking of that.”
“But getting to perform new material myself is still great and when I try out a new joke and it works it’s amazing.”
While the comedy scene goes from strength to strength in Cork, O’Leary is keen to stress some good fortune he’s had along the way in helping establish the Comedy Cavern as a place comedians of all levels want to come to perform.
Since starting the Comedy Cavern, O’Leary’s brought comedians such as Vittorio Angelone, Martin Angolo, Alfie Brown and Julie Jay to Coughlan’s Live.
“We’ve been incredibly lucky. Ninety per cent of the success we’ve had comes from using the venue in Coughlan’s.”
“Maybe sometimes an audience doesn’t appreciate that and it can go unnoticed, but Coughlan’s is, I think, the nicest room in the country to do comedy. It has a low ceiling, it gets packed easily and there’s just a great atmosphere in the pub.”
“And we do the open mics specifically so there’s a complete range of acts. It might be a complete beginner one night and someone who just played Live at the Apollo on another night, which is kind of unique and you don’t really get that elsewhere.”
To find out more about upcoming shows, check out the Comedy Cavern on their socials. Gigs are free unless otherwise stated.
