The Cat Laughs Belfast had me in stitches from start to finish
With the top comedians performing in some of the best venues across the city, I had to check this out
Justin is our Youth Audience Lead and Content Creator. He can usually found trying out new restaurants, at a gig seeing a local artist or world class singer and out with his trusty red mic chatting to the public for our TikTok and Insta.
The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival will see over 40 top-class comedians perform across 26 unique shows for the first event of its kind in NI and I went along to check it out.
Started in Kilkenny, it is Ireland's longest-running and best-loved comedy event and is renowned for its format where headliner comedians perform on the same bill.
I headed along to the second 'Cat Laughs Gala' which was 1 of 3 that took place in the iconic Waterfront Hall on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This is the biggest event on each of the nights with the most comedians performing, so I took the opportunity to pack as much into one gig as possible.
Each event has an MC who keeps things running smoothly and then a range of big names on the bill throughout the gig.
The MC at my event was Colin Murphy from The Blame Game fame who was really great at getting everyone started - I've seen him a couple of times over the years and he always feels fresh and can really adapt to any audience and room.
I did feel for the front row with him in charge though!
Even though he was the MC, he wasn't short on the jokes and kept everyone laughing. A personal highlight from me was when he recommended that if you get lost up a mountain here that all you have to do is either walk down or just follow the smell of chips that flows through the air in this country.
First up on the bill was Mark McCarney and the local man really set the pace well in my opinion. He touched on growing up in the 90's and how your bully's in school, satisfyingly, never go on to do well in life - I thought he was absolutely brilliant and gave me many big laughs.
Actress and comedian Deirdre O'Kane was also here and when I she was one I was definitely looking forward to when I saw her name on the bill.
I'd not had the chance to see any of her shows until now and she did not disappoint on her first visit to The Waterfront Hall and I belly laughed when she talked about why men love their dogs so much (I'll not ruin the punchline in case you see her across the weekend or in the future).
When David O'Doherty walked out onto stage with a keyboard, I must admit I did roll my eyes a bit because my type of comedy typically isn't musical.
However, I am the first to admit when I am wrong and this was brilliant from his hat to describing himself as 'the Taylor Swift for men who don't iron their clothes', I thought he was great!
One of the people on the bill that I hadn't heard of was Alison Spittle and after this performance, I will definitely make a point to see her show again. When she talked about growing up in Ireland with an English father I laughed so hard tears started to form.
Closing out the night was none other than Neil Delamere and I don't like to say they saved the best for last because the standards were high here. He is consistently a class act on the comedy scene and didn't hold back on this night at all.
I thoroughly enjoyed this night at The Waterfront and the entire format of this was spot on.
It is so rare that you get to see so many 'headline' comedians on one bill so I cannot recommend it enough. Whether you get a chance to head to the remaining shows this weekend or one of the future festivals when it returns, you will not be disappointed.
It not only celebrates great comedy but also great venues across our fantastic city and anything that does that immediately gets my seal of approval.
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