Neil turns torments into laughs for latest show

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

Neil Delamere, who returns to the Town Hall Theatre next Thursday night, was most recently in Galway in October for the city’s annual comedy festival.

During that visit, the Offaly comedian performed a 20-minute piece as part of a group show. This time it will be a 75-minute long solo outing so there will be 55 minutes of new material from his current show, he explains.

“It’s called Smartbomb; really it should have been called Six People who think less of Me this Year, but that wouldn’t fit on the poster”.

Smartbomb consists of anecdotes from Neil’s own life about people who “got on my goat last year”.

These include a nurse he encountered when bringing his granny to hospital. Clearly, he says, there is a language that medics and nurses speak that is not common among the rest of us and it’s a bit disconcerting

“So when she told me: ‘Your granny will be radioactive for about six hours – any questions?’, you bet I had questions!”

But that’s the joy of comedy, he says.

“If something goes wrong for most people, they just get annoyed and that’s it. I get annoyed but then my brain wonders ‘could I turn that into five minutes’?’.

Neil’s approach to creating material depends on the medium he is writing for. If it’s for weekly television shows such as RTÉ’s The Panel or The Blame Game on BBC, then it has to be about topical issues and involves reading all the newspapers.

“You have to research and think,” he says.

If it’s for touring as a stand-up, his approach is different.

“You have to think about what will be relevant for six months, so you go back to the stuff we all have in common like schooldays or the boss.  . .the best stuff is personal.”

While Neil is always conscious of entertaining his audience – “I’m aware people are donating their night to us [comedians], when they could be doing other things, and they pay our wages” – when he is writing his shows, he begins with jokes he finds funny rather than trying to please other people. You have to, he says, because audiences are intuitive and will know if something genuinely interests and tickles you.

Neil fell into comedy, having graduated from DCU with a degree in computer programming. The moment he did his first gig he was hooked.

“I just knew if I could earn X amount of money doing it – and it was a small amount – I’d give up my job.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.