From New York to Sligo , via Kilkenny!

Craic in the Box, the monthly comedy night at The Model, is well known for the high calibre of the comedians it brings to Sligo with the crème of Irish comedy being joined by Canadian, English and Australian comedians over the past year.  It is then no surprise that June sees one of the biggest names on the American circuit, Dom Irrera, coming to Sligo for the first time.

In the country for the Smithwicks Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival, which took place last weekend, Dom Irrera is a comedy giant in the US .  As experienced as he is funny, his face may not be as recognisable as some high visibility tv comics but that’s because Dom largely ignores TV and film requests to stay on the stage, his real love.   Not that the screen offers don’t come thick and fast, with a specially written part in Seinfeld and a featured role in The Big Lebowski among just two of the offers he has accepted. 

Nicknamed “The Godfather” of comedy, probably because he looks like he just walked of the set of The Sopranos, he is a vicious, aggressive and constantly hilarious stand up legend. Teaching audiences a lesson in sarcastic genius, he dishes out helpings of bad taste humour with a forgivable grin and his focus on stand up means his material is always fresh and always funny.

Joining Dom will be relative newcomer to these shores, Kevin Meaney.   A big name in the US he made a rapturous debut at Kilkenny last weekend.  In his own words he was “born to entertain”, from his earliest days as a singing altar boy at Mass, he's gone on to achieve mass appeal for his singular brand of comedy that includes acting out stories, musical flights of fancy and telling tales on the family.

As the Washington Post said, "Picture the precocious love child of Jonathan Winters and Ethel Merman and you have some idea of Kevin Meaney's act." It's no wonder then that he's one of the top draws on the comedy scene today spreading goodwill and madcap humour wherever he goes.

From his early years doing stand-up in San Francisco and Boston (his two comedy homes) he's gone on to become a top headliner on the club circuit and has amassed an impressive list of credits along the way. His first HBO special in ' 86 catapulted him to the forefront of the comedy scene. That same year he was cast in the feature film, "Big" opposite Tom Hanks. His second HBO special soon followed along with appearances on "Letterman", "Goodmorning America ," "Live With Regis And Kathy Lee" and more.