The Fine Art Of Pulling Punchlines

Angolo: Mirth Maker

aving delivered one of the finest and funniest stand-up routines young GG has ever seen at a recent Harbour Bar stormer, it’s a joy to see Martin Angolo coming to town.

Regularly popping up on our tellyboxes, the wireless, podcasts (including his own, The Substantial Meal) and YouTube, but it’s on the stage where this award-winning Dublin comedian shines brightest.

Mainly because of all the lights.

Hitting the Bray Comedy Festival on Wednesday, February 11th, we finally managed to corner the ridiculously busy comedian to find out where the funny comes from, and where it’s going…

I never really wanted to be a comedian. I’d seen stand up on the TV growing up and there were some funny people but I never thought that I’d be someone who would do what they did. I thought the arrogance of these people to go on stage and act like they’re the funniest person in the room, they must be mentally ill. Having done stand up for nearly ten years I can confirm that I was right

I wanted to be a comedy writer from a young age. In primary school, I’d write short stories and characters, and occasionally when there was time to kill at the end of a school day, a teacher would let me read one of my stories and I’d get a couple of laughs.

School daze…

This continued in secondary school, where I’d make speeches where I was supposed to address serious topics like the state of the Irish language in our school, but I’d just write jokes about the teachers and get a few more laughs. Finally, in college I was writing ideas in my spare time for TV shows and radio comedies but I had no idea what I’d do with a script when I finished it.

Then I had the idea of doing stand-up as a way of seeing if my writing was in any way funny. By the time I finished college, I was starting to make money from the comedy scene, and I’ve been mostly getting more laughs than I did in school.

My main two goals haven’t changed since leaving college, and they are to get something funny I’ve written made, and make enough money from comedy so that I don’t have to get a real job. Ever.

Live stand-up comedy is both my favourite thing to do and one of the only things I’m good at. Here are some of the reasons why…

David O’Doherty
The first live comedian I ever saw in college who made me realise that you can do interesting stand-up that’s not exactly like a lot of the stuff you’d see on TV at that time. My ambition when I started doing stand-up was to open for David and to play Vicar Street, and a couple of years ago they both happened when he let me open for him during his four Vicar Street shows. He’s always coming up with new and interesting ideas and he’s one of the few musical comedians who’s just as funny doing songs as he is at just talking.

Sean Lock
In the 90s there was a wave of brilliant British comedians doing very funny alternative comedy like Harry Hill, Stewart Lee and Simon Munnery. All brilliant but for my money the best pure stand up of the bunch was Sean Lock. If there’s anyone right now that I can be accused of ripping off in terms of comedy style, then it’s probably him – but he’s dead now, so there’s a gap in the market.

Inside No. 9
Being a comedy writer was what I originally wanted to be so when I see very well written shows on TV I take notice. It’s very rare to find anything good on TV these days but consistently Inside No. 9 has been my favourite show of the last decade. Each episode is its own unique story written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton from The League of Gentlemen. Very hard to find isolated clips from the show so have linked a classic League of Gentlemen sketch.

Spike Milligan
Inventive, original and funny. Nothing more to be said for the man who inspired the silly comedy of Monty Python and Vic and Bob. He’s one of the most ripped off comedians in history for a reason.

Fran Lebowitz
A very quotable American wit. Being old at heart, I find a lot of what she says so relatable. If it’s the lack of interest in technology or the struggles with writing new material, then Fran probably has the best quote on the subject.

John Cooper Clarke
Iconic punk poet. What he’s inspired in me is to have your own style of delivery, make sure you have your own unique look and have the attitude that you are the best at what you do and hold yourself to a high standard. He also knows how to tell a good joke, which is fast becoming a lost art.

Norm Macdonald
Finally my go to for a laugh on YouTube late at night is to watch Norm Macdonald on American chat shows. He does exactly what comedians should do; he acts unpredictably and brings you into his world. When talk shows follow the same boring formula to see someone come in and shake it up is a lot of fun and Norm was the best.

You can catch Martin Angolo at The Harbour Bar on Wednesday, February 11th – tickets here – and follow the man on Instagram here, Twitter here, Facebook here and YouTube over here.