The story of the past eighteen months in the history of DU Comedy Society is one which has been reported in both this paper and its local rival before, so it’s not worth dwelling on here. But, as a short synopsis, jump back to April of 2007 as three friends who have met through the Students’ Union share a pint in a city bar and discuss the events of the past year. One of them is soon-to-be Comedy Soc chair Eoin O Braoin, who shares his plan to revive the society, which had been mostly inactive for the previous ten years.
The story of the past eighteen months in the history of DU Comedy Society is one which has been reported in both this paper and its local rival before, so it’s not worth dwelling on here. But, as a short synopsis, jump back to April of 2007 as three friends who have met through the Students’ Union share a pint in a city bar and discuss the events of the past year. One of them is soon-to-be Comedy Soc chair Eoin O Braoin, who shares his plan to revive the society, which had been mostly inactive for the previous ten years.
His two colleagues divvy up the roles of secretary and treasurer and they set about recruiting a committee that can best develop the society. Just over a month later, they hold an AGM in a Botany Bay corridor and start planning what they hope to be a new life for the society. Over 1,000 sign-ups, six huge gigs, one rather humourous magazine and some pretty wacky improv classes follow in the coming year, which places the society as one of the bigger players on the College scene.
Fast forward to Freshers’ Week of this year and the society, off the back of the deliverance of the previous year’s committee, finds itself in much stronger stead to recruit members and to put on top quality events. Freshers’ Week saw DU Comedy run an event every evening, including two free gigs (one featuring PJ Gallagher, Aidan Bishop and the other featuring a host of top student comedians), Trinity’s first Rock, Paper, Scissors Championship, a sell-out gig with If.Comedy Award winner David O’Doherty and the biggest event of the week – the O2 Headphone Disco. The 700 sign-ups of Freshers’ Week 2007 were more than trebled to just over 2,500 and the current buzz around the society is greater than anyone who took part in that corridor AGM could have ever imagined.
The work now begins to take the success of Freshers’ Week and build on it to bring a great year of activity to our members. Already on the agenda are more huge gigs and some unique nights out.
In the immediate future, we have a Roller Disco on Tuesday 14th October in Dandelion, at Stephen’s Green, an event which you probably won’t see the like of again in your time in college. The following week, on Wednesday 22nd, we host one of the elder statesmen of Irish comedy, Karl Spain, as he performs in a double-header with Jarlath Regan, a new comic star on the rise. In later gigs, we’ll be bringing in ‘Father Ted’ star Ardal O’Hanlon and ‘The Panel’ mainstay Andrew Maxwell, who sold out his Trinity gig in just 24 hours last year.
After the success of our magazine ‘Goldfish’ last year, we’ll be producing three issues of it over this academic year. The magazine sets out to be the high quality satirical magazine which Trinity students have always deserved but never received. The target launch date of the first issue is November 12th which means that students who are interested in taking part should get in touch now. We need designers, illustrators and writers and we’d encourage anyone with any interest to get in touch. You can find out more by e-mailing [email protected].
Another big aim of ours this year is to give our members a start in comedy, through classes in comedy writing, stand-up and improv. We’ve managed to attract some of the best teachers around who have agreed to get involved and the classes will begin during this term.
Topping this all off, we’ll be running a ‘King of Comedy’ competition to find a new comic talent in our midst and a ‘Best Comic Short’ competition, in association with DU Filmmakers. We will also be hoping to build a strong community within the society which can carry it to bigger and better things in future years.
As you read this, the Comedy Soc committee is working on new ideas for how we can make your sides split with joy and you can expect to hear much more over the coming months. For information on what we’re getting up to next, keep your eye on www.ducomedy.com or come to one of our stands over the next few weeks and join up.
