Ahead of his appearance at this year's Cat Laughs festival in Kilkenny, we asked comic Gearoid Farrelly for his choice cultural picks...
FILM
I am actually sick of going to see awful blockbusters. The world doesn’t need another superhero movie. My other half loves sci-fi and I am not a fan. Thankfully I like popcorn so the evening isn’t a total write-off. I recently watched Hello, My Name is Doris on a plane and I absolutely loved it. Just a well-written film with great characters and a really sweet story.
MUSIC
My favourite albums from the past few months are Sandi Thom’s Ghosts which is absolutely amazing and These Are The Days by Jann Arden. I’m a sucker for a girl with a guitar. Jann Arden is huge in Canada and has had about 15 albums and I know every note. I interviewed her last year and we’ve been pals ever since.
When I get a new album I tend to put it on repeat for about a week until I know it inside out and these are two recent ones that I absolutely love. I think now is a great time to be buying music because physical CDs and vinyls are back. Wahoo!
BOOK
I just finished reading Straight Jacket by Matthew Todd. It is about growing up gay in a world that is designed for straight people. It is absolutely brilliant. It is a must-read not just for gay people but for every teacher and parent in the country.
PLAY
The last play I saw was Company in the West End. It was updated to have a female lead and it was excellent. I’m going to see Avalanche at the Barbican in a couple of weeks. I absolutely love Maxine Peake, who stars in it.
TV
I recently watched Huge in France and Special on Netflix and really liked both of them. I am also always in the middle of either Fraiser or Golden Girls. I watch an episode every night before bed. They are both the best sitcoms ever written. I think that is accepted about Fraiser, but Golden Girls is on a par.
GIG
I’m very excited about this year's Cat Laughs line-up. I actually don’t go to that many gigs, but the one that I am still not recovered from was the Bananarama reunion tour last year. I saw them on opening night in Belfast and they were amazing. Thank god for the credit crunch - all the greats are back on the road!!
ART
I always head along to the open call exhibition at the RHA. You never know what you are going to see. Also, my pal Sam has painted a collection of Irish farm animals and I love his stuff.
PODCAST
My favourite Podcast of all time was Ronna & Beverly. It was absolutely hilarious. They’re not doing new episodes at the moment but Beverly (Jamie Denbo) has done a spin-off series for Stitcher Premium called Beverly In LA and I fell of a treadmill laughing at the first episode. That is a good endorsement, I think. In Irish podcasting anything Liam Geraghty does is amazing. I love his show Meet Your Maker. I make a podcast called Fascinated where I talk to my favourite pop singers, which I absolutely love making. I’m making the 6th season of it at the moment. If you like to know what happened to a 90s pop groups look no further!
TECH
My most recent tech purchase was a Eufy 30 robot vacuum cleaner. I always thought they would be useless but my brother assured me this one was brilliant and he is right. Hoovering is a thing of the past in our house. Though it recently knocked over my cat's bowl and hoovered up her food and she almost lost her mind. She was actually shaking with rage and hitting it.
THE NEXT BIG THING
Jann Arden has a sitcom called Jann which has just started in Canada. It is from the makers of Schitt’s Creek. It’s dark and sad but very funny. At the moment it’s the number one new comedy in Canada. She sent me cuts of the full season about a month ago and it absolutely blew me away. I think that will be huge when it lands on a streaming service. You heard it here first! It is absolutely worth checking out...
The Cat Laughs runs from 30 May - 3 June - find out more here.
