Ahead of the Beyond the Pale music festival, we caught up with Irish comedian Abandoman to discuss his long-standing love of hip-hop and comedy, and how he learned to fuse the two.
Once described as "Flight of the Conchords meets 8 Mile", Abandoman (aka Rob Broderick) is a freestyle hip-hop-comedy-mash-up act that is not to be missed.
Fusing his love of stand-up with freestyle rap, the Dublin man has a unique way of entertaining and amazing his audiences.
Speaking over the phone from his home in London, Broderick reflects on his time growing up in Ireland, and says that his love of hip-hop - which was considered fairly niche at the time - was the result of a friend he made at Irish college.
"I went to Irish college and there was a guy who would play Body Count, which was Ice-T's metal band - really good, a lot of storytelling songs - and it was around the time that people were fusing metal with hip-hop."
"And so we woke up every day to pretty graphic songs," he laughs. "We would wake up, four of us in the room, and two of them were the wild lads of Irish college. They were the type that you should enjoy while you can because they'll be sent home in four days, but they lasted the distance!"
"I loved it, I loved the storytelling. When I left that Irish college, I went and got Snoop's first album on tape, and I remember listening and thinking to myself 'I didn't think you're allowed to say that'."
Returning home from Irish college, the award-winning performer says his love for hip-hop continued but always felt a little out of place given his surroundings.
"I remember the moment that hip-hop went to Irish radio and I found the turn so weird. It was weird that this thing I was really obsessive about was now everywhere, with lads aware of Puff Daddy," he laughs.
As well as immersing himself in the world of hip-hop, Broderick found himself increasingly intrigued by the story-telling aspect of stand-up.
Visiting the Comedy Cellar of The International in Dublin from the young age of 17, he would study some of the country's finest performers including Des Bishop and Dara Ó Briain.
"I remember it being such a small room and I remember being blown away by the improv skills of both Des and Dara. Finding out we were underage one night, Dara did a whole routine on the Leaving Cert Irish picture exam - I thought it was amazing."
Putting his fears aside, Broderick stilled his shaking legs long enough to give stand-up a go. Rather than abating his worries, though, the gig was so disasterous, he'd rather blank it from his memory.
"It was just a disaster so I moved country," he says, describing his move to London at the age of 23. "Five-minute spot and about three minutes in I went 'I need to get my passport out because there are 20 people here who have now seen this'."
"We don't deal well with shame in this country," he deadpans.
Once settled in London, with a sound-engineering degree to his name and a strong sense of Irish shame to fuel his next venture, Broderick auditioned for a freestyle theatre show that he now describes as his "confidence shift".
Touring for eighteen months alongside a line-up of acclaimed musicians and artists including Bashy, Jonzi D, and Delroy Lindo, the Dublin man says he finally found a way to meld his two loves.
"I was really passionate about both of them, but it still took ages to put them together. After that tour where I was freestyling every day with that group, I really enjoyed it, and I managed to marry it with stand-up."
Under the name Abandoman, Broderick went on to find success across both the UK and Ireland, winning the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year and Best Comedy Newcomer at the Adelaide Fringe, and headlining massive festivals such as Glastonbury, Latitude, and Reading.
Despite the popularity of his lockdown sessions on Instagram Live during the pandemic, and landing a TV gig on The Deirdre O'Kane Show on Sky, Broderick insists that festivals and interacting with crowds are his favourite parts of the job.
"I really enjoyed the online gigs during lockdown, but I had completely forgotten how much energy a crowd gives you."
"I love music festivals. I love that thing of people being sat down... it's such a different energy to a comedy club, they're not there just for comedy, they're kind of passing through. Some are there for you and some just want to see where it goes - and when it goes off, it really goes off."
"Beyond the Pale is my first summer festival this year, so I'm really excited about it," he adds. "It seems to have come together really quickly and the music line-up is really interesting."
"My main experience of music festivals in Ireland has been so positive. It's such a sycophantic thing but it is genuine," he laughs, praising the Irish crowds for their energy.
One of the hip-hop comic's most popular acts at festivals is one that I can personally attest to being mind-blowingly entertaining.
Searching through pockets and handbags for the "weirdest" objects possible and holding them in the air, the audience becomes a part of the show as Broderick walks through the crowd, rapping about the oddities as he passes.
His mind, it seems, works at warp speed to connect this array of pens, keys, CVs, lipstick lids, bus tickets, and chewing gum wrappers into a coherent storyline - all in real-time.
"Sometimes I can't figure out why a word is in my brain, and it's that I had seen a sign and it phonetically rhymes with it," he muses, reflecting on the inner workings of his mind.
"I feel like now it's the easiest thing. I've always been really passionate about it, it was never a learned thing. And then, I think there's a weird correlation between a love of phonetics when I was a child - I was taught how to read through phonetics - and it could be wrong, but I've always found freestyling very easy."
Abandoman is at the Beyond the Pale festival in Glendalough from June 10th - 12th - find out more here.
