It's official - Instagram is the home of fresh Irish comedy. And with a craic squad of Insta-famous comics currently rocking our screens in RTÉ's hilarious new sketch show No Worries If Not!, we thought we'd point you in the direction of 5 funny feckers well worth a follow...
Dublin comic Tony Cantwell was being funny on social media as far back as Snapchat's heyday. In fact, many of his early sketches used that medium’s wacky filters. It made for some seriously bonkers (but downright hilarious) scenarios, including Homer Simpson as an Irish dad, and his infamous 'Ploon’ sketch (look it up). These days, he still uses Instagram filters in his sketches - his recent skit inserting himself into a scene from Star Wars was superb - but has also broadened his remit. Cantwell’s oeuvre now includes a successful stand-up career, a podcast (Tony Cantwell’s Hit Show) and a fake morning entertainment show called Get Up Ta F**k, starring several other Irish comics. If off-the-cuff surrealist humour is your thing, he’s one of the best we have to offer.
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He came to prominence on Twitter as the pandemic took hold in 2020, pigeonholing him as a 'Covid comedian' by default - but Shane Daniel Byrne stayed the course and forged his own niche as we regained some degree of normality this year. Byrne’s background is in theatre, which gives him an edge over many of his peers when it comes to inhabiting characters. His hilarious ‘Mammy of God’ sketch - where he plays Mary on the phone to a pal, filling her on on Jesus’s escapades over Easter weekend - is the one that got everyone talking, but his work elsewhere (including as co-host of the aforementioned GUTF morning show with Tony Cantwell) is stellar, too.
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The thing we love most about Justine Stafford is that she manages to make the everyday funny. Whether she's doing an impression of a lecherous uncle, reviewing a packet of crisps, poking fun at feminist tropes, or giving a dramatic telling of the infamous Aoife McGregor voicemail, she nails the nuance of every sketch beautifully. Her Twitter account is also worth following for the occasional zinger. Stafford’s comic timing marks her out as one to watch - and with her first TV sketch show under her belt in the aforementioned No Worries if Not!, the Meath woman is surely destined for bigger things.
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Not many comedians affectionately refer to Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald as 'ma' on social media, but it epitomises Darren Conway’s comedy style. The poker-faced Dubliner’s comedy career took off when he began uploading short sketches on Twitter in 2020, after years of building an audience on Facebook. His snappy, deadpan shorts - many of them featuring him playing two bumbling characters with opposing views - won over a new legion of fans, while his amusingly awkward style undoubtedly sets him apart. It earned him and his fellow comic Joe McGucken (with whom he also hosts the Stall It podcast) their own RTE Player sketch show, Darren & Joe’s Free Gaff (watch it here).
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There's no doubt about it: Peter McGann is a bit weird. Then again, that’s also the reason that the Dublin writer, actor and comedian is so damned funny. McGann’s deadpan style finds hilarity in mundanity, while his occasional use of filters (best seen on his 'Statement from the Minion Community’ and ‘Woody (from ‘Toy Story’) at an afters he wasn’t invited to’ sketches) gives his material a undoubtedly surrealist tinge. He’s also got some serious acting chops, as seen on the aforementioned ‘Darren & Joe’s Free Gaff’.
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