"At first, I was annoyed that they didn't have me last year, but then I was informed that this is the first year they've had the comedy, so I thought 'okay, fair enough'," Emma Doran deadpans.
The comedian is set to perform at this year's Beyond The Pale Music & Arts festival in the beautiful Glendalough Estate, Wicklow from June 16th-18th.
As well as performances from Grace Jones, Hot Chip, Thundercat, Jon Hopkins, Pillow Queens, Candi Staton, Flight Facilities, and many more musical acts, this year's event will see a comedy tent filled to the brim with Irish talent including Deirdre O’Kane, Panti Bliss, Gearoid Farrelly, Stephen Mullan, Sharon Mannion, Chris Kent, Grace Mulvey and Ali Hardiman’s Electric.
School Tour pic.twitter.com/DcEqexXaxL
— Emma Doran Comedian (@EmmaLouDoran) May 9, 2023
"There's loads of women on the comedy line-up so I'm looking forward to it. Plus it's only a skip down the road, I like festivals that aren't far away because I'm getting old now," she laughs.
Doran will be performing material from her latest show, Mad Isn't It, which will be landing in Vicar Street in September.
In her latest show, the Dublin woman reflects on what just happened in her life. One minute she was an 18-year-old stumbling off the Waltzers in Courtown, and now she's hurtling through her late 30s with a 20-year-old daughter and two young kids.
"I have a 20-year-old daughter who is studying Psychology in UCD," she muses. "So, for any mothers with daughters who are teens or going into your 20s, you're kind of careful about what you're saying anyway, but the fact that she's studying psychology, I feel like I'm being analysed at all times."
"It's kind of like a wild animal, I try not to make direct eye contact," she jokes. "She's great, she's heading off to London at the end of the week so she has a great life. At her age I had a two-year-old, so she's dead right, of course, she should be off having fun."
Mad Isn't It follows the story of how Doran's youthful hunt for freedom "backfired" and resulted in the greatest responsibility of her life.
"I went off to explore and got as far as Courtown," she says dryly. "It stunted the partying, let's say."
Although her teenage self would scarcely believe how life turned out, Doran says she's loving life since she "quit the day job" and went-full time in comedy.
As well as performing as a stand-up comedian, Doran co-hosts a podcast with broadcaster Muireann O'Connell, creates sketches for social media, starred in RTÉ's No Worries If Not, and recently landed a spot on LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland, a six-part Prime Video comedy hosted by Graham Norton.
Thrilled to announce I'm on the bill for Last One Laughing: Ireland with all these rides
— Emma Doran Comedian (@EmmaLouDoran) May 25, 2023
Its a show where I try and make everyone else laugh without cracking up myself 🤫 #LastOneLaughingIreland pic.twitter.com/td9DdUUPHr
All in all, she's keeping busy.
"I'll be doing festivals for the summer, I'm going to London in June, and then the last go of the show in Vicar street before I start thinking about the new tour. It's such a dream come true. When I started standup, I couldn't have said that the dream was to do Vicar Street because I just wouldn't have thought it was a possibility to be 100 per cent honest."
To find info on Beyond the Pale, click here.
