The Hardy Bucks are bringing their raw and ready brand of comedy to Dublin's Vicar Street next month with a live show that star Owen Colgan - aka Buzz McDonnell - promises will be "no holds barred".
The much-loved comedy troupe will be performing a potent mix of stand-up, music and drama for the show on Sunday April 22, which Colgan says will feature some of the core cast members just "having the craic".
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment, the comedian and writer said: "Well, we have a new Vicar Street show coming up in Vicar Street, which is a great coincidence.
"It's going to be myself, Eddie Durkan, Salmon's going to be there, so is The Boo and Frenchtoast. It's going to be like a live episode onstage.
"All of us, ensemble - whatever that means, I don't know - and we're going up onstage, just having the craic and giving a unique, fresh, interesting episode, no holds barred onstage."
With the fourth series of Hardy Bucks currently airing on RTÉ2, Colgan told us that writing for a live stage show is quite different than for TV, where they have the freedom to improvise a lot of their lines.
"When you're on TV you're thinking you can do more cuts, but when it's onstage you get one go, so there's a bit more energy there. It's more exciting, but you definitely have to write it in a way that gives you a bit more safety," he said.
"I don't know what that means, but it sounds good."
The one-chance element of stage shows definitely means there are more nerves on the night.
"When it's on camera you can do ten takes and it's fine. But when it's onstage you get one go. So the risk is more, but the reward is more as well. It's probably more fun onstage because you get an instant reaction from the crowd."
Is there more of a sense of what the audience likes onstage too?
"I'd love to say yes, but no, because there's almost no science to it. Once you think you have the crowd and you're like, 'Oh yeah, I know what to do here' then you lose them," Colgan said.
"It's almost like, you're always trying to grab onto something and it's hard to grasp. But, I suppose, that's where the excitement is. Definitely with the script, it's very funny, because when we're reading through we're always laughing. Hopefully the crowd will enjoy it and we'll try to make it as spontaneous as possible.
"We are a bit raw and ready and rough, but at the end of the day we're all nice Mayo lads from nice farms."
The fourth season of Hardy Bucks kicked off on RTÉ2 in March. Does Colgan pay attention to the Twitter reaction after the show airs?
"Every night before I go to sleep I'm like, 'Who is that guy - who is Shane? Why would Shane say that about me? Why would he say I was shook on camera? I wasn't shook on camera'," he replied.
"To be honest, I go on there. I don't know about the other lads, but I definitely type in 'Hardy Bucks' into Twitter, then I go to latest and I'm like, 'Oh that's kind of nice'. So as long as the majority is nice, then there's always going to be one or two negatives, so we're happy enough with the reaction so far.
"I always say, the Pope is not loved by everybody."
Hardy Bucks - Appetite for the Session comes to Vicar Street on April 22. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster outlets nationwide.
Hardy Bucks airs on RTÉ2 on Thursdays at 10.35pm.
The entire box set for series 1-3 of Hardy Bucks is available to watch on the RTÉ Player.
