Righteous, raging and hysterically funny, the late Bill Hicks was the comedian too hot even for Letterman. Paul Nolan on a new book that fills out the legend.
In a rare interview, US alt culture icon Tom Waits talks to Dave Fanning about touring with Zappa, getting the nod of approval from Dylan, his fastidious approach to songwriting and why Bill Hicks remains America’s foremost political commentator
0ver the past twelve months, Daniel Kitson has risen to prominence following his Perrier award winning show at the Edinburgh fringe, and his celebrated appearance on Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights but all the bespectacled comic really wants is to be recognised as a stand-up guy.
DENIS LEARY, sultan of sneer, is en route to Dublin to star in the Murphy s Ungagged Comedy Festival. By way of a little limbering up, and proving that there s no smoke without fire, here he lets rip on Noraid, The Kennedys, The Royals, Bill Hicks, Dean Martin, Oasis, Father Ted, drugs in Kerry and, oh yes, why he d like to go to Riverdance with a sniper s rifle . Interview: LIAM FAY.
Though a perfectly serviceable teen shocker, one would have to say that Phone’s relationship with Ringu represents intellectual cannibalisation on a scale that recalls that of Bill Hicks by Denis Leary, City On Fire by Reservoir Dogs (not that we don’t love you, Quentin), OK magazine by Hello. But as we always say around these parts, if you’re going to steal, go for the big score.
In the media wilderness, certain maverick voices can be depended upon to speak the truth. Also, the agonising decision faced by the FA’s dubious goals committee.
Honing his Best-Of set, working on a “secret” documentary for RTE, being compared to Bill Hicks, lollygagging at Dr Quirkey’s… it’s just another day at the office for Des Bishop.
RICH HALL has survived working with David Letterman and having his love life exposed in the Sindo, to take his rightful place as one of the top attractions of this year's Cat Laughs Festival. Interview: BARRY GLENDENNING.
Whilst Girls Aloud’s debut album, Sound Of The Underground, is a reasonably diverting slice of mainstream pop, it’s about as substantial as tissue-paper and twice as expendable.
It hasn't been success all the way for Paths To Freedom star Deirdre O’Kane but here she tells Paul Nolan how a chance encounter with Billy Connolly helped her see the funnier side of the Montreal Comedy Festival
colin murphy is living proof that there is such a thing as a comedic afterlife. The Downpatrick funny man, who once "died every week for six months", tells barry glendenning all about heaven down here.
Hosting his own chat-show, running away with the circus and wrestling David O’Doherty whilst swathed in bubblewrap – it’s all in a day’s work for Irish comedy’s busiest performer, Jason Byrne.
If I make impossible demands of The Divine Comedy, it’s the fault of Absent Friends. The album of the year set the bar for the gig of a lifetime. (For which title it would have to go toe-to-toe with Dexys miraculous gig in Vicar St. last November.)
Whether you are looking for a new bass player, an entire new set of comrades or merely a human beat box the famed hotpress musicians contacts guides will help you look for you northern soul mates.
For the final installment of London Calling, Barry Glendenning felt it would be appropriate to compose an emotional, heartfelt farewell to his legions of loyal readers. Sadly, he never got around to it and sent us the following copy instead.
Whether you are looking for a new bass player, an entire new set of comrades or merely a human beat box the famed hotpress musicians contacts guides will help you look for you northern soul mates.
Whether you are looking for a new bass player, an entire new set of comrades or merely a human beat box the famed hotpress musicians contacts guides will help you look for you northern soul mates.
Whether you are looking for a new bass player, an entire new set of comrades or merely a human beat box the famed hotpress musicians contacts will help you look for you northern soul mates.
Whether you are looking for a new bass player, an entire new set of comrades or merely a human beat box the famed hotpress musicians contacts guides will help you look for you northern soul mates.
The Liverpool Comedy Festival 2002 saw a significant number of Irish acts - including Neil Delamere, Eddie Bannon and Dara
O'Briain - appearing alongside such notables as Johnny Vegas, Ross Noble and many others, all hoping to create an annual
comedy-fest to rival Kilkenny and Edinburgh
placebo have probably garnered more column inches in the British press for frontman
brian molko s effeminate appearance than for their music.
colm o hare meets the men who want to be a band that parents hate .
A superb new documentary offers an intriguing portrait of one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. Tara Brady meets the film's director Joe Berlinger (pictured, left with Bruce Sinofsky).
Every loser wins on patrick kielty s new Channel 4 show, Last Chance Lottery , and for the 26-year-old comedian, presenter and former germ , things have never looked so good. Interview: barry glendenning.
Forget Rod, Emu and gottles of geer david strassman s ventriloquism is the missing link between rock n roll and Bill Hicks. barry glendenning meets the
puppet master. Pix: cathal dawson.
The reclassification of cannabis in Britain was a good day for the UK’s estimated five million users. But not a great day. A drug that is much less damaging than alcohol or tobacco remains illegal in most parts of the world, including Ireland, a situation which criminalises the user and benefits only the criminal gangs. It’s high time for a change, argues Olaf Tyaransen.
In Ireland, he’s the biggest name in comedy – a superstar who can pack them into live shows and shift DVDs by the jumboload. But having conquered his homeland, Tommy Tiernan faced the question: where to from here? The answer was America, the Holy Grail for anyone in the entertainment business. The story of his battle to win hearts and minds is captured in Jokerman – Tommy Tiernan Takes On America, a documentary series that is about to hit the screens on RTE. But first, there’s the important matter of a Hot Press interview to attend to.
In a rare interview, DJ, Sabres Of Paradise mainman and all-round geezer andrew weatherall tells stuart clark about why he won t be working with Primal Scream again, comes clean about his Van Morrison obsession, and does his best not to slag off Kula Shaker and Mansun.
Ahead of their return to Ireland, Muse reveal they’re about to go through their U2 phase, talk about magic mushrooms and explain why, when it comes to conspiracy, they’re on Jim Corr's side.
Since their debut single ‘Wired To The Moon’ went gold here The Revs have established themselves as Ireland’s hungriest and most energetic rock combo, with an appetite for gigging and an eye for publicity that has seen them embroiled in a number of amusing controversies. But behind the brash exterior is the fascinating story of three dedicated young musicians who have overcome their status as outsiders to build one of the biggest and most loyal grass roots following of any local act. Now with the release of their debut studio album, Suck, they are ready to go international.
With A Head Full Of Blue, music journalist Nick Johnstone reveals the harrowing story of his alcohol addiction - not just from first drink to last, but right back to the childhood "faulty wiring" that also led him to cut himself and through to the sometimes difficult process of recovery which has allowed him to reclaim his life
To give him his full title, he's the Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation with responsibility for local development and the National Drugs Strategy. But it's for the latter responsibility that EOIN RYAN TD has earned the unofficial title of "Ireland's Drug Czar". As a new seven-year strategy is unveiled, STUART CLARK enquires about leisure, legalisation, decriminalisation, health, creativity, crime and punishment – and whether or not cannabis really is "a gateway drug". Photographs: PHILLIP TOTTENHAM.
The outlaw loved by the in-law, Willie Nelson can draw 4,000 people outside Dublin virtually by word of mouth. But it ain't all middle of the road: as befits a veteran of the honky-tonks who had done battle with the IRS and the law, the country music legend can still get in touch with the dark side of Hank
As if shifting 30,000 units of D Video and making the Tivoli their second home wasn t enough, D Unbelievables have only gone and scooped Best Comedy Act in the Hot Press Readers Poll. Here, exclusively for the fans , jon kenny and pat shortt deconstruct the subtext of Timmy Leary s big hands.
D Interview:
barry glendenning.
D Images:
mick quinn.
Though he was busking in Grafton Street at 14, it s taken Glen Hansard more than a few shakes of the lamb s tail to reach the plateau of success which his songwriting talents have, for so long, threatened to take him but after the colossal success of Revelate , The Frames are, finally, set fair to enjoy their day in the sun. Here, Glen and guitarist, Dave Odlum, put Niall Crumlish in the picture.
Though he was busking in Grafton Street at 14, it s taken Glen Hansard more than a few shakes of the lamb s tail to reach the plateau of success which his songwriting talents have, for so long, threatened to take him but after the colossal success of Revelate , The Frames are, finally, set fair to enjoy their day in the sun. Here, Glen and guitarist, Dave Odlum, put Niall Crumlish in the picture.
You thought Noel V Ginnity was a bland cabaret funnyman, peddling lite entertainment to American tourists and OAPs at the Burlington Hotel. But you were wrong! Wince as the 59-year-old Meathman unleashes an unstoppable torrent of vitroilic bile at virtually every other stand-up comedian in Ireland and a whole lot more besides. Interview: liam fay. Pix: mick quinn.
No, it's not the overworked Hot Press subs finally snapping beneath the strain of a hectic production schedule but a finely argued debate by our finest writers on the phenomenon of naff. What is naff? Are you naff and if so how do you go about rectifying matters? Read on and be saved . . .
(N.B. This is a work of faction. All names have been changed in order to protect the guilty from certain incarceration in state mental institutions or correctional
facilities.)
Winning an oscar was a culmination of a life-time's struggle for GLEN HANSARD. But success extracted a heavy toll on the singer, plunging him into self doubt and leaving him feeling confused and adrift. As The Swell Season prepare to release their second album, he talks about the long road back to sanity, his romantic break-up with songwriting partner MARKETA IRGLOVA and why, having derided Ireland in the press, he’s now proud of his home country
again. Plus Irglova talks about the end of their love affair and the challenges that fame and Fortune bring.
Ireland's most hyped event of the year, the MTV EUROPE AWARDS may have had as many gossip columnists as winners thanking God, but after hours it was IGGY POP and heavy friends who made the real headlines on a night when rock'n'roll bit back. Report: OLAF TYARANSEN and PETER MURPHY. Awards Pics: PETER MATTHEWS. Iggy Pics: Cathal Dawson
Crash Test Dummies have always distinguished themselves from the rest of the posse with their highly literate (and often dauntingly dense) lyrics and their apocalyptic vision of the human condition in the last decade of the millennium.
As even novice pinheads will know, the story of The Ramones isn’t all Gabba Gabba Heys and the crazy psychodrama of Johnny and Joey’s relationship - Johnny eloping with the love of Joey’s life, the irreconcilable political differences and their sixteen years not speaking - is handled brilliantly here. The film’s greatest achievement, however, is capturing Johnny’s obnoxious, right-wing charm. His perversely pleasurable presence would alone make End Of The Century a mandatory, must-see, drop-everything jaunt down the Road To Ruin.
Some people reckon that Bob Dylan has sold out by flogging his music on a lingerie commercial. but our consumer affairs correspondent disagrees and has some even better ideas for Irish rockers
In which our resident theologian takes issue with George Bush and Mel Gibson and manages to get in a reference to “energetic humping”. Praise the lord.
To coincide with the launch of his new 'Greatest Hits' DVD , Ed Byrne talks to Jackie Hayden about profanity in Irish comedy, how he fucked up in Edinburgh, the Christopher Reeves joke that some misunderstood, and how he regularly meets people who claim not to know him.
JIMEOIN, ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL COMEDIANS WORKING IN AUSTRALIA, WAS BORN AND BRED IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND EMIGRATED SEVERAL YEARS AGO IN SEARCH OF SUNSHINE AND A FAIRER WAY OF LIFE. BACK HOME FOR HIS FIRST EXTENSIVE IRISH TOUR, HE TELLS LORRAINE FREENEY WHY AUSSIES RULE...
In previous years Dara O'Briain’s public persona seemed to pendulum-swing from TV personality and game show host to stand-up guy – but with the release of his Live At The Theatre Royal DVD, the former UCD man’s comedy ship has well and truly come in.
