No More Mr. Nice Guy

Having previously enjoyed success with his first volume of comedy greeting cards, stand-up comic Jarlath Regan is shortly to launch a second book featuring his unique style of humour. Again, the book – titled Putting A Ring On It – features a collection of greeting card gags, although as the comedian explains, the jokes this time around are based on the subject of getting married.

“The first book was called How To Break Bad News, and it began when I worked in an office,” says Jarlath, sitting in the Library Bar in Dublin’s Central Hotel. “I’d make these cards and send them off to different people, and they were totally inappropriate. Like, a ‘Will You Marry Me?’ card, which inside would say, ‘Only messing – I think we should see other people’. Just various more and more absurd and out there ideas for greeting cards that you won’t see in shops.
“For this one, I really wanted to do a wedding guide, cos I’d just gotten married and I thought there was so much in it. I tried to do that, but then I thought, ‘Actually, wedding greeting cards with advice contained in them really works as a funny notion’. As well as that, there’s nothing for the groom in terms of wedding guides – it’s all bride-based. So the book is called Putting A Ring On It – What Not To Do When Attempting To Get Married, and it’s a collection of advice that covers the whole spectrum, from the moment you get the idea, right through to the morning after the wedding, when you realise you’ve ruined your life!”
How stressful did Regan find the process of getting married?
“Well, we got engaged in the boom,” he reflects. “We went and got prices for hotels, and it was like, ‘Okay, I guess we’re getting married in two years’ time.’ It was just frightening, the prices were insane. So we set a date that was two years off, and with six months to go, obviously the shit hit in the fan in Ireland, and we went back to the hotel and said, ‘Well, how much now?’ And they literally knocked 75% off the price. So from a financial perspective, it suddenly became less stressful.
“From an organisational perspective, nobody really tells you – guys don’t know. I think when guys get engaged, they reckon, ‘Okay that’s me for the next while, I’m going to be an engaged guy.’ They don’t realise that within a week, you’re hunting venues, colour-matching and auditioning bands. I thought that there would be at least a grace period where you show everyone the ring, and then somewhere down the road people ask, ‘So when are you getting married?’ It all happens immediately! It makes your head spin.”
Having appeared on shows such as The Panel and Stand And Deliver, Kildare native Regan is enjoying a growing profile thanks to his finely honed style of observational humour. Indeed, his very funny brand of comedy reminds this writer of no one so much as the premier exponent of the observational style, Jerry Seinfeld.
“Jerry is the master – of his domain,” quips Jarlath. “I’ve always wanted to do good observation. Right from the beginning, I’ve always been into the classic observational joke that will stand the test of time. Jerry is the king of that, he’s written jokes that will last forever. As long as we’re humans and we have the same neurosis, his stuff will continue. Also, I’ve always appreciated people like Jerry who weren’t trying to limit themselves.
“They weren’t overly trying to broaden themselves, but they were trying to make as many people laugh as possible, rather than trying to zero in on the supposedly cool people. That said, it would be important that your readers know that when they see a comic on YouTube, oftentimes what they’re seeing is what can go on YouTube. I mean, I’ve got plenty of other stuff that isn’t helping my Dad to tune in the video recorder.
“I’ve been labelled as this nicey-nice comic, which was one of the biggest criticisms that I’ve received in Edinburgh. It’s an easy thing to do, pigeonhole a comic. But I find with age, it’s becoming a little bit crankier and there is a bit more vitriol to it, just as with Jerry and Bill Cosby. Like, Bill Cosby performs for three-and-a-half hours a night now, with no break, and it’s much darker.”
So we might soon see an edgier aspect to Regan’s comedy?
“I hate the word ‘edgy’, for a start,” he responds. “But what I’m doing, and what everyone else is doing, is learning how to do stand-up. There’s a thing with Irish comics, that they want to be liked, and everyone has to be considered the sound man, a really nice guy. I think that’s a problem in many cases, because Irish audiences make you want to be that as well. When the comedian walks off stage they want to go, ‘That lad was sound, I want to go for a pint with him.’ So stand-ups tend to be drawn down this path of, ‘Sure we’re all the same’.
“When a stand-up like Moshe Kasher last year at Kilkenny gets up and goes, ‘I’m smarter than you’, that’s not funny to Irish people. There’s probably a thing where you don’t want to go down that path.”
Regan has done his bit for stand-ups who want to try out new material by launching the No Pricks Comedy Show, which has its next outing later this month at the Workman’s Club.
“It’s a show that I invented four or five years ago, for acts to try out new material,” he says. “It’s my belief that a lot of comedy shows are both populated and run by pricks, and that’s not their fault, because if you’re running a club, you’ve got to be a bit of a prick to get the thing moving. And if you’re going to a show, there’s a prick part of your brain that kicks in and goes, ‘This better be good.’ So I started this show where I didn’t charge in and I had a bucket on the door on the way out, so automatically, people were like, ‘Hey, this is quite good!’
“We’ve had Ardal O’Hanlon, Barry Murphy, Mr Trellis reforming, David O’Doherty, Maeve Higgins, Karl Spain... everyone comes down and tries their new stuff, and it’s great.”

Jarlath Regan launches Putting A Ring On It – What Not To Do When Attempting To Get Married at The Sugar Club, Dublin on April 21.