Kilkenny’s officially where it’s at this fortnight, with the cream of the Irish comedy crop descending on the town for the annual Cat Laughs knees-up.

Taking place between June 2 and 6 in various venues, the Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival is a must for fans of homegrown Irish comedic talent. This year’s event will feature live performances by Karl Spain, Maeve Higgins, Jason Byrne, David O’Doherty (see the excellent 'Text Song' below!), Keith Farnan, The Rubberbandits, Neil Delamere, Andrew Maxwell and Ardal O’Hanlon – to name but nine! Tickets for the various events are available from [link]www.tickets.thecatlaughs.com[/link].

Queen Liz clearly set a fine example for her flock, as there’s also a host of English visitors en route to the Emerald Isle over the next fourteen days! In Dublin, 9 Out Of 10 Cats funnyman Jimmy Carr will play the Olympia Theatre for three nights (9, 10, 11). Laughter Therapy is Carr’s ninth solo show to date – and if you like your comedy extra, extra dry, this one’s for you! Also paying us a visit is Bristol-born comic Lee Evans, who brings his Roadrunner show to the Cork Opera House on June 3 and 4. Alan Carr’s mammoth arena tour continues too, he’ll perform at Galway’s Black Box on June 10.

If that lot’s not enough to quench your clearly mammoth comedy thirst, the King of Controversy, AKA Tommy Tiernan, brings his Crooked Man show up north, where he’ll stop off at Belfast’s Ulster Hall on June 2, 8, 9 and 10, moving then to the Millenium Forum in Derry for two more shows (11 and 12). Dublin comic Andrew Stanley plays the Grand Social (9), while Maeve Higgins performs in the Workman’s Club (12), and our Hoot Press interviewee Des Bishop takes to the Vicar St. stage for a final extra date of his current show My Dad Was Nearly James Bond (11).