Comedy Workshop

Comedy is an entirely subjective thing. A joke that has some people rolling in the aisles with laughter has others cringing in embarrassment. And yet laughter and comedy are universal and universally held in high regard. Ireland and the Irish have long been associated with a particularly dark sense of humour and wit that is, quite literally, world famous.

With this in mind Frances Kay, writer-in-residence for Kerry County Council, will give a comedy writing workshop in the Samhlaiocht Gallery, Lower Castle Street, Tralee on Saturday March 10th. The workshop begins at 10:30 a.m. and lasts until 4:00 p.m. with a break for lunch and will give participants a chance to hone their comedic writing skills.

"People can come along and find out exactly what makes us laugh, and how to produce more of it," said Frances. "Everyone is asked to bring along just one thing - a story, a joke or a cartoon - that makes them laugh."

"Then we will write! Maybe try a little stand up if the atmosphere is empathic enough. We'll act out each other's scripts and try not to copy Father Ted, the Mighty Boosh, Frasier, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, though we may 'pay homage to' our personal favourites," says Frances.

Frances Kay has worked in theatre and television since 1973. She was senior scriptwriter and editor on RTE's 'The Morbegs'. She was writer-in-residence with TEAM theatre company from 2000-2002 and has been writer-in-residence for Kerry County Council for the past year. This will be positively the last appearance of Frances Kay before she "leaves her post to go and plant potatoes in West Cork."

The workshop is entirely free of charge but interested parties must sign up in advance. For more information or to sign up for the workshop please contact Ann at Samhlaiocht on 066 712 9934, or log onto