DVDs released by Irish comedians are outselling competition from the major Hollywood studios this Christmas.
Retailers such as HMV, Xtravision and Golden Discs are all reporting strong sales for comedy acts such as Tommy Tiernan, Des Bishop, D'unbelievables, and Brendan O'Carroll, as well as Pat Shortt's Killinaskully series.
Figures from the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), which compiles a weekly top 20 list of DVD sales, show nostalgic RTÉ series such as The Best of Wanderley Wagon and The Best of Bosco are also proving popular.
Scottish comedian Billy Connolly's Live in New York DVD is the only non-Irish comedy DVD release to make it into IRMA's top 10 for the week ending December 15th.
Hollywood titles such as the remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the animated film, Madagascar also feature in the top 10, which is compiled by Charttrack on behalf of IRMA. These titles are particularly popular as presents for children.
The recently-released DVD of the Haughey series for RTÉ is reported by retailers to be selling well. However, it does not feature in IRMA's top 20 DVD list for last week.
Retailers also expect strong sales of Hollywood films such as War of the Worlds, as well as Chasing the Lions by Hector Ó hEochagáin and Risteard Cooper and Good Mourning Mrs Brown Part 4 by Brendan O'Carroll in the coming days and weeks.
Tommy Tiernan's Loose DVD is the best-selling single DVD for Christmas at Xtravision, according to Gerry Butler, chief operating officer with the company.
Killinascully Series 2, D'unbelievables' "D'Collection", War of the Worlds and the Fantastic Four, as well as specially-prepared movie box sets, are also among the retailers' top sellers, he said.
The Haughey series has done "reasonably well" so far, he said. But he expected it to do better in the days leading up to Christmas, as it has not been on release for as long as some other titles.
Cáit Nic Amhlaoich, DVD buyer with Golden Discs, agreed that most of its top-sellers in the past week have been Irish.
"All of our top 10 are Irish, except for Billy Connolly," she said. "It has been busy enough, I can't complain. But it could always be better, it's very much similar to last year."
While Haughey hasn't made the top 20 nationally, it is doing better in Golden Discs. Haughey is in our top 20, but I would like to see an improvement this week . . . A lot of what we'll sell in the next two weeks will be Irish."