'I lost my confidence after a performance in Mountjoy Prison. These guys wanted to laugh more than anything in the world'

EOIN BUTLERtalks to JARLATH REGAN, Comedian, author, illustrator

Your comedy career only took off after you were laid off from the day job. Would it be fair to say then that you're having a good recession?Well, I had been doing stand-up for a while at that point. I was doing shows at night and turning up for my graphic design job knackered the next day. When the economy began to wobble, I was let go. It was my girlfriend Tina (now my wife) who convinced me to give it a try full-time.

Was life without that regular paycheque a daunting prospect?It was. The first thing I did was to knock on practically every door in Dublin to see if anyone was looking for a joke writer. Two people who got back to me were Ryan Tubridy – who was still doing Tubridy Tonightthen – and Ardal O'Hanlon.

Wait . . . there were jokes on 'Tubridy Tonight'?Yes. And it's a tribute to my work that no one can remember them! But seriously, there were jokes. The audience would be shown two photographs of, say, Abu Hamza and Ian Paisley. They'd be told "One is a radical cleric who believes his opponents should be killed. The other is Abu Hamza . . ." It paid my rent that first year.

Some comedians get up on stage all guns blazing. But you're always very calm and measured.Well, I don't strive to appear laid-back or anything. That's just my personality. But it helps. Jerry Seinfeld once compared the stand-up comedian to the pilot of an aircraft. It's important to exude confidence.

You did suffer a crisis of confidence last year though, didn't you?I did. It followed a performance in Mountjoy Prison that went badly. My confidence was rattled and I began to wonder if I was on the right path. Luckily, after a subsequent performance for schoolchildren in Dublin, I came out of it.

A prison gig must be a tough one, I suppose. Presumably, you can't start grumbling about airplane food when your audience is incarcerated?I had a couple of prison warden jokes that went down a storm. But I went directly back into my usual material then and I lost the connection. There's a rule in comedy that when a performance goes badly, it's never the audience's fault. And nowhere was this ever truer. These guys wanted to laugh more than anything in the world. But I didn't fulfil my end of the bargain.

Next weekend you're playing a benefit for Temple Street Children's Hospital. Sick kids are not the easiest lead-in to a comedy show, are they?Well, the proceeds all go to the Neurosurgery Appeal, which will help children with brain tumours, brain haemorrhages and spinal malformations. And to me, the fact that these parents have to put on a comedy show to pay for the equipment to treat their children is pretty laughable in its own right. Particularly when you consider all that we squandered during the boom years.

Are Irish audiences ready to laugh about the recession yet?Audiences are able to laugh about almost any subject, provided you're able to communicate what you believe to be funny about it. Humour can be found in the most serious topics.

We have a capacity to find humour in our own misfortune. It’s all about finding hope in a period of despair. This is what kept us all in the pubs shouting at the television, even after Thierry Henry had handled the ball. We thought, well, maybe we can pull this back.

LOL for Temple Street Children’s Hospital, featuring Maeve Higgins, David O’Doherty and Jarlath Regan, takes place in Vicar Street on June 26th. Tickets are €28.