‘My first comedy gig? I was absolutely terrified’

"I was absolutely terrified, I have to say. I think it's hard to look back and remember how scared you were," says comedian Neil Delamere, about the first time he tried to make an audience laugh.

“You either get all your mates in, or you get one or nobody. I went for the latter,” he tells Róisín Ingle on the latest Róisín Meets podcast.

Delamere caught the comedy bug while studying for a degree in computer applications at Dublin City University. One night, sitting on the floor of the student bar, he watched Dara O Briain, Deirdre O'Kane and Eddie Bannon perform and decided he would give it a go himself.

“Me and my friends said, we’ll do it once. We’ll go into the International bar and we’ll do it once,” he recalls.

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It was only supposed to be a “bit of craic”, but Delamere was not taking any chances and had his routine off by heart.

“The place could have gone on fire. There could have been an earthquake. I could have been physically hit with a hammer. I would have known what to say. I would have finished that three or four minute script,” he says.

More than 15 years later, Delamere is back on the road for 50 dates with his new show, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Pensioner, which is inspired by his time spent delivering meals on wheels with his octogenarian father and features contributions from him too.

Also on the podcast, Delamere speaks about women in comedy, Louis C.K. and Harvey Weinstein, his comedy heroes, his parents and lots more.

You can find all our podcasts on www.irishtimes.com/podcasts

[ www.neildelamere.com ]

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