Between dying on stage and playing to crowds of one, learning comedy can be a tough process. But help is at hand, Deirdre O'Kane tells Brian Boyd
'Just call it a comedy makeover," says Deirdre O'Kane as she takes a shortcut in describing the Smithwick's Cat Laughs mentoring scheme. The idea is that three high-profile Irish comics each adopt an up-and-coming comedian and help them bloom as performers. The more experienced comic attends the younger comic's gigs, takes notes, discusses his or her findings after the show and generally provides a helping hand and shoulder to cry on. O'Kane has taken on Carol Tobin, Tommy Tiernan has taken on Eleanor Tiernan (who is also his cousin) and Andrew Maxwell has taken on Andrew Stanley. All three young comics have been pummelled into shape over the past few months by their mentors and are now ready to show off their skills at next month's Cat Laughs festival, in Kilkenny.
"We were sort of lucky in that when we were approached to be mentors, we were given a choice," says O'Kane. "I just had to chose Carol Tobin. And it's not just a female thing - although that helps in the still male-dominated world of stand-up comedy. It was more because I had seen her gigging around Dublin, and what really struck me about her act was how I remembered the material she was doing even a few days after the show - and that's very rare for me."
Tobin was thrilled to be working with the country's biggest female comedy star. Not only has O'Kane sold out the Olympia Theatre, in Dublin, a few times running, but she also has two big-selling comedy DVDs in the shops. Tobin, who is 24 and from Kerry, started out as a singer. "It struck me that I couldn't really sing," she says, "so I started to deliberately sing badly, and this got a few laughs. Then I started telling stories in between the songs and got more laughs. So I became a comic."
So far Tobin has worked as the support act for O'Kane a few times, and the two spend many intense hours together, plotting out what works best for Tobin and how she can improve her material. "There's a residential aspect to the mentoring system," says O'Kane, "where the two of you take off together for some really intensive tutoring work . . . The Maldives would suit Carol and me just fine."
The mentoring idea started a few years ago in Edinburgh, when O'Kane went to see a play written by the Dublin comic Eddie Bannon, who is now director of the Cat Laughs festival. "Because I spent 10 years in the theatre before doing comedy, I was able to take Eddie aside and advise him about certain things I thought he could have done better in the play," says O'Kane. "It's only this year we've got around to giving a name to this process of helping another performer out and actually formalising the arrangement."
Tobin is glad of the help. "The comedy scene has changed so much in Dublin," she says. "There used to be a real tradition of comics helping each other out and offering advice, but that's not there any more. There are more and more comics and less and less gigs. There's a real competitiveness now, and people aren't as willing to give you feedback. For example, if you die on stage, it can happen that people won't tell you."
O'Kane wishes such a scheme had been available when she started. "I know there is this tradition that you have to make your own mistakes and learn from them, but there is no need for those lessons to be learned in an excruciatingly hard way - the way I had to learn them. This isn't just me saying to Carol, "Take that line out," it's also about giving very sound practical advice. You have to be aware when talking about someone's act to make sure you don't offend them, but so far that hasn't been a problem between us."
Even O'Kane's current experiences provide valuable help to Tobin in terms of explaining just how tough it can still be for someone of O'Kane's stature. "I'm just back from three months in Los Angeles," says O'Kane, "and it was like starting all over again. At one of my gigs there was one person in the audience. One person plus the comedy agent who had come especially to see me. So I had to do the gig for one person and the agent.
"Another time there wasn't even an audience. I had to audition in front of the manager of a well-known comedy club. There were about eight comics with me, doing the same thing, and at the end we had to queue up to ask him for the notes he had made on our performance. It was mad. It was just like starting again all over. Although part of the reason I put myself through it was that I thought I could get a good gag out of it."
Crucially, O'Kane has pushed Tobin towards doing the unforgiving slog that is the month-long run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe. "Edinburgh made me when I was starting off," says O'Kane. "After a 30-night run at the festival I felt I had broken through. I felt I knew what it was about. I'm back at the festival again this year, with my new show, and it's great that Carol will also be doing her show there for the whole month. I cracked it at Edinburgh, and I'll be there to help Carol crack it also."
Smithwick's Cat Laughs Festival runs from June 1st to 5th. See www.smithwicks catlaughs.com or book on 056-7763837. Deirdre O'Kane is at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, tomorrow, then tours nationwide