Sir, – As an Irish satirist, about to embark on a national tour, I read Alex Lyons’s recent piece on the death of Irish satire with some alarm (“Death of satire just when we needed it? Now that’s funny”, Opinion Analysis, June 2nd).
The article accused several comedians of failing satire. One was Eddie Bannon. Could this be the same Eddie Bannon who took his life in his hands, while compering the West Belfast Arts Festival? Recognising a politician in the front row, Eddie declared: “Ladies and gentlemen – it’s Gerry Adams! Or, as I call him, ‘London-Gerry’.”
Also in the dock was Barry Murphy. Could this be the same Barry Murphy whose fake party political broadcast (featured on RTÉ’s The Eleventh Hour last year) succinctly summed up the combined message of the parties thus: “You want a better Ireland . . . We don’t. We want one that we can be in charge of”.
Eric Lalor and Gearóid Farrelly were also dismissed as satirical failures. I’ve gigged with Eric and Gearóid on many occasions. Both are fine observational stand-ups, but I’ve never heard either of them call himself a “satirist”. By this logic, Christy Moore is a disgrace to ballet. – Yours, etc,