The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival is a comedy festival held over the first weekend in June each year in Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland. It was founded in 1994.[1] It has been referred to as the "Best Little Comedy Festival in the world" by The Guardian and RTÉ.[2][3]
History
Cat Laughs was envisioned in 1994 by Lynn Cahill, who ran Bickerstaffe Theatre Company in Kilkenny. As a means to expand the company's programme, she considered with her business partner that Kilkenny was great for a festival. After originally planning a choral festival called "Cat Sings", her business partner Richard Cook suggested a comedy festival instead.[1] For the first two editions, no Irish comedian closed the festival due to the audience preferring British comics.[1] The first edition was sponsored by Smithwick's before being sponsored by Murphy's Irish Stout until 2015 when Smithwick's returned.[4] The festival experienced a major financial loss in its inaugural year, with debts ranging between £70,000 and £100,000. The festival's second edition was held with the hopes that the debts from the first edition could be paid off. By 2002, the festival had become a profitable venture; 2002 the first year that the festival received support from the Arts Council, which provided a grant of €95,000.[5]
The festival is traditionally held over the June Holidaylong weekend.[6] Each comedian is previewed at other shows by the festival directors before being invited to perform at Cat Laughs.[1]
A tradition developed over the years that as a part of the festival, the Irish comedians would play a football match against comedians from the rest of the world for the Cat Cup.[11][7]
