...with his debut at Kilkenny festival

Jack Dee is to make his debut appearance at the Cat Laughs festival in Kilkenny, as he prepares for his first ever stand-up tour in six years.

Dee is currently making a number of low-key work-in progress appearances ahead of an anticipated autumn tour. Full shows in Chorley, Lancs, and Falmouth, Cornwall, have long sold out.

The new dates at Kilkenny are May 31 and June 1 – and mark an increasing shift towards offering one-man shows at the festival. Traditinally it is a place where big-name comedians perform 20-minute club-style sets. Also in this year's line-up is Simon Amstell with his new solo show, Numb.

Al Murray, Milton Jones and, Shappi Korshandi are also among the visiting UK acts, while Irish stars include Des Bishop, Jason Byrne and Neil Delamere.

Meanwhile, David O’Doherty will be introducing the Japanese sensation Pecha Kucha to Kilkenny. The idea is to make presentations of ideas short and snappy with a rigid format of showing 20 images, each for 20 seconds. Kilkenny will be the 500th city in the world to host Pecha Kucha, named after the Japanese sound for ‘chit-chat’.

In another special show, Service With A Smile, comedians will describe the boring day jobs they had before they took to the stage.

Artistic director Rebecca Austin said the programme was ‘a great balance of people’s favourites and exciting new shows, curated exclusively for Cat Laughs’

The festival runs from May 31 to June 4. Official website.

• Dublin radio station 104FM has launched a search for Ireland’s ‘next big thing in stand-up’, which has a €500 prize. To enter send a one-minute video to

  Published: 30 Mar 2012