The Real Irish Comedy Festival - You Don't Have to be Irish to Laugh but It Might Help

Last night at a packed out Raven Performing Arts Theater in Healdsburg, the tri-fecta area of Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and Cloverdale were out in full force seeking solace from all the chaos.  The night of good cheer brought a much needed reprieve from the heinous invasion of Ukraine putting us all on the precipice of  WWIII.  Okay, lady (me) lighten up.  I needed an injection of humor as did some of the jokes the three Irish blokes brought to the stage.  The stage  was bathed in a neon green sheen with the bare minimum accruements; microphone and barstool.  The first jokester was Dave Nihill, "the 1st Irish person to win the SF Int'l Comedy Competition.'  First, stop labeling firsts for actual first accomplishments which goes for Biden's Supreme Court Justice nominee as the first black female that may sit on the bench.  Fodder for Melinda's Meltdown.  Blimey, the 3 comics (yada, yada, yada) did spin yarns with tropes of Irish drunkeness, feckless behaviors, pessimism and sexual abuse by Irish Priests.   Nihill the first lass served as emcee for the night.  He was better at hosting and did a little than boasting.  His claimed to be an author which I did fact check.  Yep, no blarney.  His self-help book, "Do You Talk Funny" ('16) is a guide to  public speaking.  Nihill gave a TED TALK on the subject which was also verbatim his comedy routine.  However, he did have some sagacious advise.  "Do not think of overcoming the fear of public speaking, rather learn how to manage it.  Tell yourself, you're excited."  Martin Angelo, the 2nd comic born in Dublin, drummed this into us.  The irony here is he's black.  His parents, grandparents and great parents all are from Ireland regardless of people finding this incredulous.  Angelo turned the tale on what is fair to say an all fair colored audience.  His monologue needed some tweaking but his likability was luckily charming.  The last comic of the night is expected to be the funniest.  Sean Finnerty was indeed riotously funny.  His best LOL material came from engaging with the audience.  The crowded theater was up for a good time.  They were downing their Guinness.  What might be viewed as heckling made for happy happenstance.  Sean was genuinely warm and witty.   His bantering provided the gut wrenching laughter that is the best medicine.  World peace would be wonderful but caps off to brave comics willing to bare their souls in order to life outs.  Thinking of public speaking for me "ooh, shivers me timbers!."*

*Inside joke - no joke, don't miss these Irish jesters.