THE BIGGEST THREAT THE CITY EVER SAW!

The Threat of Humour sold to over 290 people in 3 nights. Congratulations to all and thank you very much for coming.

More news and videos and pictures soon….

IT’S ALL GO NOW…

 So we’re in the depths of it. The greatest festival of our times.

Rehearsals for The Threat of Humour are extremely promising. The Cork comedy community are up in arms and our competition results are due in any minute.  

HAMMERGRIN has seen Woyzeck , The Art of Swimming , Meat , Thailand: What’s Love got to do With it? and Mimic . It’s got to be said, an extremely high standard this year.

 

And it gets higher!  Just opened in the Unitarian Church is They Never Froze Walt Disney . John McCarthy is in it. It’s a really excellent show, and an absolute steal at 10 euro (8 euro conc.) Lunchtimes 1 til 2.10 . Catch it while you can!

A LATE NIGHT DRINK WITH JOHN MCCARTHY…

William Galinsky, of Midsummer Festival fame, has commisioned a micro chat show for two nights in the festival club (Bodega Nights) this June. And of course he came to us.

John McCarthy and Ronan Leonard will undoubtedly steal the festival (in league with The Threat of Humour and They Never Froze Walt Disney) and move on to the much hoped for regular Cork chat show. See their natural chemistry here (the free tickets competition hots up below):

 

WIN TICKETS FOR MIDSUMMER FESTIVAL THREAT!

Hammergrin is delighted to offer prime-position tickets to the last performance of The Threat of Humour . You must be available to attend the Cork Arts Theatre on the 30th of June at 9pm and you should be willing to enjoy top quality films, music, drama, chat and censored comedy.

All you have to do is illustrate your allegiance to our campaign. Reply to this post with a comment beginning “Humour threatened me when…”. Maybe you have an anecdote to recount; a bad joke to put to rest or a best man’s speech to transcribe. Whatever it is we want to hear.

Here are the rules.

1. Leave a comment below beginning “Humour Threatened me when…”. The comment should be no longer than 200 words and no shorter than 1.

2. Fill in a valid email so we can contact you.

3. Closing date is Monday 25th June (if there are less than 15 valid entry comments the closing date extends).

4. You don’t have to link to this post to win but HAMMERGRIN would appreciate it if you spread the word so we get as many quality entries as possible!

5.  Sara-Jane Power, John McCarthy and Eoin Winning of HAMMERGRIN select a winner. Their decision shall be final!

6. HAMMERGRIN (in human form) will then contact the winner and hand over the coveted tickets.  

Best of luck!

WAKE ME WHEN THE HUMOUR’S GONE

AND SOON THE LAUGHTER WILL STOP…

Hammergrin’s latest spectacle is taking shape even now in the streets and rehearsal rooms of the city. Many cast and crew members are finding it difficult not to laugh. Here is a timely reminder of the power of the show.

The Midsummer never looked so well.

LONDON CLOUD MAY HAVE SILVER LINING

 - Global Humour updates from Hammergrin’s Foreign Emissaries 

On Sunday May 27^th the London-based Surrey County Cricket Club played host to 5-time Cricket World Cup Winners Ireland and London’s Hammergrin emissaries. Former Trying Jokes judges Dr. Walter Mansfield, Prof. Ciaran Fitzpatrick and Mstr. Michael Bate, had hoped to use the occasion to raise the profile of the Threat of Humour in South London. Unfortunately their efforts were thwarted when the match was cancelled due to a cluster of bad weather, widely suspected to be working on the covert orders of Britain’s New Labour government. Although these allegations are unconfirmable it is telling that these events occurred on the same day that allegations of major rifts between Queen Elizabeth II, a long-standing outspoken opponent of mirth, and Prime Minister Tony Blair dominated the front page of The Sunday Telegraph. These setbacks could not have come at a worse time for Hammergrin – recent studies published by Professor Fitzpatrick’s office show that 99.6% of Londoners are unaware of the dangers of humour and 91.4% of these believe humour to be a good thing. In addition to this, mirth in the workplace is up 590% on what it was during the Thatcher premiership.

Hammergrin hopes to reverse these trends with an education program and some high profile political assistance. David “Dave Cameron” Cameron, leader of the Conservative party, has, on numerous occasions in his relatively brief time at the top, highlighted to the British public that humour is no laughing matter. As well as this support from the opposition benches it is hoped that the next premiership, that of Gordon “Gordon Brown” Brown, will clamp down on unsolicited comedy and, in the New Labour tradition of banning traditional ways of life such as fox-hunting, smoking in pubs and phoresy between Liberal Democrats, in time move towards a ban on humour in all enclosed workplaces and public parks. One source told Hammergrin “Mr. Brown has long been an opponent of laughter and all of its causes. Don’t be fooled by the united front – policy number one is to wipe that bloody grin off Blair’s face.” The moral compass that Mr. Brown inherited from his father no doubt points away from the many jokes that he is the butt of. There are apparently many jokes circulating in Whitehall’s underground humour network about his name – ‘Brown’ of course begins with the letter B – and the fact that he is Scottish. “It doesn’t help that he’s from Scotland to be honest,” our source said, “I mean a lot of people look on Scotland as being the Wales of the U.K.”

Judge Bate though believes that this may be a blessing in disguise; “It is unfortunate of course that joke-trafficking continues but it is important to keep the profile of the problem high on the political agenda. Bringing it to the attention of a big clunking fist such as Gordon Brown is something we always hoped to do and now the laughmongers may even be doing us a favour. It is a step by step process – we won’t abolish Have I Got News For You tomorrow but we might get Jon Snow to wear more sober ties on the Channel 4 News. The main thing is not to lose ground. Things we held dear such as intelligence and galoshes have now been tainted with humourous interpretations such as the program QI with Stephen Fry and the advent of
Wellington boots made to look like frogs for example. We’re fighting the good fight. But it will take time.” Longer than a five-day cricket match? “Probably.”

Lets hope it won’t be affected by the weather.

(Post by Michael Bate)