artists

Howard Komproe (NL)

Born in The Hague, Komproe attends the theater academy in Utrecht and builds his name as a well known Dutch party host and stand up comedian. After a succes audition at the Comedytrain, 4 soloshows and a collective FreshWagon, he now is a very familiar Dutch stand up comedian.

Next to that he gives workshops, plays with theatercompany Made in da Shade, and is very active in music aswell. This smiley gall spitting storyteller will be “your guide for the evening, the distinct leader through the big city jungle that we all created together”

David O’Doherty (IR)

O’Doherty attempted careers in telemarketing and temping before he made his first stage appearance at Dublin’s Comedy Cellar in 1998. His first full show was The Story of the Boy Who Saved Comedy which received a nomination for Perrier Best Newcomer when it was performed at Edinburgh Fringe. In 2006, he was nominated for an if.comedy award for his Edinburgh show, David O’Doherty Is My Name. O’Doherty has performed at festivals across the world in locations that include Melbourne, Montreal, New York and Wellington. He has toured Ireland with Tommy Tiernan, the United Kingdom with Rich Hall and the United States with Demetri Martin. His CD, Giggle Me Timbers (Jokes Ahoy!), was released on December 21, 2006 on Trust Me I’m A Thief Records. He performs an annual show at UCD’s Freshers Week.

In August 2008, O’Doherty won the If.comedy award at the Edinburgh Fringe for his show Let’s Comedy, which featured “a relationship in text messages, tunes played on a 3ft keyboard, and a badger attack”. He was presented with the 2008 Intelligent Finance Comedy Award. After his win O’Doherty returned to Ireland to perform at Electric Picnic 2008 and an October show at Vicar Street. In October and November of 2008, O’Doherty toured Canada as part of the Just For Laughs Comedy Tour.

Hausmagger (NL)

Hausmagger is a new Dutch ‘dualhead’ band with real short bio; In June 2007 Ted/Theo Wesselo (Rembo & Rembo) and Ed Sewerratti (Surfsound-coryfee) got the crazy idea to travel around with the Fellini caravan to fullfill Ted’s community sentence. The Band Hausmagger was the outcome! Straightforward songs in un Dutch prose. Two, okay they are a bit weird, mates with both a university degree from the gutter. No-bullshit about the border of the sentiment. Unsuspected emo-kick-downs compared with a high recognition. What is special about this band is the mixture of songs with poetry and demolitionwork! Oneliners and Catch-As-Catch-Can poetry. Verbal lesion, – counters and –blocks.

Marina Franklin (USA)

Marina Franklin is emerging as one of the hottest comedians in the comedy scene today. With such notable appearances as “Chapelle’s Show”, NBC’s “Last Comic Standing Season II”, VH1, Oxygen’s “Girls Behaving Badly”, “Show Time at The Apollo”, Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend” , “Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn”, CW’s “Hip Hop Holdem”, CBS “The Intern”, Bravo’s “History of a Joke”, Dutch TV’s “The Comedy Factory”, and BBC’s “The World Stand’s Up”.

Marina routinely performs across the country at comedy clubs and universities. She is a favorite in Comedy Festivals across the country such as: The Montreal Comedy Festival, New York Underground Comedy Festival, Ireland’s Kilkenny Comedy Festival, Nashville’s Bonnaroo Music Festival, In 2007 headlined in Johannesburg, South Africa for David Kau’s Comedy Show and most recently Scotland’s Glaskgow Comedy Festival.

Marina is based in the comedy capital of the world New York City where she is a regular performer at the famous Comedy Cellar, Comic Strip Live, Carolines on Broadway, and the new Comix, as well as many other venues in and around the metropolitan New York area.

Paula Bel (USA)

Paula Bel has made numerous television appearances including The Tonight Show, Full Frontal Comedy, VIBE, The View, Comic View and Friday Night Videos. She has also been in films such as The Breaks, Welcome to Hollywood and Life With Dave. Her appearance at the Apsen Comedy Festival in Colorado led to a development deal with Warner Brothers Network and Paula has also appeared in the Comedy Factory and the Kilkenny Comedy Festivals.

Andrew Lawrence (UK)

The buzz about comedy’s best-kept-secret is fast making Andrew Lawrence a cult classic. Andrew’s live performances are gaining international recognition as he has played at all the top comedy festivals. In April 2009 he performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and in May returned to Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival. In July this year he will perform at the prestigious Montreal Comedy Festival and in August he will head up to the Edinburgh Fringe for his fourth consecutive all-new solo show, Soul-Crushing Vicissitudes of Fortune! With two if.comedy nominations under his belt for his first two shows. Andrew recently reprised his role as Marco on the new series of Ideal on BBC 3 and also starred in his own edition of World Stands Up. Andrew’s stand up career kick-started when he received rave recognition in all the key new act competitions and is now a regular favourite on the comedy circuit, gigging at all the major clubs across the country and building a base of discerning fans addicted to the bleakly dark comic world he creates along with critical acclaim for his sellout Edinburgh shows.

Boasting a fiery crown of red hair and a deep, demonic voice, Lawrence’s fiendish persona is in complete allegiance with his material; it will shock you both in terms of content, and in terms of how much you will laugh. With his flawless timing and delivery he can induce tears of laughter from audience members almost against their will.

Bob MacLaren (NZ)

Born in New Zealand and settled in Amsterdam, Bob Maclaren conquered every corner of the world with his indifferent and surprising comedy. The combination of the loneliness of the Kiwi’s and the blunt lunacy of Amsterdam give him a fresh unorthodox view on life. He’s an unrivalled story-teller, with a mimic best described as mildly incoherent. Discovery Chanel gave him his own show ‘Bobs World’, filmed in eight different countries where Bob as unexpected travel guide amused himself with all matter normal travel programs ignore. Traveling and constantly being confused are the main topics in his sharp and original comedy!

Glenn Wool (CAN)

a Canadian stand-up comedian now living in the United Kingdom. His material veers between sagely political and gleefully silly, discussing both the pop group Franz Ferdinand and the Pope’s contribution to cryrogenics programmes during his time onstage. Wool starred in a self-titled show produced for Channel 4′s “comedy lab” season in 2004. The show saw him attempting to exorcise a ghost from his place of residence.

“Wool’s fast pace means he doesn’t dwell on any subject for too long, whether this is giving kids crack or inciting a bar-room full of cowboys, he deftly uses character play to accentuate the ridiculous situations he finds himself in.

A lot of the set is a parody of the interplay between him and his now ex-wife. Like many other great comedians he is able to recreate the husband – wife rivalry brilliantly.

On the surface it’s reliable material which is almost impossible to get wrong.

But Wool is astute enough to set himself up as the fall guy while choosing a theme for his show which was along the lines of what is so great about him. It allows him the space to portray his at times car-crash life any way he likes.”

(Tim Clark)

Patrick Laureij (NL)

So that You will laugh! And not the ha ha ha it’s funny kinda laugh but more the one that is bellyshaking and where you have to get rit of your tears while you try to climb back on your chair.

Patrick is a razorsharp stand up comedian who likes to tell you exactly how it is. And it looks like that is appreciated with his croud couse he won the Knock-Out Comedy Award 2007.

Tony Woods (USA)

He has appeared at Comedy Festivals around the world including the Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, The Edinburgh Festival, HBO US Comedy Arts Festival-Canada, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and of course CRACKER Comedy Festival Sydney. With his playful and cool demeanor and his sharp and sometimes mischievous routines Tony creates a show that is unmistakably entertaining at every level. You would be crazy to miss this untamed beast in action! An underground favorite on both sides of the stand-up comedy “tracks”.