Our pal, the wonderful comedian and writer Alan Bennett (not that one) wrote a wee review of the inaugural Monthly General Meeting, in anticipation of the upcoming follow up March edition. Here it is...The Monthly General Meeting (MGM) is Dublin’s best free night and I was fortunate enough to be at the first one. I went in cold and with bike chain oil on my hands and I came out with a smile on my face and joy in my heart.
It’s a wonderful, nomadic, coming together of creative people who are strictly funny or interesting, curated by two of the best: Shane Langan, whose endlessly inspired comedy group Diet of Worms gave us webseries’ ‘Taste of Home’ and ‘Dublin Stories’ and is a brilliant writer and storyteller in his own right. And Níal Conlan, a Swiss army knife of a man whose band Delorentos just happen to be Dublin’s best band played some acoustic numbers from their new album Little Sparks, which just happens to be a contender for album of the year. (They don’t tell you who is going to be performing so that was quite a treat.)
The first MGM, themed ‘Secrets’ was in Hacienda Bar which is a little Latin style paradise hidden on Little Mary Street. The lucky audience, who all found out about the gig via Twitter, Facebook or word of mouth, were then treated to comedy from future superstar Megan Nolan, a debate from talented comedians Damon Blake and Conor O’Toole (who are currently working together on ‘Student/Teacher’ one of the series in this year’s RTE Storyland competition), a chat (his word) from David Malone, TV producer and author, about a fascinating 1973 Irish murder case that you’ve probably never heard of. And the premiere of a new short film, Unsaid, by award winning director Stevie Russell.
The theme for the next MGM is ‘It’s all Politics’ and it is on Monday 26th of March from 8pm in Dublin Conservative Club which is no doubt another hidden paradise right in the laneway beside Whelan’s. You can expect an impressive array of speakers, musicians, filmmakers and comedians to present something broadly related to the assertion that everything is politics. You can also expect laughs, revelations and general elation all for none of your euros.
Alan Bennett (
this one)
Our pal and longtime poster artwork artist, Killian Dunne is going to be exhibiting some of his work (with the rest of his 50ADO colleagues) as part of 'Austerity/Binge" in the Talbot Gallery this week. You should check it out. The opening reception is on Thursday 21th of June from 6pm. And it continues until June 30th.
