How to succeed at being an alcoholic

Acclaimed Cork comedian Tadhg Hickey is getting ready to bring his weird and wonderful part theatre, part stand-up comedy to a string of venues around the county.

His show, ‘In One Eye, Out The Other’ (IOEOTO) tells the story of Feargal, the downtrodden but cheery man who has fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming an alcoholic.

Using the Catholic calendar as a roadmap, Feargal leads the audience on a surreal and hilarious journey with many poignant twists in the hope of arriving at a sort of light at the end of the tunnel for the ‘bright man’.

The show is loosely based on Tadhg’s own journey with alcoholism. During promotion of the show, Tadhg went public with his own story and has since had many mental health and alcohol action groups, as well as sufferers reach out to him.

“I started writing the show when I was still drinking, maybe trying to find the funny side of slowly drinking myself to death. Sober now years, not in my wildest dreams did I imagine the drunken scribblings would one day make it to an international audience at Edinburgh Fringe and possibly help someone else who might be struggling with alcoholism,” says Tadhg.

Without a doubt, Tadhg is one of the brightest and bravest new stars in Irish comedy and theatre. His recent satirical sketches including 'Loyalism, but it's a house share in Cork' and 'The British Empire, but it's a school reunion in Cork' have amassed several million views online and have earned the admiration of comedy royalty like Armando Ianucci.

'In One Eye, Out The Other' is characteristically brave and ambitious, as Tadhg searches for cathartic humour in a surreal retelling of his own battle with alcoholism.

Tadhg will be bringing his show to the following venues this month: