Chris Kent is going to give the Marquee ‘absolute socks’
If Patrick Street could talk, it might sound a lot like Cork comedian Chris Kent.
Chris has been “tipping away” on the scene for almost 20 years now and, with his hilarious new show ‘Offline’ earning excellent reviews country wide, it looks like all that hard graft has paid off.
Now, as he gears up for his first ever gig at Live at the Marquee on 11 July, Chris looks back with pride on a career throughout which he has stayed true to himself and, most importantly, to Cork.
Where some comedians might set up camp on more common ground, Chris leans hard into the unique humour of Cork and its people. He harnesses the low-key, semi-sarcastic banter of Leeside and makes it universal in a way few Cork comedians can.
“I didn't watch a lot of stand-up before I did stand-up, and I think that led to me just being the way I am. There were no massive influences there,” explains Chris.
“I kind of started stand-up because friends of mine were doing it on Des Bishop. I didn't know a whole pile about stand-up. I think I had maybe seen a bit of Brendan O’Carroll when I was younger and D'Unbelievables but stand-up-wise, I don't even think I knew about Tommy Tiernan really before I got into it. it's just an extension of the way I am around friends and family. And more so, I'd be quieter around them really. I'd be observing them and thinking, ‘This is funny’, and I drink it all in,” he says.
Having lived in the London for six years and in Dublin for almost five years before that, Chris is now back in Cork and says it’s the best decision he’s ever made, and one that has given him a whole new appreciation for the humour of the place.
“I don't know has it affected my comedy, probably not a whole bunch. I mean, there's less second guessing myself because I still gig in the UK, so the stuff still has to be suitable for a broader audience than Ireland.
“It was mad because I never actually expected myself to move back to Cork. I always wanted to move back to Ireland, but I always thought that if we do move back, we would be based in Dublin.
“I absolutely love being based here. It's a great city, there's a good scene here now for comedy as well. Ireland is small enough, like, I get to come home most of the time. Most gigs I do, I end up driving back and doing the school runs and all that with the kids. It's really class. It's very grounding when you're playing something like the Olympia in Dublin to 1,200 people and you find yourself on the school run the next morning with bleary eyes,” he laughs.
Things have really kicked off for Chris in recent years after his material started getting a lot of attention online. Both his previous and current tours have seen him play bigger and bigger venues in both Ireland and the UK and now that he is focused full-time on comedy, the former electrician says all he wants to do is keep improving and making every show better than the last.
He says: “I was always tipping away, I was always kind of heading in the right direction, it was just going quite slowly for a while.
“There was no big moment on TV or anything like that, so it was tipping away the whole time, and for a couple of years it was frustrating to be honest with you because it was hard to make a living off it, especially when I lived in the UK. But I sort of stuck with it like, and eventually more cogs just started turning and eventually online I got a bit of a break and I think I'm really happy that it happened that way.
“I just think that those 20 years, that stage time, that graft that I put in, I was always trying to write new stuff and write new shows anyway along the way, but I feel it's of stood to me now. I learned an awful lot along the way,” adds Chris.
Chirs’ latest show, ‘Offline’, is inspired by a decision he made to completely cut his phone and the internet out of his life for over two months in an effort to reset his creative process and get back to a place where he could write freely again.
“So, I actually gave up the internet completely just so I could throw myself into this space where I could concentrate and write again and be creative,” says Chris.
“Because I got a break online, I also built up an unhealthy relationship with my phone and I couldn't really write anymore. It's built around that, but the show is not just about being off the internet; it's about my parents, it's about my kids, it's about school, it's about so many different things, you go off on all these different tangents.
“It's been so much fun doing it and I can't wait to do it in Cork,” he adds.
Looking ahead to his show at Live at the Marquee in Cork on 11 July, Chris says he will be giving it “absolute socks” for the people of Cork in what will be the biggest gig he’s ever done.
“I think I'm doing the Marquee at a really good time when the show is just flying it,” he says.
“I think it would be foolish of me to approach it any different to anything else. I just need to figure out my timing on the night.
“I have played one or two arena gigs in Belfast and there's just a beat where they laugh but you hear them probably two seconds later. It takes getting your footwork right.
“I'm trying to just not overthink it before I do it. I just want to do my show justice that night because the show is a really good show, I think,” says Chris.