Comedian Martin Angolo told David Hennessy about his debut hour Edinburgh show, Idiot Wind, that seeks to be ‘politely offensive’ to show that comedians can still say what they want about risky topics.
Award-winning Dublin comedian Martin Angolo is currently performing his hugely anticipated debut hour show, Idiot Wind, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024.
Hailing from Stoneybatter, Martin Angolo’s show looks at modern life and examine Ireland’s positive and negative cultural shifts compared to the rest of the world.
In an hour that’s ‘politely offensive’, Martin aims to challenge the notion that ‘comedians can’t say anything these days’.
Martin Angolo has appeared on Amazon Prime’s LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland and as a judge on the BBC New Comedy Awards 2023.
His Instagram comedy videos and amassed over 90,000 devoted followers.
A debut hour in Edinburgh is a big step for comedians and putting on a full hour’s show makes them eligible for Fringe awards.
How are you enjoying bringing the show to Edinburgh?
“It’s been good, a lot of drinking but I’m used to it.
“The show’s been going down really well.
“I can’t help it, I’m hilarious.”
Where did the title of the show Idiot Wind come from?
“It’s a good explanation for what comes out of a comedian’s mouth because we are idiots up there.
“We’re just saying stupid stuff to get a laugh.”
If it is going down so well, does that mean it is perhaps not so offensive?
“Well, I mean some of it’s in bad taste, I suppose.
“It’s politely offensive.
“It’s been great because- I kind of mention it in the show now- I’m meeting lots of different types of people who come along, all these different sort of groups of people.
“I’ve had Muslims come to the show going, ‘I love when you gave us a shout out’.
“Everyone likes their bit in the show.
“It’s sort of inclusive in the way you’re taking the piss.”
That’s where the show comes from, isn’t it? It’s your response to the idea you can’t say anything these days..
“Yeah, I think you can say whatever you like really but to do it well, you’ve got to think about it.
“There’s some comedians who go the other way and are sort of doubling down on this idea.
“Some comedians need something to fight against and the idea that you can’t say anything anymore is a nice thing for a comedian to try and fight against even though they could be a multi-millionaire in an arena: You need this cancel culture idea.
“It is a thing.
“People come to me going, ‘Are you not worried about getting cancelled?’
“And I’m like, ‘I’ll be honest, my career isn’t going that well. I’m not at risk’.”
Where do you stand on it though, cancel culture?
“I pay very little attention to it.
“I mean, who are the cancelled people?
“I mean all the big names are still filling big venues.
“I wouldn’t say cancel culture doesn’t exist but I would say it’s not as big of a thing as it gets made out to be.”
Does it feel like a big thing to do doing your debut hour in Edinburgh?
“It’s a lot of people telling me it’s very important but I feel very little pressure.
“I’ve done a bunch of previews and stuff around Ireland and the UK so the material is all there. It’s just about me on the day delivering it well.
“It seems to be going well so far: Positive feedback, people wanting to work with me more and all that sort of thing which is encouraging.”
Are there any jokes that are particularly risky in this show?
“It’s less the joke and more the subject matter.
“If you talk about religion or gender identity, you can play with the tension in the room when you bring up the subjects just by themselves.
“The whole point of doing risky comedy is seeing what you can get away with without crossing whatever your line is.
“To be honest I don’t think there’s anything too high risk, it is more the subjects they dance around.
“You can see people going, ‘Ooh, he’s talking about this or that’.
“I’m not giving away the riskiest jokes out of context. The show builds so once I’ve done 45 minutes, the last 10 minutes can be horrible stuff and people are more invested. People get it at that point hopefully.”
You speak about religion and gender identity among other things, does that wind some up?
“I’ve only had one complaint in 10 years and it was an English person giving out about me, Irish people making jokes about the English.
“It was the weirdest thing.
“You talk about horrible crimes and death and gender and all these things and it’s someone going, ‘You’re making fun of my country’.
“As I said, I’ve had people from everything I make jokes about. People are just very happy to be sort of included in the jokes.
“I think people know when it’s done with the right intention as well.”
Do you ever get feedback from the people you’ve mentioned in your stand up. Does anyone ever say, ‘Hey!’
“No. I did a whole routine about Tommy Tiernan getting in trouble last year.
“He was making jokes about taxi drivers and there was a whole thing about it.
“It started off as two lines and then became a whole routine, and I’ve done it in front of him. I’ve been on bills with him and he takes it very well, I have to say.
“Sometimes the most sensitive people can be other comedians.
“When I started out in comedy the whole thing was we just made fun of each other constantly and seems to be less of a thing now with comedians, they take themselves very seriously.
“But no, I never had any negative feedback.
“I was pretty mean to Ray Darcy and I did a TV thing with him.
“I was taking the piss out of him on the show.
“We never met before or after.
“I was pretty mean and worried I might have offended him.
“I was just constantly making jokes about him and he was sort of looking at me like, ‘Who is this guy anyway?’
“I was the least known person on the show.”
You were also pretty savage about Bono in one routine, how serious are you there? Do you dislike him that much or is it just a joke?
“If he’s reading this, it’s just a joke.
“But he is a bit annoying, isn’t he?
“I don’t wish him any harm but I mean come on. Cop on, Bono.
“He could be less annoying.”
Also on cancel culture, it is sad that something like Father Ted couldn’t be made now. How has political correctness gone that far?
“I don’t know if it’s political correctness.
“I think it’s so hard to get anything made on television.
“Back when Father Ted and things like that were made it was more like one guy going, ‘Make a series, I’ve read your thing, work away’. Very little intrusion.
“Now there’s big committees of people trying to get something made and every joke gets analysed and it sort of ruins it.
“It’s much harder to make good comedy on television. Some things get through but it takes a lot of work to not get micromanaged.
“People don’t like taking risks on television.
“No one sets out to make a pile of sh*t in television but it turns out that way some times.”
You have appeared on Last One Laughing and also the Deirdre O’Kane Show, are these highlights of your career so far?
“Yeah, they’ve been the highlights.
“The Deirdre O’Kane one was during the pandemic.
“It was meant to be recorded proper Live at the Apollo style in the Olympia.
“It would have been great but we were happy to just get it made.
“Obviously Last One Laughing got the most money spent, I think, on a comedy show in Ireland maybe ever.
“That was definitely a highlight.
“I get recognised a lot more around Ireland.
“It was so well advertised that people will come up to me going, ‘I saw you on that show’,
“But it was so well advertised that the same amount of people come up to me going, ‘I know you’re on that show but I’m not f**king paying for Amazon’.
“But they know it exists which is still good.”
It was on that show that host Graham Norton said you were ‘very funny’.
“I assume he did research because he knew who everyone was.
“On that show no one knew who else was on it but I’m sure Graham got sent clips and all that sort of thing.
“Talking to him after, he seemed to be familiar with some of my work so he was very nice to talk to after.
“He was in Edinburgh last week. Didn’t come to my show. I’m a bit bitter.”
You were something of a reluctant comedian starting out, does some of that discomfort or reluctance remain?
“No, there’s no reluctance.
“Once you do it for as long as I’ve been doing it, it’s sort of the only thing you can do.
“But I like the performance now because I am just sort of basically myself on stage.
“Starting out you have to find a character or, not being a natural performer, find a way to just get through it.
“It’s fun really.
“You’re telling jokes at the end of the day making people laugh hopefully.”
You always bring a pint of Guinness onstage with you. How did that start?
“I used to never drink before a gig and then I was just out on the town with friends and a comic booker rang me up going, ‘We’re stuck for an act’.
“And I was like, ‘I’m six pints deep, we can chance it’, and it worked out alright.
“There was a dangerous element of, ‘I can get away with this’.
“So I don’t mind. I’ll have a drink or two before a show but nothing crazy.
“I often meet other comedians we have the debate about what is the right level of drink to be done before a gig and the consensus, if it’s a late night club show, you want to be maybe two pints in, going on with your third. That’s a good level. You’re loose, you’re still on form, you’re still aware.
“I think you look more comfortable going up there with a pint.
“My one diva thing: I’m always like, ‘Is there a stool or something I can leave my pint on?’”
You’ve spoken about the differences between audiences in different places.
I guess in Edinburgh at the moment you get people from everywhere..
“Yeah, I am getting a lot of Americans in. Generally mixed crowds.
“I do gigs everywhere. I go all over Europe every year and a group of people anywhere is basically the same.
“There’s not much difference.
“They do two for one on Monday (in Edinburgh) and you get a lot of older Scottish couples. That’s the one time they come out because it’s the stereotype of them being cheap. They come out and get the cheaper tickets and they can be a bit quieter, they can be a bit more work but they still enjoy the show.
“To be honest, crowds are basically the same everywhere.
“In America maybe there’s a bit more whooping and cheering. That’s just their culture.
“Dutch crowds are notoriously difficult but they’re fine, they’re just a bit more reserved. They’re used to their thing of paying attention rather than expression or laughter as much.
“They give you a big cheer at the end, still they’re fun gigs.
“Places have their little thing but they’re all basically the same.”
I remember you saying you came back from America where they are so enthusiastic and then when you said you were happy to be somewhere like Tullamore, people didn’t believe you meant it.
“They didn’t believe me.
“That’s pretty true.
“I mean Americans are very proud of where they’re from.
“We’re inclined to take the piss.
“I love gigging in Cork as a Dubliner.
“Cork people love having the piss taken out of them if it’s done well.
“I used to do a whole thing about how Cork really shouldn’t hate Dublin because they’re similar enough. If Dublin didn’t exist, Cork would be the most hated county in the country because they’re as smug as we are.
“They love it. Everywhere has their thing.
“Northern Ireland, you make jokes about the whole situation.
“They love it.”
You had a role in the Irish language film Róise Agus Frank.
I saw the film a little while, remind me the part you played..
“You’ll probably have to remind me.
“I think I play a guy trying to get drugs from a doctor.
“It’s a long story.
“The director wanted me to have a bigger role and I told him, ‘I’m not an actor’.
“He said, ‘No, you’ll be fine’.
“They got me to do a tape or whatever.
“The casting people basically called me in and went, ‘You’re not an actor’.
“And I was like, ‘I told everybody’.
“Maureen Hughes was the casting director.
“She sat with me for an hour and gave me an acting lesson.
“She was like, ‘I work with the best. I’ve gotten everyone through every scene. We’re gonna work together’.
“And after about an hour, she gave up and she went, ‘Yeah, this isn’t gonna work out’.
“The director rang me about two weeks later and he went, ‘I’ve got a different role for you. We’re gonna call the character Martin and you’re gonna have five lines, just learn them’.”
You also won a Celtic Media Award in 2018 for your role in an Irish language radio show.
Are you big into the Irish language?
“I went to a Gaelscoil but I’m not fluent really.
“I’ve done some gigs in Irish and stuff like that.
“But it sort of dips in and out, I kind of lost it after school.
“Whenever I meet Dara O’Briain, he’s a big Irish speaker, and he always tries to speak to me in Irish and I always go, ‘Dara, I don’t speak Irish when I’m drinking. I’m three pints in, we’re not going there’.
“So I feel a bit of a charlatan sometimes.”
Martin Angolo’s Idiot Wind is at Underbelly, Bristo Square until 26 August at 5.25pm as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
For tickets, click here.
He also brings the show around Ireland in October and plays Liberty Hall in Dublin on 2 November.
For more information about Martin Angolo, click here.
