West Beth

Official Website: www.tommytiernan.com

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Tommy Tiernan has broken all Irish box office records over and over again by selling out in venues across the country, including a staggering 104 dates in Dublin's one thousand seat theatre, Vicar Street. He completed his recent tour in July to the jet-roar of a standing ovation from 4,500 people at The Marquee in Cork, Ireland before flying to Montreal to begin his invited run at the Just For Laughs Festival. 

When Tiernan left the stage of the 2004 Just For Laughs Gala, over 2,000 people were on their feet in a sustained ovation to acknowledge one of the most extraordinary performances of stand-up in festival memory.  So in time honored tradition, the festival organizers chose Tommy to return the following year for a solo run of his full one-man show Loose. A real honor considering previous recipients include Bill Hicks and Eddie Izzard. He performed seven shows, had seven sell-outs, and received seven standing ovations. He was even asked to extend the run an additional seven nights to try to meet the demand. This reaction not only confirmed that his comedy travels well, but demonstrated why he is now regarded as one of the top ten stand-up comedians in the English speaking world.

From his beginnings in Galway's GPO and Dublin's Comedy Cellar, to an early win of the So You Think You're Funny UK Best Newcomer Award, Tommy's stage work quickly lead to a Perrier Award win in Edinburgh, a British Comedy Award for Best Stand-Up and a Nokia Best Of The Fest Award on his return to Edinburgh.  His commitment to live stand-up has led him on an extraordinary journey, including twice being accused of blasphemy in the Irish Senate.  His last two DVDs have gone straight to Number One in the charts, his most recent DVD Loose having just gone nine times platinum.

With two sold-out runs in New York safely in his pocket and a tour of the Far East and a three year tour of Ireland complete (one leg of which included a six week, 650 mile walk across Ireland, performing shows in small regional theatres for an Irish TV show called Supertramp), Tommy is now focusing his energy on the US and Canada, where he completed a successful run in Los Angeles and taped a one-hour comedy special in Chicago.

Tommy's last show Loose continued his interrogation of the big ideas - Sex, Religion, Family - through the lens of his quirks, personal demons and sense of outrage.  As ever, he does so with fervour and passion. The legendary Lenny Bruce said that the job of a comedian is not just to entertain, but to "tell the truth through comedy", a philosophy which continues to inform Tommy's approach to stand-up. Given the depth, honesty and intensity of his material, it is remarkable to see just how funny he can be.