Drinking, flashing and gator slapping with the Irish Comedy Tour

Seeing the Irish Comedy Tour, making a stop this weekend at Bonkerz Comedy Club at Palace Station, is like having dessert first. In the comedy club world an average show includes an opener, a feature and a headliner, usually in ascending order on the funny scale. The Irish Comedy Tour includes three headlining acts – Derek Richards, Mike McCarthy and Jim Paquette – coming together for a night of jokes about all things Irish. Skip your vegetables and get right to the good stuff.

Derek Richards, the comedian who organized the tour explains, “We’re all second and third generation Irish. The idea was to take an Irish pub and a comedy show and put it in a food processor. It’s just a fun party atmosphere.”

“A couple years ago Derek had the idea of getting a couple of Irish guys together to do a St. Patrick’s Day show,” McCarthy explains. “After the success of the show you could see a light bulb go off over his head, and after that we were off and running.“

Richard’s first trip to Las Vegas was a joke in itself. “I had never been to Vegas before and you’re thinking this is the pinnacle of entertainment and my gig was at the Casino Royale. So, I take a picture and email it to my wife and I say, ‘This is the big time, hon. The casino’s attached to a Denny’s!’”

Richards also has the distinction of having dated a stripper, which gives him endless fodder for jokes, he says.

“There are certain things that are inherent to an exotic dancer that you’re not going to see on your typical bookkeeper. She had the classic tit dancer blonde hair and a massive chest. I remember trying to tell my grandfather that she balanced books for a living and he said, ‘Oh do you now?’ Everyone knew what she did.”

While all three comedians have Irish roots, they currently reside in Florida. Richards explains, “Anytime something stupid happens, it happens in Florida. A guy was arrested in Okeechobee, Fla. for beating his girlfriend with a three-foot alligator he kept in his bathtub because she wouldn’t bring him a beer.”

While McCarthy hasn’t been using large reptiles as weapons, the drinking he can relate to.

“We’re animals,” he says. “The drinking that occurs is just mind-boggling.“ The guys like to hang out with the crowd after their gigs, so following the show, be prepared to share a Guinness with these Sons of Erin.

Come to think of it, be prepared to share more than just a pint with the trio. McCarthy, known for his outrageous brand of jokes and onstage antics, recounted a story of one of his crazier moments: “A crowd in Canada dared me to take out my pecker, and that seemed like a good idea at the time. When I’m drunk and somebody says I dare you… The last thing I ever wanted to be was boring.”

The musician in the group is Jim Paquette, a comedian who puts his jokes to music in the form of parody songs. “One of my favorites is ‘Show Up Naked and Bring Beer.’”

Paquette explains the theme of the Irish Comedy Tour, “I tell everyone at the top of the show that we’re Irish, we’re going to say what we’re thinking. If you feel your race, or creed or sexual preference hasn’t been made fun of, let us know and we’ll get right on it!”

The other thing they’ll get on while in town is partying.

“You can drink 24/7/365 and nobody cares,” Marvels McCarthy. “It would kill me to live there. For this trip to Las Vegas, I’ve taken out some more insurance and gotten my affairs in order, just in case!”