Irish comedy act Dead Cat Bounce are thrilling audiences at the Adelaide Fringe Festival where they will appear until March 13.

Breakthrough Irish musical comedy act Dead Cat Bounce are one of the hottest acts on stage at the Adelaide Fringe Festival at the moment, in more ways than one.

Their opening dates in Adelaide – their first ever Aussie shows – have seen them win rave reviews and a host of new fans, but it’s the change in temperature that has the guys a little flustered.

“It’s 37 degrees down here and it’s like minus eight back home. Some of the lads are close to melting, but it’s all good,” the band’s bassist Shane O’Brien laughed when the Echo caught up with him in South Australia last week.

An Aussie tour is certainly a big step for the Irish boys – Shane, 26, from Dublin; Mick Cullinane, 25, from Lahinch; Damien Fox, 26, from Galway, and Oxford-born 28-year-old James Walmsley.

The band will play about 80 shows during their time in Australia as their star continues its meteoric rise since their debut in January 2008.

It’s been an amazing transition from college buddies at Trinity to featuring at the Edinburgh and Melbourne comedy festivals, but the planets pretty much aligned for the boys right from the beginning.

Not many new comedy acts have Hollywood superstars in the audience on their first night on stage.

“Our first show was at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin, and Will Ferrell ended up coming to it!” Shane explained.

“We got a phone call an hour before the show from the Clarence Hotel saying ‘Will Ferrell would like to come to your show’, so it was pretty amazing. He came along with his dad and his brother and he chatted to us afterwards and he was a really nice guy. It was kind of surreal.”

Their Edinburgh Festival run was so well-received that the foursome ended up getting a call from the BBC.

“We pretty much sold out our run at Edinburgh and on the strength of that we started making some sketches for the BBC that are going to be launched in the next few weeks, so that was pretty big for us.

Now, it’s full steam ahead on their monster tour around Australia.

“The reaction we’ve been getting from the Australian crowd has been great. In Ireland I think musical comedy is a more difficult sell, but over here they get it. They have Flight Of The Conchords and Tripod and guys like that already doing it, so they don’t question it; they just go with it.

“There are obviously going to be comparisons between us and them, but as long as they’re favourable comparisons we’re happy with that. What we do is sort of different too, though, because we do a full rock show.”

Dead Cat Bounce will appear at the Adelaide Fringe Festival until March 13 before going on a national tour.

by Aaron Dunne

Dublin comic Jason Byrne returns to Australia in March.

Direct from a sell-out international tour, Jason Byrne returns to Australian shores for the fifth consecutive year as he hits the comedy festivals in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney early in the new year.

Best known for his crazed and hysterical performances at the last three Melbourne International Comedy Festivals, this time Byrne will spread his wings to take in shows in Brisbane, and for just the second time ever, Sydney.

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Jason Byrne Tour Dates 2010

March 18 – March 20 :: Brisbane :: Powerhouse Theatre

March 23 – April 18 :: Melbourne :: Athenaeum Theatre

April 23 – April 24 :: Sydney :: Enmore Theatre

Irish comedy sensation Dead Cat Bounce are set to make their debut appearance in Australia in February.

by Aaron Dunne

Four of Ireland’s most popular comedy acts are set to hit our shores early in the new year.

David O’Doherty, Jason Byrne and Des Bishop have all been penciled in for upcoming shows at comedy festivals in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, but Ireland’s newest comedy sensation, Dead Cat Bounce, are also set to make their first appearance in Oz.

The musical quartet have been compared to Kiwi sensations Flight Of The Conchords, and have been making waves in recent months with acclaimed performances at the Edinburgh Fringe and Montreal Just For Laughs Festivals.

The band arrive on February 19 for shows in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, with dates set to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Check out Dead Cat Bounce in action live at Dublin’s Sugar Club here. (Warning: contains adult themes).

Des Bishop, meanwhile, will kick off his biggest ever Australian tour on March 5 at the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Des plays three nights in the SA capital before moving on to play the Brisbane Comedy Festival (March 9 – 14), the Melbourne Comedy Festival (March 24 – April 18), Canberra’s Street Theatre (April 22 – 25), the Sydney Comedy Festival (April 30 – May 1) and two nights at Perth’s Astor Theatre on May 8 and May 9.

Jason Byrne, meanwhile, kicks off his latest Aussie tour with three dates at the Brisbane Comedy Festival (March 18 – 20), before going on to play Melbourne (March 23 – April 18) and finishing up his tour at the Sydney Comedy Festival with shows on April 23 and April 24 at the Enmore Theatre.

O’Doherty  – who has just finished a new book with Australian friend Claudia O’Doherty entitled 100 Facts About Pandas – lands in Oz on March 7 for shows in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney with exact dates and venues yet to be confirmed.