A comedy club in Co Tyrone is set to relaunch this weekend after being hampered with closures since 2015.
Daly’s Comedy Club in Omagh will return on Friday February 4 with an impressive lineup, including headliner Shane Todd.
The club was forced to shut down seven years ago before reopening for a brief period in 2019 before the arrival of Covid 19.
Now the monthly show will bring comedians back to the town, with local performer Conor Keys telling MyTyrone how important it was to have the club back up and running.
“We’re very excited to have a comedy club back in the town again, it’s been sorely missed,” Conor said.
“Hopefully we are back for the foreseeable now and there is no further lockdowns.
“Because it’s comedy and because it’s laughter it is definitely needed after what we went through.
“For us locally it’s our monthly show and our chance for stage time, but even for punters there’s nothing else like us until you get up to Derry.
“Thankfully now the comedy scene is kicking off again in the North and we have new venues popping up all the time, so we’re just glad to be back in amongst the circuit.”
Conor describes the venue at Daly’s as a ‘genuine comedy club’, and is hoping for it to see a bit more stability this year.
He said: “It’s a genuine comedy club as opposed to a venue. It has that feel of the great clubs that you would see in Edinburgh or Glasgow.
“We don’t know how it happened but it kind of grew to be seen as one of the best rooms in the North by the comedians themselves.
“I also say because my granny used to make sausage rolls for the comedians every month that that was a big selling point for them as well.”
“We’re hoping 2022 is the year where we can really get back into the full swing of things again.”
The Omagh man, who recently supported Micky Bartlett at his series of Ulster Hall gigs, says it has been a struggle for those who love stand-up during the pandemic.
“It was a real struggle and I think musicians would have felt that as well at the time.
“What it did do was to make them adapt, whether it be desperation for money or stage time, they had to do Zoom gigs, car park gigs.
“There was a lot of creativity around getting shows done, but every comedian will tell you the same thing. None of them come even close to performing at a comedy venue.”
Headliner Todd will perform alongside Sean Hegarty, Diona Doherty and Darren Matthews at the relaunch on Friday, while Conor will be the MC for the night.
