It's fair to say Irish people are well-known for their sense of humour, as dry and as sarcastic as it can be at times. Some talented heads have even gone and made a career out of it, with a rake load of Irish comedians making a name for themselves at home and abroad.
There really is too many to chose from, but below are just ten of our favourite funny men and women hailing from this island of ours.
Dara O'Briain
By far one of our most successful exports, Dara O Briain has managed to successfully make a name for himself in the UK, hosting the likes of Mock the Week, The Apprentice: You're Fired! show, and Stargazing Live. He has even been described as "Terry Wogan's heir apparent as Britain's 'favourite Irishman". A native of Wicklow, the comedian also has a degree in mathematics and theoretical physics to fall back on if things ever go belly up, although other than some in-depth chats with Stephen Hawking, we don't think he'll need to anytime soon.
Maeve Higgins
This Cork woman cut her comedy chops working as a writer/actor on RTE's Naked Camera, as well as the fantastic 'Maeve Higgins' Fancy Vittles', which she presented alongside her sister, chef Lily Higgins. Cooking and comedy? A genius combination if you ask us. Nowadays Maeve has set up camp in New York and can be seen hanging out with the likes of Amy Schumer no less on her comedy sketch show. G'wan the Maeve.
David O'Doherty
Maeve may have aced combining cooking and comedy, but when it comes to music and comedy, only one Irish man comes to mind - the fantastic David O'Doherty. Not since Ross Gellar has a man excelled in his use of an electric keyboard, with songs about everything from the sheer horror of texting the wrong person to frequently asked questions he gets all the time...
Dylan Moran
When it comes to comedy, Dylan Moran literally defines 'dry'. While some comedians can be jumping around from one end of the stage to the other, you're more likely to find Moran perched on a stool with that disheveled head of his sharing some of his hilariously self-aware ramblings. Nobody could have nailed the character of Black Book's Bernard Black quite like Moran could have, a sitcom he also created and co-wrote alongside Graham Linehan.
Jason Byrne
These days you can find Dublin comedian Jason Byrne co-hosting Wild Things over on Sky1, and before that he was interviewing celebs on TV3 while going through some of their 'snaptastic' old photos. Byrne credits the likes of Dermot Morgan and Billy Connolly for his mad hatter style of comedy that has seen him become the biggest selling comedian at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Fred Cooke
Fred Cooke managed to get himself inside every home in the country for a while there as the dim-witted Fergus from the Spar ads, but since then he has gone onto a successful stand-up career which has seen him perform in the likes of the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, the Carlsberg Comedy Carnival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He most recently supported Ardal O'Hanlon on his nationwide tour, while he's also shared the stage with the likes of Dara O Brian and Ross Noble.
Dermot Morgan
Speaking of Dermot Morgan, how could we have a list of Irish comedians without putting the inimitable Dermot Morgan there? The Father Ted star may have tragically left this mortal coil eighteen years ago, but his influence in Irish comedy is incomparable. Many may now only know him for his role as our favourite parochial priest, but before his Father Ted days, Morgan was pushing comedy boundaries in Ireland with the likes of The Live Mike, and of course, Scrap Saturday.
Ardal O'Hanlon
We can't mention Dermot without his former partner-in-crime Ardal O'Hanlon, who of course played Fr Dougal Maguire in the iconic Father Ted sitcom. Since his days of choosing between Blur and Oasis and pressing red buttons, O'Hanlon went on to star in BBC sitcom My Hero along with appearances in many more TV shows and of course maintaining his high profile stand-up career. To top it off, O'Hanlon is one of the people we can pretty much credit for bringing a comedy scene to Dublin, as together with Kevin Gildea and Barry Murphy, he founded the International Comedy Cellar on Dublin's South Wicklow Street, where so many of the comedians on this list began their careers.
Aisling Bea
If you don't know of Aisling yet, you should get to know her. The comedian/actress managed to become the second woman in twenty five years to scoop the Edinburgh Fringe So You Think You’re Funny Award back in 2012 and has appeared in the likes of Holby City, In With the Flynns, Trollied and even made her acting debut in good old Fair City playing Cliodhna Norris back in 2009.
Neil Delamere
We're assuming most of you have seen Neil Delamere's live stand up at this stage, if not we assume you have been cleverly hiding away on a rock in mars this last decade or so. Neil is undoubtedly one of Irish comedy's biggest stars, and has also gone on to make a name of himself abroad as host of The BBC's The Blame Game. Neil is also a regular on RTE and was in fact the very first host of Republic of Telly. Nowadays, as well as his stand-up, he is focusing his attention on comedy documentaries, with presenting IFTA Award- and Celtic Media Award-winning TV programmes on the Vikings and St. Patrick.
If these ten comedians craic you up then maybe Maltesers can as well. They're teaming up with Fred Cooke to launch the 'Craic up with Maltesers' campaign. They're asking you to tag the person who craics you up the most on Facebook or Twitter and you will be entered into the daily draw to win one of a host of prizes which include tickets to the Craic Up Comedy Night on June 10th, or the ultimate prize of a trip to the home of comedy the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 5th–29th August 2016.
