Comedy club likely to spring from pubs' gameshow spoofing success in Trim

Setting up a comedy club has become a real possibility after the recent success of the Swift Standup Row, the fun spoofing gameshow for Trim pubs being run in conjunction with the Trim Swift Festival. The final of the contest takes place tomorrow (Thursday), after the official launch of the festival, between The Steps and Lenihan's, two pubs from opposite ends of the town. The venue is The Malt House, Athboy Gate, and the contest starts at 9.30pm. The festival is sponsoring the contest, which has been taking place every Wednesday and Thursday night in June. The game was devised by Paddy Smith of the Trim Swift Festival Committee to mark the fact that it is 300 years ago since Jonathan Swift, the writer and prominent spin doctor of English politics, caused a sensation by changing sides from the Whigs to the Tories. "Our own modern-day side-changers have been equally sensational," said Paddy. "They have worked their way through a very challenging 84 debating subjects over the past month, with some outstandingly hilarious contributions. Stars have been born in the process." He said several participants had been discussing the likelihood of having regular comedy standup sessions in the town, especially after the revelation of so much local talent from the contest. The pairing for the final was decided after The Steps defeated Marcie's by 520 to 490 and Lenihan's came from behind to defeat Kiely's 502 to 485. The Steps team in the semi-final comprised Francis Cotter, Ray Reilly and Damien Reilly. Lenihan's were represented by Niall Doyle, Peter Clancy and Aidan Murphy. The defeated semi-finalists were: Marcie's - Will Murray, Ger Dennis and Kevin Kirsop; Kiely's - Niall Hayes, Sean Cumiskey and Vinny O'Brien. The judges in both legs of both semi-finals remarked on the high standard of entertainment and originality in the fun debating format in which each contestant has to present both sides of the argument after pulling a motion from a hat and getting just two minutes to prepare his case.