Getting one over on the banks

US writer, director and theatre performer Patrick Combs brings his smash hit one-man comedy show, 'Man 1 Bank 0', about his most fascinating real life story, to the Solstice Arts Centre on Sunday 26th June, as part of the Solstice Arts Festival. 'Man 1, Bank 0' is Combs' amazing-but-true story of how he deposited a $95,000 junk-mail cheque into his own bank account and about what happens after his bank cashes the ridiculously large sum of money into his personal bank account. This outrageously funny and dramatic comedy quickly becomes a staggering David vs Goliath-like real-life adventure. Never performed in Ireland before, the show was quickly a 'smash hit' in North America and New Zealand performing to sold out shows. So what does happens after the bank cashes the ridiculous check? To name only a few things: angry banking officers threaten Combs with "jail time", "death" and much more. The incident extracts America's leading authority on banking out of retirement. 'Man 1, Bank 0' explains the astonishing legal twists which ensued after the incident, as well as worldwide media coverage. The show sold out in New York during its off-Broadway run at the Lambs Theatre, Times Square, for its entire 32 shows. It also sold out at HBO's 2004 US Comedy Arts Festival held in Aspen, sold out its six show run and garnered Critic's Choice at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, sold out its 10 show run in Winnipeg where it created three- hour ticket lines, hundreds were turned away and it garnered the Best of Fest award; sold out the Comedy Central Stage in Los Angeles; won Best of Fest at the San Francisco Fringe where it also sold out and was awarded Best Solo Comedy; sold out in Auckland where it was an official selection of the New Zealand International Comedy Festival; sold out in Montreal and won the Just For Laughs prize for Best Comedy. Combs is a writer, director and theatre performer has established a multi-faceted career that defies categorization. As a speaker he has inspired more than one thousand audiences at universities and companies nationwide including Shell, Motorola, Visa, Stanford, Penn and NYU since 1992. His writings, posted on the internet, have been read by millions. He is the author of three best-selling books and appeared on Paramount's hit shows, Real TV and Hard Copy where he was the star of humorous hidden camera segments. Time Out NY said: "A wiry, likable West Coast dude who combines hippie earnestness with skateboarder cynicism, Combs has refined his storytelling to an art, using a screen projector, a minimum of props and abundant energy to relate a tale about which he still seems incredulous - and gleeful."