Three is the golden number of comedy

Après Match first appeared on RTÉ in 1996, to provide TV viewers with comic observations during the station’s soccer coverage. They were a rip-roaring hit back then, although nobody could have imagined then that they’d still be going strong 16 years later.

But they are, and the Après Match trio of Gary Cooke, Risteard Cooper and Barry Murphy roll into Galway on Friday, April 30 as part of an Irish tour to entertain with their latest show.

It features The River Tenors as well as an all-star cast including Bill O’Herlihy, Eamon Dunphy, Liam Brady, John Giles, Gary Lineker, Mark Lawrenson, George Hook, and Martin King. This show will also lampoon new targets like Ryan Tubridy, Brendan O’Connor, Vincent Browne and Joan Burton.

The River Tenors, “renowned throughout Leitrim” are the Après Match response to the glut of tenors which currently prevails in the world.“There’s a tenor on every street corner these days,” says Gary Cooke of the phenomenon, which the Après Match team first began to notice nearly seven years ago. “There’s the Irish Tenors, The English Tenors, Il Divo, The three priests tenors. . . And the idea of classical singers singing pop songs and Beatles’ songs – we all find that a bit funny.” 

Given that they “can all hold a tune”, the only wonder is that it took so long for this sequence to develop. Risteard Cooper is, in fact an excellent singer who has previously appeared in musicals such as Blood Brothers.

“Risteard is a fine singer, Barry is a pretty good singer and I am a moderately good singer. We can all hold a tune,” says Gary, who proves that he certainly can, by breaking – unexpectedly – into Finbarr Wright mode during our conversation.

Capturing the peccadillos of well-known characters might have provided the trio with the bulk of their material in the past, but Ireland has changed in recent times.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.