O'Hanlon was a founding member of anarchic comedy trio Mr Trellis in the 1980s and went on to play a lead role in Father Ted and subsequently in My Hero. He recently presented RTE's So You Want to be Taoiseach?

Was acting a natural progression from standup?

"Not every comic is going to be a good actor but lots of them are. Sitcoms are more flexible and you know you can tweak something in the next take . . . you can't do that live. On the other hand you've a huge team around you and it's not your stuff. So as joyful as Father Tedwas, it was never as satisfying as stand-up."

So you'll always do it?

"It's irreplaceable and inescapable for me. I remember very distinctly the first time I did the International bar. It would have been an audience of friends but I remember my leg quivering uncontrollably during the whole set and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I don't get nerves that bad anymore. I literally had no control over my body but somehow the words are coming out in roughly the right order. I remember playing the lobby of a cinema once with people coming and going playing fruit machines. But I love it."

Was there a big rift between the older comics and the newer ones when you were starting out?

"There was a definite break. I listened to recordings of Brendan Grace growing up . . . it was the only comedy in our house and I loved it. So obviously there was a turn of phrase and an expression and a kind of giddy and endearing quality that still remains in Irish comedy. There's not a million miles between Niall Toibin and Tommy Tiernan . . . they're both part of a storytelling tradition. There's a difference in the type of subject matter, but the style is not that dissimilar. But, it has to be said, a very definite hammer came down at one stage between the old and the new. Newer comics were coming from all sorts of backgrounds.

These were people who would have otherwise been claimed by journalism or novelwriting but they chose comedy instead."

Improv Queen, Tara Flynn

Tara Flynn was a founding member of comedy singing trio the Nualas and is a member of Dublin Comedy Improv Team. She has appeared as a panellist on The Panel and The Big Bite and has acted in I, Keano, and I Do Not Like Thee Doctor Fell. She also starred in RTE's sketch comedy show Stew.

How did it all begin for you?

"I was a regular at the International when I first came to Dublin in 1990. Just as a punter, although I did the door sometimes. I was a big fan of the improv but thought it was something I'd never do. I was acting and I was doing lots of workshops and I was at a party in 1995 with Sue Collins and Ann Gildea and we started messing around with a guitar and the Nualas were born. I thought things were going too quickly for me so I went back to acting. Then in 1999 I got a call from the International saying that there were too many people away in Edinburgh to do the show and I went there and stayed there for seven years."

Is there something in particular that marks Irish comedy?

"There's a conversational quality to Irish comedy. But I think people make assumptions about what Irish comedy is like, more than anything particular that marks us out. I mean, what's the similarity between Maeve Higgins and Jarlath O'Regan? At the same time here in Edinburgh you can still land a flyer on someone and say do you want to see Irish comedy and they'll come along expecting something jovial and quite friendly . . . it might not be. . . but that's what they expect."

Father Damo, Joe Rooney

Joe Rooney began his career performing sketch comedy with Paul Tylak in the Quack Squad. They appeared in Nighthawks in the '80s, and Rooney featured as Father Damo in a memorable episode of Father Ted. He now stars in Pat Shortt's Killinascully.

What's different about Irish comedy?

"One of the things that helped at the beginning was the International Bar. In Britain acts could get loads of gigs and a lot more work but it was to tougher audiences and a lot of British comics ended up having to do a similar style. The International Bar gave you a chance to develop your own style and have an original angle."

Has YouTube and the internet had an impact on comedy?

"Well it makes it easier to get stuff out there. But because it's so easy there's probably an awful lot of shit out there as well. I suppose if we were starting now we'd be shooting sketches at home and putting them up on the web. But at the same time in this country getting on TV is the big thing. If you're doing stand-up it really helps. Look at how successful PJ Gallagher's been."

Is there's a healthy scene now?

"Oh definitely. You don't have to go abroad. There are comedy clubs in Sligo and Roscommon, all over the country. People are almost treating comedy as a regular night out."

Ex-Pat, Pat Andrew Maxwell

Andrew Maxwell is a regular on The Panel on RTE but has been living in England for the past few years. He has appeared on the Secret Policeman's Ball, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and was voted 'King of Comedy' on Channel 4's reality TV show of the same name. He also hosts a weekly latenight comedy gig called the Fullmooners in London.

What's funny?

"There's room in comedy for everythingf even if it's not funny. If you can make a dark subject comic you can offer some illumination or release. It's possible to delight in something that's particularly dark."

Do you see a connection between the new comedy and the old-school gag-merchants?

"I've not a bad word to say about the old school. They're stereotyped as being hackneyed and uninventive, but they had to work in a far more circumscribed society.

In many ways what they did it was extraordinary. With 'alternative comedy' in Britain, Oxbridge middle-class people wanting to shove their way into show-business, and they did it by shoving the old-school guys aside and vilifying them."

So what's the point of comedy?

"Our politics in the Republic is based on a retardedly cosy consensus, where there is no real opposition and no vision or leadership from the government. It's largely practicalist and selfish. The whole point of stand-up comedy, whether it's Hal Roach or the most left-wing controversialist, is that the comedian is the child in the parade that will always point out that the emperor is naked. And f**k me, there are a lot of naked emperors in Ireland."

Don't Heckle Him, Karl Spain

Karl Spain won the RTE New Comedian Award in 2000. He was part of the Irish show at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal in 2003 and has subsequently appeared in festivals around the world.

He's best-known for the TV show Karl Spain Wants A Woman and for his appearances on The Panel.

Did you remember your first gig?

"It was terrifying. I was so shocked by my first laugh I forgot what came next! I had done a joke about Limerick . . . about how Limerick isn't as bad as people made out . . . "We're not that bad. Don't judge us all by the Cranberries." I got a big laugh and I forgot what I was supposed to say and my friend's sister shouted up, 'Do you have to let it linger?' And I gave her this look of hate. 'How could you do this to me!'" How have things changed since then?

"When I started there was no money in it. Des Bishop was the first person to pay me. I think I got 30 or 40 quid for the gig and I just couldn't believe it. I didn't realise that there was any reward for it. Now there are all these gigs around the place. Sometimes I worry about quality. . . If as an audience member you go along to a comedy night and you don't know what to expect and you see a bunch of comedians that aren't good enough, then that'll stop you going again. I remember a friend of mine asked some mates to go to a gig I was doing and they said, "Nah we've seen comedy before."

It's like having seen a band you didn't like you decided you won't see any more bands!"

One to Watch, Jarleth Regan

Jarlath Regan competed in the final of the BBC and Channel 4 new comedy awards in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2004. He has written for Tubridy Tonight, The Last Word, and RTE's science program Scope, and has performed at the Montreal Just For Laughs festival.

How has comedy changed?

"In the old days there was a different sense of ownership of the material. Today it would be unforgivable to use someone else's jokes. The material comes from within you, but back then there was a pretty much widely accepted joke trade between comedians. If you were doing a gig in Waterford you'd ask someone, 'Do you have any Waterford jokes?'

I think across the board now there's certainly a feeling that Irish comedians won't do the traditional hackneyed material or cover the normal areas. And I think that's really positive."

So how's the comedy scene right now?

"Every pub that has an upstairs has a comedy club.

Every place that previously had a trad-night now has a comedy night. There's a new comedy contest in Cork and this year it has 200 entrants.

They'd have been hardpressed to get 10 people four years ago. Comedy really is the new rock 'n' roll."

He's on the telly a lot, Patrick Kielty

Patrick Kielty began his comedy career in Queen's University in the 1980s.

Since then he has presented a number of successful television programs on British TV including SUS, PK Tonight, Patrick Kielty Almost Live, Love Island and Fame Academy.

How have things changed?

"When I was starting out if you were an Irish comedian and you wanted to be on TV you went to England. You had to. If you wanted to host telly, if you wanted to tell jokes, if you wanted to be in a sitcom, you f**king went to England. Not in a Paddy heads to Boston, no-work type way, but there was no real televisual platform.

What's nice about doing gigs in Ireland nowadays is that from a comedy evolution perspective it's so much more developed than it was. Des has had a telly show, Tommy's had a telly show, David O'Doherty had a show. You've got Naked Camera. You've got Jason with Anonymous. None of those shows would have got on air 15 years ago. It just wouldn't have happened.

Now there's a real appetite for comedy and you have festivals like Bulmers and Kilkenny. It's great."

Do you miss stand-up when you're doing so much TV?

"Hosting TV is like the wife and comedy is like the mistress. You have a duty to the wife but you'd really like to be off with the mistress.

I took a bit of time off and didn't do stand-up for a while, so when I last toured I had quite a lot of people who were maybe expecting two or three cobbled together jokes about Love Island and Kelly Brook's tits. The fact that I had an opinion about suicide bombing was a bit of a surprise to them.

It's always a trade off between doing the standup and TV."

Joy From The Hood, Dean Scurry

In 2005 Des Bishop did a series of comedy workshops in Ballymun and made a television program called Joy in the Hood. Three of the participants went on to create the House of Fun club in Ballymun. One of the three, Dean Scurry, has performed with many Irish comedy luminaries . . . and he didn't even make the final cut of the show.

Had you thought about doing comedy before the workshops?

"I'd never thought of doing stand-up, but I've always been really into taking the piss out of life. I met Chris Rock in New York and I kind of realised this guy is just normal. He came in an Adidas track suit and did a halfhour set and I was blown away by how simple and down to earth he was. That's what intrigues me and keeps me going. I like to think that's what my comedy is about. I have so many funny ideas and stories and situations in my head and I just want to share them with people."

How's the Irish comedy scene?

"I've played with Ardal O'Hanlon, Tommy Tiernan and Des. The scene's great.

And now with MySpace, Bebo and YouTube you can throw an idea up and have five hundred people look at it. They can get an idea of where I'm coming from from YouTube and then they might come to a gig?"

I suppose you were nervous for your first gig?

"Nah. My first gig was amazing. And I went on after Ardal O'Hanlon."