Diet of Worms is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

comedy and theatre group based in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, UK, made up of Rory Connolly, Philippa Dunne, Niall Gaffney, Shane Langan and Amy Stephenson. They write and perform sketch and character comedy for stage and screen.

History

The group took their eponymous first show to the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in 2006, only a month after their first live performance together at Dublin's Battle of the Axe comedy club. In 2007, they took "Diet of Worms on (Melted) Ice", a sketch comedy show performed in a swimming pool, to Edinburgh. They also began to release short mockumentary films online as part of a series entitled "Dublin Stories". The films were a collaboration with filmmakers Alex Gill and Michael Donnelly and were short portraits of odd Dublin characters, created and performed by one or more of the Worms at a time. This was later commissioned by RTÉ to be developed into a half-hour pilot which RTÉ aired in January 2009. Their 2008 live sketch show was entitled "Friends of the Puffincat". The show ran at the

Gilded Balloon Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August. The company has its origins in a venue kn ...

during the

. It featured a character created by the group as part of "Adventures of the Puffincat", an online cartoon series they began producing in early 2008. The Puffincat is the apparent star of a faux-Russian children's propaganda cartoon. He is the result of the forced breeding of a puffin and a cat. In 2010, the group began releasing an online sitcom series called "The Taste of Home". It told the story of a Dublin family called the Walshes, through the lens of a primitive video camera operated by an unseen uncle. The series had five episodes and was set between 1987 and 1990. It was directed by Alex Gill and produced by Michael Donnelly. In 2010, the group moved from sketch to long form theatre. They presented the play "Strollinstown" at the

Dublin Fringe Festival The Dublin Fringe Festival is an annual curated arts festival in Dublin, Ireland focusing mainly on theatre. The festival allows artists to submit their work via an application which is subsequently reviewed by the programme manager. The festiva ...

. The show was nominated for the Fishamble New Writing Award. In 2012, the story and characters were re-worked into a live radio production called "The Strollinstown Radio Hour" which was presented as part of the 10 Days in Dublin Festival. In 2011, they produced a play called "Cult" at the Lir Theatre in the

which the

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

called "sharp and self-aware".

Irish Theatre Magazine Irish Theatre Magazine was an online cultural journal dedicated to in-depth coverage of theatre and the performing arts in Ireland. The print and web archives of Irish Theatre Magazine can be viewed awww.itmarchive.ie Founded in Dublin in 1998 ...

called it "a highly amusing piece of theatre". In 2014 Diet of Worms produced a television series, ''

The Walshes ''The Walshes'' is an Irish comedy television series that was first broadcast on RTÉ One on 6 March and BBC Four on 13 March 2014. The three-part series was written by Graham Linehan and the comedy group Diet of Worms, and is based on the group ...

'' (based on their characters from ''Taste of Home'') with

Graham Linehan Graham Linehan () (born 22 May 1968) is an Irish television writer and anti-transgender activist. He created or co-created the sitcoms ''Father Ted'' (1995–1998), ''Black Books'' (2000–2004) and '' The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013). He has also ...

with

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Television. It was broadcast on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

and

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

In 2016 the Diet of Worms wrote and performed a well-received television "playlet" called "Quints" for

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

. In 2017 the Worms produced a radio comedy programme called '' Kult'' set in a Norwegian Ikea-style furniture store based in Dublin. The programme was broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and also starred

Adam Buxton Adam Offord Buxton (born 7 June 1969) is an English actor, comedian, podcaster and writer. With the filmmaker Joe Cornish, he is part of the comedy duo Adam and Joe. They presented the Channel 4 television series ''The Adam and Joe Show'' (1996 ...

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Diet of Worms' YouTube Channel

Diet of Worms' Facebook Page
Irish comedy troupes Theatre in Ireland