Smoke and Mirrors (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Smoke and Mirrors is an Irish comedy
cabaret
television show airing on RTÉ Two
each Monday night at 22:00. Launched on 1 December 2008, it is presented by the stand-up comedian
Andrew Maxwell
. RTÉ describes the series as "an eclectic mix of stand-up comedy and vaudeville
acts". The series draws on Maxwell's live stage show, titled The Fullmooners. Alongside Maxwell's stand-up there are performances by a number of his stage show regulars such as Lady Carol of the Moontacula, described as "a jazz
y blues
queen who sings rock
covers while playing a ukulele
". As well as this spectacle there are also breakdancers and other non-Maxwellian stand-up comedians such as Britain
's Adam Bloom
, Craig Campbell
, and Glenn Wool
and Australia
's Steve Hughes
. The series is produced by Happy Endings Productions
, the company behind The Panel.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
television show airing on RTÉ Two
RTÉ Two
RTÉ Two is a free-to-air general entertainment channel operated by Irish state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Two is available throughout the island of Ireland through digital terrestrial service Saorview, VHF and UHF bands, and is also available via satellite to Irish subscribers of...
each Monday night at 22:00. Launched on 1 December 2008, it is presented by the stand-up comedian
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
Andrew Maxwell
Andrew Maxwell
Andrew Maxwell is an Irish stand-up comedian. Raised in Kilbarrack, Dublin, and now resident in London, he is a father of two. He regularly appears on The Panel.-Early life:...
. RTÉ describes the series as "an eclectic mix of stand-up comedy and vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
acts". The series draws on Maxwell's live stage show, titled The Fullmooners. Alongside Maxwell's stand-up there are performances by a number of his stage show regulars such as Lady Carol of the Moontacula, described as "a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
y blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
queen who sings rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
covers while playing a ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
". As well as this spectacle there are also breakdancers and other non-Maxwellian stand-up comedians such as Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's Adam Bloom
Adam Bloom
Adam Bloom is a British comedian. He has played the Edinburgh festival for many years, once winning a Punters Award. He appeared at the Melbourne comedy festival in 1999 and 2000, winning a Stella Artois award for the former appearance....
, Craig Campbell
Craig Campbell
Craig Campbell is a Canadian stand-up comedian, who now lives in Devon, England.He was the host of Ed's Late Night and From Wimps to Warriors...
, and Glenn Wool
Glenn Wool
Glenn Wool is a Canadian stand-up comedian now living in the United Kingdom. His material veers between sagely political and gleefully silly, discussing both the pop group Franz Ferdinand and the Pope's contribution to cryrogenics programmes during his time onstage. Wool starred in a self-titled...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's Steve Hughes
Steve Hughes
Steve Hughes is an Australian musician and stand-up comedian.-Music career:In the early 1980s he formed the Sydney thrash metal band Slaughter Lord, who recorded some demos before disbanding. Hughes then joined Mortal Sin in 1989 and stayed with them until 1991...
. The series is produced by Happy Endings Productions
Happy Endings Productions
Happy Endings Productions is an Irish entertainment television production company, founded by Dara Ó Briain and Seamus Cassidy in 2003. Their best known and most frequent programme is the topical RTÉ comedy show, The Panel, which Ó Briain presented for a number of seasons...
, the company behind The Panel.