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Sat, Jan 24, 2026 | Shaban 5, 1447 | Fajr 05:44 | DXB 
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Irish comedian Joe Rooney takes to the Madinat stage
Rooney, an actor and stand-up originally from Galway, Ireland, is perhaps better known for his one-man tours than ensemble efforts.
It's the show that in effect launched Austin Powers star Mike Myers' burgeoning comedy career and attracted talents such as Robin Williams to join in. Whose Line is It Anyway? is one of the rare Transatlantic crossovers that has flourished and continues to captivate audiences the world over.
Originally featuring as a live show in London's Comedy Store, where the British-Canadian Myers travelled in the mid '80s to cut his comic teeth, the improv theatre games were an instant hit. It quickly transferred to radio and then to Britain's Channel 4 in 1988 for a ten-year run. Following its cancellation on UK television, America's ABC picked up the format and hosted the programme for another ten years until the CW network (after a brief hiatus) brought it to air again in 2013.
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Throughout Whose Line is it Anyway?'s televisual exploits, the Comedy Store in England's capital maintained its version of the show in the form of The Comedy Store Players, four improv performers taking to the stage every Sunday evening.
Exactly the same in every way – minus the television cameras – Dubai will welcome The Comedy Store Players/ Whose Line is it Anyway? team to the Madinat Theatre for a four-night run beginning this evening. Regulars including Steve Frost and Andy Smart will showcase their excellent improv skills and will no doubt bring the house down.
Joining the usual team for the first time in the Middle East will be Irish stand-up Joe Rooney of Father Ted fame. Rooney, an actor and stand-up originally from Galway , Ireland, is perhaps better known for his one-man tours than ensemble efforts, but says Whose Line is it Anyway? isn't as daunting a task as you may think.
“I've teamed up with them when they've toured Ireland,” he said over the phone on Sunday from his Abu Dhabi hotel. “We have our own version I do in Ireland too. I've been doing it about seven or eight years, so it's not new to me.
“It takes a good few years to get used to, but once you figure it out it becomes automatic…You can't think during improv. In stand-up you need an idea before you go on stage, but with this kind of performance it can go anywhere, so you sort of need to be blank in order to react to other people.”
Roney said he enjoyed the fact he has “the best seat in the house” from which to enjoy the performers around him.
“I'm a big Stephen Frost fan. I've watched him for years, so to be up there with him and the rest is great.
“Every group you do this with is different. These guys like a quick gag whereas in Ireland we tend to make things go a little longer.”
If Rooney's face seems familiar it could be because he has done a few stand-up gigs around the Gulf in the last few years, but it may be that he played Father Damo in an episode of Channel 4's Father Ted in March 1996. Such is the iconic status given to the sitcom that a single appearance almost 20 years ago still wins Rooney a cult following. Thankfully he deals with it in good humour.
“It's come up again because everyone thinks [Aston Villa midfielder] Jack Grealish looks like Father Damo, so a lot of pictures do the rounds on the Internet.
“I take it as a compliment as the character must have captured peoples' imaginations as the show did.
“Damo was just a young lad from Dublin, a character I'd done a bit around [show creators] Arthur [Mathews] and Graham [Linehan] who I'd stayed with in London before Father Ted had even started. Put him in a priest's outfit though and it's funny!”
The Whose Line is it Anyway? cast appearing in Dubai tonight have already done a few shows in Bahrain and the UAE capital.
“The crowds have been really good,” said Rooney. “In Bahrain we got the audience on stage at the end to take a photo. We also had a few locals getting in on it, which was nice.
“We're ending each night on a song as I play the guitar. We've never done that before. Everywhere else has been kind of bluesy, but for Dubai I think we're going to go for a ballad feel.”
david@khaleejtimes.com
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