“Impressive.” Chortle
Brief Description
Michael J Dolan is arrogant, immature, heroically lazy and probably the smartest man alive. He is also paranoid, socially incapable and emotionally fragile and has achieved literally nothing in over a decade. He’s pretty sure that’s not his fault.
Continuing the long standing tradition of proper stand-up comedy (you know, done right), as perpetrated by Billy Connolly and Dave Allen, right the way through to modern proponents Dylan Moran, Sean Lock or Louis C.K., Michael J Dolan presents his own twisted philosophy of all things and promises an onslaught of hilarious negativity, because what use is unconditional love without a big healthy does of irrational hate to balance it out?
Biography
Michael is a writer and stand‐up comedian. Born into the employment wilderness of Barrow‐In‐Furness in ’77 he was moved to Manchester before he could even say his own name. He spent a year as an adult living in Brighton and it was here that he first applied to attend a stand‐up comedy course. The course was cancelled due to lack of interest. One month later he had his first nervous breakdown. He has since returned to Manchester where he now lives, mostly indoors, with a woman and a cat.
He has now been a regular face on the Manchester comedy scene (without the aid of a comedy course) for four years and can often be seen at the Frog and Bucket where he has progressed from amateur night mainstay to fully paid weekend performer with a depressing inevitability. As of 2011 he is a regular performer at clubs all over the north of England, the Midlands and Scotland, was nominated for Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year and is a semi‐finalist in the BBC New Comedy Awards. He performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009 in a compilation show which shall remain unnamed and sank without trace. He received two reviews, both were terrible and only one of them got his name right.
Michael returned to the scene of the crime with his 2011 debut fringe solo show “Dress to Depress”. He played to full rooms each night and received critical acclaim with Chortle describing the show as “impressive – 4 Stars” and The Skinny said he was “a lot like Dylan Moran” and that “Michael J Dolan is a very funny man”. Sarah Millican dropped in to the show and tweeted “Edinburgh! One of my fave shows is @MichaelJDolan. Grumpiness has never been so smart and funny.”
Awards/Competitions
- Semi Finalist – BBC New Comedy Awards 2011
- Nomination – Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year 2011
Festivals
- Edinburgh Fringe 2011 – “Dress to Depress”
- Edinburgh Fringe 2009 – Unnamed
Radio
- BBC Radio 2 – New Comedy Awards
Regularly Appearing at:
The Frog and Buckets, The Stands, XS Malarkey
Press
“But there’s one thing Dolan has no right to be down about, and it’s this impressive calling-card of a show, firmly establishing himself as a welcome addition to the circuit and to the Fringe.”
Steve Bennett, Chortle.
“Michael J Dolan is a very, very funny man.”
4 Stars, The Skinny
” cathartic for him but highly amusing for the rest of us.”
City Life
