Next Tedfest will be an unholy affair
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By Louise Hogan
Monday Apr 16 2007
ORGANISERS of the Father Ted festival are planning an unholy party next year, with a 40-day and 40-night pilgrimage around the country.
But hundreds of fans who are determined to party as hard as the notorious whiskey-swilling Father Jack will still pay penance on Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands.
Organisers behind the 'Friends of Ted' event promised an up-scaled version next year after the small island off the Galway coast suffered an invasion like no other last February.
Peter Phillips, whose fringe festival idea grew after the wacky idea was put on a website, confirmed the event will be expanded into Galway city for a week-long celebration to ensure it can cater for a larger crowd.
"We want to keep the total weirdness of people going off to an island," Mr Phillips said.
"The pilgrimage aspect of people fighting their way out to an island - we want to keep the purity aspect of that as well."
As part of next year's celebrations, fans will recreate a favourite episode from the hit show as they take the runaway milk float from the Channel 4 series on the road for charity.
Before 'Tedfest 2008' gets under way, the milk float driven by Fr Dougal in the 'Speed 3' episode will be pushed 828 miles around Ireland to raise money for charities. And they will be holding a "mini Father Ted festival" in every town it stops in for a night.
The stops in Belfast, Dublin and Galway will coincide with the heats of the Toilet Duck Comedy Awards for the Best Stand-Up newcomer of the year.
The bleak landscape of Inis Mor was chosen for the first festival. It was seen as a fitting location for the 'Friends of Ted' event, which marked the death of comic Dermot Morgan, the star of the hugely popular Channel 4 series.
Inis Mor experienced an off-season cash injection as dozens of Father Ted fans dressed in collars and habits rushed to book hotels, hostels and B&Bs for the festival, which ran from 23 to 25 February.
The plans for the 'Tedfest' 2008 event in Galway, before the weekend celebrations on Inis Mor, include Toilet Duck Comedy Awards and a Hall of Fame comedy night.
- Louise Hogan
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