How's Your Father? - Starring Conal Gallen

What to Expect

How’s Your Father? is a touring comedy play written by the father-and-son team Conal and Rory Gallen, built around Bridie Murphy’s decision to open a bed and breakfast in her own home. Her neighbour Dick runs into family trouble, a priest is called in to sort matters out, and instead multiplies the confusion, so the evening runs through misunderstanding, mild deception, a missing-persons style mystery subplot and some deliberately bad dinners along the way. Esker Arts bills it as a non-stop, laugh-a-minute riot rather than a straight stand-up set, and the show carries a 16+ age recommendation for some of the material. Conal Gallen has been a working name in Irish comedy since the 1980s, on stage, television and radio, and this production sees him share the stage with his son Rory as part of the writing and performing team. Esker Arts opened in 2023 and marked its third anniversary earlier in 2026; alongside Birr Theatre and Arts Centre, it is one of Offaly’s two main indoor venues for touring comedy, theatre and music.

Good to Know

• Date and time: Saturday 12 September 2026 at 8pm
• Venue: Esker Arts, High Street, Tullamore, Co. Offaly
• Price: €28 plus booking fee, via Esker Arts Box Office or online through Ticketsolve
• Age guidance: 16+
• This is a single performance, not a recurring night; the same production also plays Ramor Arts Centre in Virginia, Co. Cavan and Mullingar Arts Centre in the following weeks as part of a wider autumn tour of midlands and border arts centres
• Esker Arts itself runs a full programme of theatre, music and comedy through autumn 2026, so it is worth checking its own listings for other nights out around the same date

Getting There

Esker Arts is on High Street in Tullamore town centre, within walking distance of the town’s main car parks and a short walk from Tullamore railway station on the Dublin to Galway line. The venue is open Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 5pm, and Saturday 10am to 3pm, with box office bookings also possible during those hours.