Abie Philbin Bowman is an Irish comedian and journalist. His One Man Shows include ''Jesus: The Guantanamo Years'', ''Eco-Friendly Jihad'' and ''Developing the Country as a Hole''. He has worked on

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

programmes, including ''Arena'', ''CAKE'', ''Callan's Kicks'' and '' Irish Pictorial Weekly''.

Early career

Abie Philbin Bowman is the son of broadcaster John Bowman and the brother of deceased journalist Jonathan Philbin Bowman. With debating partner, Manus de Barra, Abie won the Leinster Schools, National Schools and International Observer Mace debating competitions in 2000. In 2002, he was elected a '' Scholar of Trinity College Dublin''. He wrote a regular column for '' The Dubliner'' magazine from 2001 to 2008.

Comedy

Abie Philbin Bowman is the writer/director/performer of ''Jesus: The Guantanamo Years'', which was staged in 2006 in the

Project Arts Centre Project Arts Centre is a multidisciplinary arts centre based in Temple Bar, Dublin, which hosts visual arts, theatre, dance, music, and performance. History Project Arts Centre was founded by Jim FitzGerald and Colm O'Briain in 1967 after a th ...

(

Temple Bar, Dublin Temple Bar () is an area on the south bank of the River Liffey in central Dublin, Ireland. The area is bounded by the Liffey to the north, Dame Street to the south, Westmoreland Street to the east and Fishamble Street to the west. It is promote ...

) and the

Underbelly Underbelly is the side of something that is not normally seen. Figuratively, it means a vulnerable or weak part, similar to the term Achilles' heel, or alternatively, a hidden, illicit side of society. This term could refer to: Business * U ...

(

Cowgate The Cowgate (Scots language, Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, Edinburgh, ...

, Edinburgh) as part of the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. The show was widely reported in the media and sold out – ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' referred to him as "the face of this year's Fringe". In 2007, the show toured to London's West End,

Jimmy Tingle Jimmy Tingle (born April 9, 1955) is an American comic and occasional actor. Life and career Tingle was the American correspondent for David Frost’s show for PBS and the BBC, ''The Strategic Humor Initiative''. He completed two seasons with '' ...

's Off Broadway Theater in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, theatres across Ireland and the World Performing Arts Festival in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, Pakistan. Performances in Belfast in Autumn 2007, were boycotted by

Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and ...

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

. Since then, Philbin Bowman has written, performed and toured a number of stand up shows including: ''Eco-Friendly Jihad'' (2008), ‘Sex, Lies and the KKK’ (2010); ‘Pope Benedict Bond Villain’ (2011); Stand Up Against the Bankers (with Aidan Killian), (2012); The IMF vs Jedward (2013) and Developing the Country as a Hole (2015). He continues to tour festivals around Ireland and further afield.

TV & Radio

In November 2008, he began working in radio full-time. On the night

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

was elected US President, Philbin Bowman interviewed the National Membership Director of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

on Irish radio station, i102-104. Later that month, he began hosting the main talk show – ''The Third i'' – on their sister station, i105-107. He hosted ''the Third i'' until May 2009. In 2012, he took part in Ireland's

Celebrity Mastermind ''Celebrity Mastermind'' is a celebrity version of ''Mastermind'', a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. ''Celebrity Mastermind'' began in 2002 as a one-off special hosted by Magnus Magnusson, the original host of the main ...

, broadcast on

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

, raising money for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. In the first round, his specialist subject was '

Monty Python's Life of Brian ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British biblical black comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Micha ...

'. He scored 16 out of 16, and achieved the highest total score of any competitor in the first round. He reached the final, where he answered questions on ‘The Stupidity of Father Dougal Maguire' coming in second to the Series Winner, 2FM DJ

Rick O'Shea Paul Crossan (born 7 May 1973) is an Irish radio personality, known as Rick O'Shea. He was born in Drimnagh, Dublin, grew up in Crumlin, and attended Drimnagh Castle Secondary School and University College Dublin. He has been a presenter on R ...

. Since 2012, Philbin Bowman has written for, and starred in, the satirical TV show, Irish Pictorial Weekly, in a number of roles. From 2013 to 2015 he was also a writer on Callan's Kicks on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...

, and appeared briefly on the TV adaptation ''Callan Kicks the Year''. In 2013, he was the subject of an edition of

Would You Believe Would You Believe may refer to: Music Albums * ''Would You Believe'' (Billy Nicholls album) or the title song, 1968 * ''Would You Believe?'' (Hollies album), 1966 * ''Would You Believe?'' (Ray Charles album), 1990 Songs * "Would You Believe" ( ...

entitled, ''Nothing Sacred'', which explored his approach to religious and political themes in comedy. Since 2013 he has been a regular reporter on the RTÉ Radio 1’s flagship Arts Show, ''Arena''. In August 2015, he hosted the show for the first time. In 2015, he hosted the first season of a new Children’s arts show ''CAKE – Culture and Arts for Kids and Everyone'' – on

RTÉ jr Radio RTÉjr Radio is a children's digital radio station of the Irish public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. It is Ireland's first children's orientated radio station with a wide variety of programming from news, poetry, nursery rh ...

. The first season ran for 10 episodes.

References

Abie Philbin Bowman Official Site

Abie Philbin Bowman and DUP Councillor Christopher Stalford
on BBC Ulster
CNN: The Funny Side of Global Warming and Jihad

Abie Philbin Bowman in the International Herald Tribune

Abie Philbin Bowman on BBC Asian Network, on performing in Pakistan

Abie Philbin Bowman interviewing National Membership Director of the Ku Klux Klan, on US election night, November 2008
YouTube.

from Al Jazeera
Interview with The Humourdor

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Philbin Bowman, Abie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Irish columnists Irish male comedians Scholars of Trinity College Dublin Writers from County Dublin Mass media people from County Dublin