A NORTHSIDE comedy sketch group is to feature in a pilot for a new show being broadcast on RTE.
Rob O’Hanrahan, Colm Reid and Eoin Ronayne, all from Skerries and members of
‘Shift’, will take part in Foul Play on RTE Two on Monday, December 9 at 10pm.
Foul Play is a pilot for a hidden camera prank show that sets out to see if some of the country’s best-known sporting stars really are good sports.
Presented by Aidan Power, it features Kenneth Egan being spoofed in a fake television show presented by Ryan Tubridy; Cian Healy being rused in a restaurant by his girlfriend and former Miss Ireland, Holly Carpenter; football manager Roddy Collins hoaxing members of his own team, Athlone Town (since filming, Roddy has moved on to Derry City); and RTÃ? Gaelic Games correspondent Marty Morrissey being pranked in Croke Park.
The pranksters are aided and abetted by the Skerries comedy trio – friends since secondary school – who know just the right buttons to press on the unsuspecting victims.
Aidan Power watches from the wings as these situations unfold and delivers the good or bad news to the sports stars that they have
‘been played!’
‘Shifts’ started out as a quintet some years ago making comedy videos in their spare time when they were around 15-years-of-age. According to member Rob O’Halloran, it was something to do while they were
“bored
? one summer.
The ShiftsYouTube channel has been running ever since, with 910 subscribers and over 30 sketch videos. Their Facebook page (facebook.com/ ShiftsProductions) has almost 1,500 fans and they’re active on Twitter as well (@11shifts11).
Rob told Northside People:
“Over the past few years we started entering competitions, buying equipment and getting a little bit more professional.
“We started submitting videos and scripts to RTE about two years ago.
“Eoin, Colm and myself were called in to audition for Foul Play having been picked up by the producer from an audition we had done in RTE a couple of months previously.
“All three of us were taken on as actors and writers for the pilot, and we wrote and star in three of the four pranks.
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Rob added:
“We made our TV debut on Monday (November 25), appearing as the new comedy collective on RTE 2’s Republic of Telly with our sketch, ‘Senior Infants’.
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The hardworking Skerries lads are no strangers to success, however. In April 2012, they appeared in Northside People after winning the People’s Choice Award in the national Dare2BDrinkaware competition.
Buoyed by that triumph, they have moved on to bigger things and have been marked out as a trio to watch for the future!