Neil Delamere on returning to the SSE Arena, his dream TV appearance and the 'brilliant' NI comedy scene

Neil Delamere is no stranger to the SSE stage as he returns with his new show Achilles Neil next month.

The Irish comedian and Blame Game legend will take to the stage again on February 15 as he takes on life's absurdities in his own inimitable way. With his new show "a celebration of the altogether too frequent weaknesses that make us human", Neil chatted to Belfast Live about local comedy, performing in Belfast and his bucket list TV appearance.

Known for a great pun in his titles, Neil has said fans need not worry about ancient Greek mythology being the topic of conversation as the show will detail some of the unique things he has gotten up to since the last time on the SSE stage.

Read more: Kevin Hart to make his return to Belfast with huge SSE Arena show

Read more: 25 things to do and see in Belfast in 2025

He said: "I've had some unusual experiences this year - I was asked by RTÉ did I want to be a zookeeper for the day and did I want to hold the tiger's tail while they administered medication so that is a considerable part of the show.

"Myself and Colin Murphy from the Blame Game also did a show called 'High Road Low Road' where we flick a coin and one person gets the 5-star luxury experience and one person gets the budget, very cheap experience."

Ready to get crowds laughing with the oddities of life, Neil added that he was delighted to be getting back to the SSE Arena.

"It's brilliant - it's just big enough you get that wall of an arena sound where you do the joke and goes around the back and then it comes back towards you.

"It also means that it's not so big that you can't chat to the front row and have people included that way so it's the perfect mix of the two.

"I can't wait to do it."

While performing live in some of the biggest venues north and south of the border doesn't phase him, he did admit his stint on QI and The Chase Celebrity made him nervous yet excited.

He does have one other show in his sights.

"The next I'd love to do Taskmaster. I'd like to do Would I Lie To You, and I'd like to do Taskmaster if I had a bucket list for television. I used to have two things on it, which was QI and Live of the Apollo, and I've done those in the last year, so I'd love to do those two."

Discussing his strong NI fan base, Neil said: "It's amazing - I only realised this recently, there's almost a little community of people who go to the shows.

"There are groups of people who met at my tour shows and they have a little drink beforehand and then come to see the shows together.

"It's a great privilege to be part of someone's life like that - the fact that somebody takes a night out of their lives, maybe pays for a babysitter, maybe gets a taxi into town, maybe has something to eat and then goes to see your show makes you so grateful.

"Grateful for their investment in you that they trust you enough that they'll have a good time and it's a wonderful kind of community. I'll keep going as long as they keep coming back.2

Sharing his thoughts on the NI comedy scene, he said it was "brilliant" to see its success continue and the circuit in Northern Ireland is proving itself to be stronger than the likes of Dublin.

"I think a rising tide lifts all boats. The thing about the new kind of media, like podcasts or like online videos or just even live shows, is the audience just finds it and they like it or they don't.

"It's not like when people used to complain when something was on television and go 'my licence fee is being used for X, Y, and Z' and something is broadcast at you.

"Whereas these other shows, people such as Ciarán Bartlett, Shane Todd, Diona Doherty and all the others have created things and they've said to the world 'off you go and if you like this, I'll keep making it and if you don't, I won't' and they've been so successful at finding an audience.

"I just think it's brilliant and it's in such good health."

Neil's show Achilles Neil will be coming to the SSE Arena on February 15, find out more here

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here