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The Showbiz highlight of the Year, in Ballyjamesduff, "The Frolics" is an 8 night showcase of music and "comedy". The contestants compete for the Silver Spuckle Award. The show was originally held in the nearby town Mountnugent where it was known as "The Mountnugent Frolics". The rights to the show were bought by the Ballyjamesduff Homosexuals Club in 1943, and the show was moved to being in Ballyjamesduff. In 1957, due to confusion, the event was renamed from "The Mountnugent Frolics" to "The Ballyjamesduff Frolics".The show has had its fair share of controversy. In 2000, a comedy routine featured one of the townsfolk dressed as chairman Mao, with his eyes pinned with sellotape,working in a Chinese restaurant. His faux-Chinese voiced jokes about the local Town Diner restaurant led to a the restaurant suing the organizers of the show for libel. The lawsuit was later settled out of court with the B.H.C being ordered to pay the restaurant a total of €225.34 in damages.A famous incident occurred in 1998 when during a sketch parodying Terry Waite, Terry himself appeared during the show in a cameo appearance, exclaiming "I'm here to fix the radiator!".It was actually easy to organise since his cousin was one of the show's organizers. Ever since 1970, the show has used special equipment to measure the song or sketch that recieves the highest cheer of the whole run of shows. The act that recieves the highest cheer wins the "Silver Spuckle", a award in honour of Monsignor Sylvester Spuckle, a patron of the show. The award is made of solid silver and is worth €4000. A cash award of €1000 is also given to the winner of the honour. In 2003, to celebrate the shows 60 years, a top 20 countdown of the overall highest cheered acts was revealed. The winners were "The Duodenums", a 3-piece group playing "Duelling Banjos" on their tracheas. |
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