Maddie gags spark outrage

Patrick Kielty is facing a storm of protest after making jokes about Madeleine McCann.

He was apparently ‘met with stunned silence’ when he tried to crack gags about the case in front of 1,000 people in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.

Now the story has been picked up by the tabloids, with the Daily Mirror branding his material ‘vile’.

Kielty joked that that Gerry and Kate should have checked Madeleine's body in as Ryanair luggage if they wanted to lose it, and said that the couple had been backstage at 6pm, but when he checked two hours later they had disappeared.

He also mentioned the McCanns' meeting with the Pope, linking the Catholic church with child abuse. It was similar to joke Sean Hughes cracked at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival earlier this year, prompting comparable outrage.

Several people walked out of Kielty’s show. One of them, William Boland, said: ‘I felt like hitting him’, while Sarah O'Riordan added: ‘It just wasn't funny; it was awful.’

A spokesman for the stand-up apologised to anyone who took offence, but added: ‘The small number of walk-outs reflects the sensitivity of those few people, rather than the content of the show. The material was written to reflect the media's changing attitude towards the case and should be taken in that context.’

Published: 21 Sep 2007