Conor O’Toole is a filmmaker, comedian and artist from Dublin, based in Glasgow.
Bicycle Thieves: Pumped Up (2021) is their first film as director and producer. It is a magical-realist action comedy that follows a pizza delivery cyclist whose bike is stolen who vows to find it and steal it back. It stars Roxanna Nic Liam and a whole host of well known Irish comedians, including Alison Spittle, Meave Higgins, Bryan Quinn (Rubberbandits), Owen Colgan (Hardy Bucks), Tara Flynn, Tony Cantwell, Aoife Dooley, and many, many more.
They are currently writing two new films. The first, Potluck, is something like Run Lola Run meets My Dinner with André, or maybe Twelve Angry Men. The second is called Monument and it’s about the day-to-day difficulties of building a megalithic tomb. Or, it is about that, until the helicopters arrive.
In 2017 O’Toole won the Dublin Fringe’s inaugural Spirit of Wit award, for their interactive comedy show Deadline!. In the show O’Toole took a small group of people and had them made a newspaper with them in an hour or less. It received five stars from Irish Times theatre critic Peter Crawley.
From 2013 - 2020 O’Toole ran the Firehouse Film Contest, a monthly short film showcase that has encouraged the creation of over 400 no-budget short films from across the country. They have also won their own film contest a number of times. Which they’ll be the first to admit doesn’t sound very impressive. The Middle Finger, a feature film they shot for Séamus Hanly, was picked up for distribution by American film studio Troma in 2016.
O’Toole has produced five radio sitcoms with funding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland; All's Fare, Jailbreakers, Sorry for your Troubles, It’s Not Raining Blood, and The Captain, which they also wrote and starred in.
O’Toole has also performed and produced stand up comedy since 2009, performing regularly at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Dublin Fringe and even once at Vicar Street. They has been called “Ireland's prince of alternative comedy” by meg.ie, after their acclaimed 2012 stand up show about fonts.
