The REAL Mammy’s boy
Colm O’Regan’s witticisms on Irish life — and Irish mammies — have made him a bit of a national treasure, and he’s in good company with his latest project
TRUTH and wily observation have long been the hallmarks of good comedy, and few do them better than Cork native Colm O’Regan. Some may not immediately recognise his name, but it’s likely they’re familiar with his brilliantly astute Irish Mammy creation.
On Twitter, @IrishMammies boasts 217,000 followers and counting. Sample tweets include: ‘Well?! How was your ‘party’? I suppose there was drink taken’ and ‘Out in Dubai he is. On Big Money’ (she follows the Pope and Met Eireann, in case you’re wondering). Such is the Twitter account’s popularity that as its creator, O’Regan has released three Irish Mammies books to date: Isn’t It Well For Ye?, It’s Earlier ‘Tis Getting, and That’s More Of It Now. Irish Mammy merchandise — including a tea-towel with the immortal words ‘did you say a prayer to St. Anthony?’ — does a roaring trade, too.
Referring to the success of Irish Mammies, Colm reasons: ‘There’s a certain amount of luck in it. I wasn’t the first to make humour out of the Irish mammies, but it was a fond portrayal using a modern medium, which then caught on.
‘It was done with warmth and fondness and didn’t ‘prescribe’ them to people. More, it was like, ‘here’s one version of Irish mammyhood. You may enjoy reading this and hopefully you’ll recognise a thing or two.’
There’s something incisive, truthful and relatable to Colm’s Irish Mammy alter-ego, and this holy trinity has formed the bedrock of his other comedy work.
For his latest project, O’Regan is turning his wily acumen to a number of Irish preoccupations — travel, property, ageing, the weather and shopping.
Colm O’Regan Wants A Word sees the comedian tackle the issues that get modern-day Ireland talking, in an hour-long satirical show, taped in front of a live audience.
The event is part of the Comedy Showhouse festival, a collaboration between RTE Radio One and Sideline Productions. It’s the third year of the six-day festival, which will be recorded live at the Project Arts Theatre in Dublin’s Temple Bar from April 30 to May 5, and broadcast later on RTE Radio One.
It all started with a oneoff half hour panel show Don’t Quote Me! hosted by the late Sean Hughes at Christmas in 2015.
Realising the potential of comedy on radio, Sideline’s Billy McGrath and RTE Radio’s Ann-Marie Power developed the idea of staging a live week of events with top Irish comedy writers and performers.
New comedy website grintage.com was the platform for this and the first Irish radio comedy festival took place in early 2016.
EACH week produced 16-18 half hour original shows. By next week, they will have harvested over 60 new Irish radio comedy shows produced and recorded for RTE Radio 1. That’s a lot of funny stuff.
But Sean’s passing means there will be one major change in the programme. For the last two years, the late comedian hosted his ever-popular panel series, and as a mark of respect for the comedian, who died in October 2017, a minute’s applause will be held in his honour on the first and final nights of the festival.
‘The first time I met him was two or three years ago and while I didn’t know him that well, you do realise that a massive path has been carved by people like him,’ says O’Regan.
‘I didn’t move to London and do that, but so many people would feel that Sean carved that path out for them.’
The show itself has a clever template. Using a mix of stand-up, spoken word and sketches performed by Paul Tylak and Tara Flynn, O’Regan also invites an expert into the fray, so as to add intellectual gravitas.
Sonya Lennon of Frockadvisor will drop by to chat about all things fashion, Alan O’Reilly from Carlow Weather — a self-confessed weather nerd — will chat about the Irish obsession with — you guessed it — the weather, while Turtle Bunbury will impart wisdom on travel.
‘I don’t want to give too much away, but we’ll be talking about the language and the words we use in Ireland, like how to apologise without actually saying you’re sorry,’ explains O’Regan.
WHEN it comes to what O’Regan does best — wry observations of everyday life and ordinary people — it seems he’s in good company with improv queen Tara Flynn, who has also written books on the subject — You’re Grand: The Irishwoman’s Secret Guide To Life and Giving Out Yards: The Art Of Complaint, Irish Style.
Paul Tylak is no stranger to poking fun at Irish idiosyncrasies, having starred in possibly the most famous Irish satire of them all, Father Ted. A prolific comedy writer, he’s also a veteran of the stand-up circuit, so the audience will be in great hands with him, says O’Regan.
‘On the property side of things, there will be a lot about the way it’s being sold to us and words used to describe a place where we live. We hear about ‘gorgeous living’ in the adverts, but ultimately you’ll have an argument over the bins there,’ continues O’Regan.
Working with a live audience, and with an eye (or ear) on a making good radio, is a different beast to regular stand up, he admits. ‘I guess there’s a real energy in the room so you have to up your game,’ observes O’Regan.
‘You have to remember to say things like, ‘for the record, I am pulling a gurning face’. Paul and Tara add a real richness to acting out, which gives everyone listening a break from my drone. And then the experts help to bring that intellectual heft.
‘Dara O’Briain once said, ‘be funny or interesting, or ideally both’, so that’s what we’re after.’
O’Regan and his cohorts are evidently doing something right – the show won Ireland’s Best Comedy in its first two years at the Irish PPI Radio Awards, as well as a gong at the Celtic Media Awards.
O’Regan may not have ‘done the London thing’, preferring to stay closer to home, although he has performed in London at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, and elsewhere in Britain.
‘The mad thing is that it’s cheaper to fly in and out of the country than take trains to individual places in Britain,’ he notes. ‘But I’m lucky that there’s always been plenty of work available here for me.’
Asides from O’Regan’s offering, one of the big draws for the festival this year is Waiting — a sketch series by Irish Daily Mail columnist and comedy writer Fiona Looney. Plans are big for this one — including a TV pilot in the autumn, a live Irish tour in Spring 2019 and the Edinburgh Festival in Summer 2019.
The comedy series — which has
been extended to run as six parts recorded over three nights — is all about the act and the art of waiting, and how women’s lives can be defined by it — waiting for medical appointments, parentteacher meetings, at family planning clinics, at bus stops, in changing rooms. While they wait, they talk about anything and everything.
The show stars Dancing with The Stars finalist and IFTA winning Deirdre O’Kane (also Moone Boy, Noble); award winning stage actress Caitriona Ennis and one of Ireland’s most coveted comedy actresses Rose Henderson (remember Sister Assumpta in Father Ted?).
In addition, new Irish radio comedy talent will be showcased at the festival, with the first ever Radio Sitcom Trials. Wannabe radio comedy writers have already sent in their scripts and successful applicants will have their works performed by professional actors in front of a live audience on Saturday May 5 in the Project Arts Theatre Dublin.
With all this going on, it’s fair to say that comedy in Ireland has hit upon a purple patch. RTE are certainly coming good on their promise to create more homegrown comedy, and The Young Offenders, Hardy Bucks, Can’t Cope Won’t Cope and Nowhere Fast have proved successful.
For many years, stand up was the Irish comedian’s bread and butter, but TV comedies, podcasting and social media have proved invaluable not just for boosting profile, but as a muchneeded revenue stream.
‘It’s great that there’s lots of stuff being made (on TV), and there isn’t so much pressure on each individual thing to define Irish TV comedy forever,’ asserts O’Regan.
‘The more that’s being made, the more will get made (in the future). What does annoy me is this tweeting in the middle of TV shows. People publishing their review ten minutes into a show – you can’t tell properly if something is good or not at that point. Just hold your fire for half an hour!’
With this festival and a booking for the prestigious Cat Laughs in Kilkenny coming up, O’Regan is already a busy man. But as to whether he himself hears the siren song of RTÉ’s comedy department, he adds: ‘I haven’t one written and I probably wouldn’t do it unless I had a really good one and I was proud of it,’ he says.
‘I definitely have a big enough ego that goes, “look at me”, but at the same time I have enough empathy with the viewer not to inflict something on an audience unless it was any good.’
COLM O’Regan Wants A Word is being recorded at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, on Thursday May 3, Friday May 4 and Saturday May 5. Tickets for Comedy Showhouse events are available from projectsartscentre.ie. See grintage.com for podcasts.