Gaybo’s note made me a happier Snapper
Simon on tribute from TV legend
for the Gate and has broken all kinds of box office records.
“To be part of something that is a world premiere written by Roddy Doyle and originating the role of Jimmy Rabbitte on stage is very exciting stuff.”
And he admitted the cast were “very lucky” to have Doyle on hand for the first few days of rehearsals talking about Dublin in 1990 as “most of the cast weren’t born then”.
Simon said: “It sounded like Angela’s Ashes. No mobile phones, no internet. The younger actors were going, ‘What in the name of Jaysus did you do with yourselves?’ Well, we spoke to each other.
“It was amazing to revisit all that. We had just come out of the doldrums of the mid-80s, that depression, so it was fascinating.”
The TV chef and host of Saturday and Sunday AM will be fronting a new four-part documentary series on TV3 in October called Revolting Ireland, about Ireland’s history of protesting.
It will cover everything from the 1913 Dublin Lock-out and antiapartheid marches to the medical card rallies of 10 years ago and the more recent water protests.
He added: “Someone said to me, ‘We are not really a nation of protestors’ – but we are.
“If we see a section of society being put upon or unfairly treated we will get up off our arses and protest. And long may it last.”
news@irishmirror.ie