Because of my ‘numpty’ fashion stuff, people say to me: I’m really surprised you are smart!
Designer on struggle to succeed in industry and his role in Slaintecare
TV presenter Brendan Courtney admits he struggled to be taken seriously as a fashion presenter.
But two decades on, the Keys To My Life host is on the board of Slaintecare, making key decisions for the elderly that will change society.
Following the success of the Dublin fashion designer’s hard-hitting documentary We Need To Talk About Dad, Courtney felt he’d turned a corner.
The RTE show explored the difficulty of providing care for his father after he had a stroke and the dilemma around putting him in a nursing home.
Brendan, 49, told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “Because of the fashion stuff, many people I’ve met socially or personally have said to me, ‘I’m really surprised you’re smart’.
“What I do is seen as numpty entertainment but to make it work you have to have a savvy head, be able to deliver and write.
“Because we come from a white, male-dominated world, frivolity had been left in that box.
People always say... he seems gas. I might not be the brightest bulb in the marquee but I’m not an idiot BRENDAN COURTNEY ON PERCEPTIONS
THRIVING
“Now people see it as a thriving business, but when I started in television it was camp, not to be taken seriously.”
Courtney, one half of fashion brand Lennon Courtney, added: “I struggled for years to be taken seriously, Sonya [Lennon] laughs at it.
“People always say to her, he seems gas.
“I might not be the brightest bulb in the marquee but I’m not an idiot.”
The former Off The Rails presenter added: “I never worried about it, because it can only be a good thing when they start to work with me and realise I’m quite focused and ambitious.
“When we did the documentary about my dad and I wasn’t talking about frocks or being funny, the fact I was trying to help, it was a game changer.
“It was definitely the greatest thing I ever did.
“I’m on the board of Slaintecare with the minister, the Taoiseach, I’m very proud to be on that.
“It’s been given the funding, Slaintecare will be our new one-tier health system, it’s right care, right place, right time.
“It’s very exciting, because of Covid-19 it will be funded properly and rolled out in the next 10 years.
“I’m on the implementation advisory board of it and it’s just incredible to be part of it, so I’m constantly going, ‘Where are the older people in this conversation?’”
Brendan and Sonya have completed a Masters degree in Business, Equality and
Diversity. He added: “My dad’s documentary helped to move it along, I feel with Fair Deal too, they were talking about it, but I just turned the light switch on.
“Because I had a profile and I was on TV, I helped to illuminate it.”
As a budding actor Brendan came to fame with his own TV concept Wanderlust for RTE aged 25.
But he said his love of performing began with A-lister Colin Farrell. He
explained: “When I was in school I was in the Dublin Youth Theatre from the age of 14 to 19 with Colin Farrell.
“Lots of great people went there, it was very working-class, there were no fees but you auditioned to get in.
“I applied for Trinity drama studies but I knew my parents didn’t have the money for me to go.”
Brendan took four years to make his dream a reality and started trying to get into TV aged 21 and got in at 25.
Working as a researcher on Open House with Mary and Marty led to Courtney moving to the UK and buying the rights to The Clothes Show. His move made him a household name in the UK, opposite former Eternal singer Louise Redknapp.
He said: “I worked for free on Open House at the start to show how into I was.
“I wanted to be a presenter when I knew I wasn’t going to be a great actor.
“The conflict for me was I wanted to be out and be myself, whereas acting is hiding behind the character.
“I bought the rights for Clothes Show and brought it back on BBC and UK TV, myself, Louise and Karen
Franklyn were the hosts.” The fashion world was calling and the ambitious star went back to college at night to study fashion.
FOCUS
He said: “I went back to St Martins where Alexander Mcqueen, Stella Mccartney went and [ John] Galliano to study fashion.
“When I got the call to do Off The Rails, I was making a Boy George documentary, doing The Clothes Show and the TV3 show and just thought it was time to focus on one really big show and so I put all my energy into Off The Rails.
“Out of this grew Lennon Courtney with Sonya. The goal was to create a product bigger than us.
“Part of that would be a legacy, I was also building stability, TV is a fickle industry, you have to constantly come up with ideas but I love that.”
Brendan will be back on RTE this spring with another season of Keys To My Life.
He said: “The show is my idea, I love the simplicity of it. I’m interested in people’s houses. In the first series people were suspicious but now they’re lining up to do it.
“I didn’t get Bono, I’m still waiting and I’m still trying to get Niall Horan.
He opened up about his partner of six years Adam Maryniak.
Brendan said: “We met in Mother nightclub, we’re together six years this January, he’s a scientist, he works for a big Japanese pharma company.”
As for whether he’d like to become a dad.
He quipped: “Hats off to parents, I can only manage to mind my dog.”