Callan prepar aim at Dáil’s
LEO Varadkar may have retreated into the political background but out of sight does not mean out of the mind of mimic Oliver Callan, who is poised to poke even more fun at the expense of Leo and Co.
‘Leo Varadkar listens to the show, but I know he’s not exactly endeared by the versions we do of him,’ the satirist admitted.
Callan’s planned new version of Leo as a sidekick to Micheál Martin is likely fail to impress once again.
‘The sidekick is always very important in comedy,’ Callan explained. ‘So, we had Enda Kenny and The Ringer for years, so lately it’s been “Leo and Murphs” and now Murphs is gone, Leo is Micheál Martin’s sidekick; so, this is like gold dust for us.’
The formation of any new government is always manna from mimic heaven, providing as it does a Cabinet cast of characters and Callan said that the new inhabitants of Dáil Eireann are an absolute ‘gift’.
‘Sometimes I forget they are real people and I just go with the show versions of them and think that’s what they’re really like,’ he added.
‘We have great fun with the edge of narcissism that politicians have, and it drives them crazy when you send them up a certain way.’
Callan was speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday ahead of the first episode tonight of Socially Distant, a new RTÉ sit-com set during the pandemic and also starring Mary McEvoy, Eric Lalor and Dermot Whelan, among others.
And if Micheál Martin was waiting for his moment as leader for a lifetime, it also marks a career high for Callan. ‘It’s also a long-term investment of mine finally paying off because Micheál Martin is someone I’ve been doing for years, and nobody else does him that I’m aware off, he said.
‘Now he’s finally Taoiseach, it’s like Micheál and me were waiting for this moment all these years.
‘I think he’s the hardest voice to do – he’s a very big range sometimes, he has a very softly-excited Cork voice.
‘I think it’s going to take time for Micheál’s style, his character and his quirks to settle in. I don’t think the public really know him yet. It will be great fun.’
Callan also warns returning regulars or newbies to the Dáil that there are no hiding places in the corridors of power as he has big plans to send-up the political class of 2020. Some are already familiar faces with the JMiriam – a portmanteau of Miriam O’Callaghan and brother Jim – one of his most popular characters.
‘If you listen to Callan’s Kicks JMiriam is one of our biggest characters; but Jim O’Callaghan is now obviously in a new world,’
Callan added.
‘Darragh O’Brien, he’s going to be a big character in housing. It’s a little like this time three years ago with Eoghan Murphy, nobody really new who this guy was.’ And O’Brien may
‘It’s like Micheál and me were waiting for this’
have to summon all his sensitivityaverse willpower as he is set for a political, satirical pummelling.
‘Darragh wouldn’t be the most sensitive sort of man to have such portfolios like housing,’ Callan added. ‘There are also great new characters like Norma Foley, she’s got a great voice for fun.’
The Opposition benches will also provide no cover for a Callan takedown.
‘You’ll have two shouty people in opposition, Alan Kelly and Mary Lou, and they will just be opposing each other and drowning out the sound of the others voice,’ Callan said.
And while some of his targets have hit back at being subject to ridicule, Callan has a begrudging admiration for the nowdeparted Enda Kenny who steadfastly refused to take the bait.
‘I always think Enda Kenny was the best, he just refused to even acknowledge the existence of what we were doing,’ he said.
All jokes aside, the broadcaster and commentator says he will reserve judgment on the Government’s handling of the crisis.
‘It’s almost like it’s still too soon to judge everything,’ he added. ‘I’m certainly not someone who is jumping up and down going, “Wow, what an amazing job we did”,’ he said.
‘I think the messaging was really good, everybody really rowed in. We went into lockdown together, it was very much if you weren’t in lockdown, you were the villain and that was definitely down to the messaging and the communications job.’
For him, Leo and Simon Harris stood out as they competed for the title of Covid champion.
‘I think Simon Harris was a very poor Minister for Health up to that point, but he was very good in his communication throughout the whole crisis. On St Patrick’s Day when everyone in the country was hiding under a duvet shuddering with fear and Leo’s speech went down well.
‘It was definitely his best speech of the period but there is nobody better at the whole stately set-piece than Leo and he really milked it for all it was worth.’
Socially Distant, RTÉ One, 10.35pm tonight.