Why laughing at Irish shows we’re in ascendency...
eejits who voted themselves out of Brexit with no plan? We are more important now in the minds of the global power next door. Psychotherapist Stella O’malley said: “Comedy has always been subversive and it is often comedians who are the first to notice new trends in societies. We live in a world where being proud of Cccahoots’ character Mairead Corkery
ALAN PARTRIDGE: your country is seen as anachronistic, perhaps comedians are spotting the inevitable backlash to this?
“People are tribal. Instinctively, we know we are more likely to thrive if we flock together and this is why many of us tend to gravitate towards people who share our values and experiences.
“If comedy can lead Irish people to feel proud of ourselves, then, as a country, we’ll be all the better for it.” We have a track record of dark laughs at our own expense, provided the joker could be claimed as “one of our own”.
Be it half-irish Coogan lampooning the stereotyping of the Irish as terrorists in the “Dere’s more to Ireland dan dis” sketch; Spike Milligan, whose comic novel Puckoon about the absurdities of the border seems particularly prescient now, or Fr Ted Saoirse Ronan on SNL was slammed while Partridge struck the right note SPIKE MILLIGAN: emigration museum, that shows how the Irish were lampooned in America when they began arriving in the late 19th and early 20th century. It’s not problematic – just not that funny.
Similarly, Saturday Night Live’s 2017 dismal skit about Irish air hostesses, featuring Saoirse Ronan, bad Oirish accents and jokes about potatoes was much criticised.
Martin was such a star turn because he could actually sing, and his accent was bang on. Small touches showed how Coogan, who spent every summer here as a child, really knows Ireland and this was key.
He said. “A lot of humour I do as Alan is British prejudice against the Irish, which can sound like jokes against the Irish but it has to be put into the context of Alan’s ignorance, which is why I get away with it.”
In today’s stiflingly PC climate for comedy, where one wrong joke can cost you your career, it appears jokes about our history and identity, warts and all, are acceptable. In the words of Martin: “Mighty.”
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