Rory Cowan
An unlikely elder care advocate, an actor by accident and now a debut author, Rory Cowan tells Darragh McManus why his peripatetic career wouldn’t have been better if he’d planned it
The Fair City actor talks to Darragh McManus about his new memoir
Dubliner Rory Cowan became famous in Mrs Brown’s Boys, as Brendan O’Carroll’s comedy behemoth conquered the world over the last 20 years. e real-life Rory may not be quite as OTT as his on-screen namesake, but is a most charming man all the same: witty, chatty, genial… and with some strong opinions about a number of issues. Rory Cowan is speaking to me on the eve of the launch of Mrs Cowan’s Boy, a memoir about his life, with his mother, the titular Esther Cowan, at its heart. e book is sweet, nostalgic, good-natured and consistently funny. Yet, Rory admits, the writing didn’t come easily. “e book was a strange one,” he says. “ey asked me to write it a few years ago. I’d been doing interviews, trying to raise awareness on dementia and homecare, and thought it was a great idea, but found I couldn’t write it. I was looking a er my mother and her dementia, and when I came home, the last thing I wanted to do was write about it.
“en when she died last November, I found that’s when I needed those memories – and they all came ying back. Suddenly, I was able to go at it properly. I needed the laughs. ings work out the way they’re meant to, I suppose, and I’m delighted with it.”
It’s not just a book about people with dementia; It’s also about before dementia. For a few years, when my mother had dementia, I couldn’t remember her before that. But writing this was great: the happy memories came ooding back.”
Esther comes across as a fantastic character; not a million miles from one Agnes Brown, in her warmth and strength, albeit without the bad language. She always encouraged Rory to “stand out and not follow trends” and “hated the word ‘average’: that just meant you hadn’t bothered trying.”
He goes on, “She was a very strong woman, and I get that from her. People think of me as dizzy and extroverted and all that – which I am – but I’m also strong-minded.
“I knew what sort of life I wanted, and what I had to do to get it. People were nagging me about a job with the bank, and I’d have hated that. So I deliberately failed maths, and instead got the best job I ever had, being paid to do something I’d have been doing anyway: playing records in a shop.”
He’s had a helter-skelter career since then – working with music legends for EMI Records, touring the world with Mrs Brown’s Boys, doing voiceover on Gogglebox Ireland and appearing regularly in panto.
e latest stop on Rory’s magical mystery tour is in Carrigstown. He recently joined Fair City as John Bosco Walsh, whose mother Rose (Geraldine Plunkett) has dementia.
He’s having the time of his life on the soap: “I love it, and I love how they’re tackling this subject. Geraldine Plunkett is amazing. I’m in awe of her. She just transforms into a woman with dementia. I don’t know how she does it.” Acting in drama is of course di erent to comedy. “I’m used to barging in the kitchen door,” Rory says, “waving my arms and saying, ‘Hey, Mammy!’ In Fair City, you can’t do that. It’s a case of less-is-more. It’s a very di erent discipline to what I’ve done before, which makes it very interesting. e other actors are brilliant, and so kind – they give me tips all the time.”
e issue of dementia, and elder care, is close to his heart: the country is “ oundering as far as homecare for the elderly is concerned, they don’t know what to do. We need more carers.”
He has an interesting potential solution: “I’ve been studying this for years, and have been to Israel, where they also have a lot of elderly needing care. ey brought in 50,000 foreign workers every year, for ve years, who only work in the homecare industry. ey have temporary work visas and they’re paid properly, they’re not cheap labour, with good accommodation and so on, and are allowed change job up to four times if they don’t like the client.
“It works very well. e elderly are properly cared for, and the foreign workers can make a lot of money to send home and make a better life for their families when they return a er the ve years. I’d look at something along those lines for Ireland.”
It’s mad to think, he says, that a guy who never had designs on acting has now been involved in two such iconic Irish productions as Fair City and Mrs Brown Boys. “Nothing in my life has been planned,” he continues, “except for getting a job in a record-shop when I was 17. But it all worked out because I did the best I could.
“I’ve had a charmed life, but I’ve also worked very hard. Whatever I did, I threw my heart and soul into it. If you do your best, you will be noticed and good things will happen.”
Mrs Cowan’s Boy is out now from Gill Books.
I knew what sort of life I wanted, and what I had to do to get it. People were nagging me about a job with the bank, and I’d have hated that