Circle of online friends soars with skits
RISING actress Aisling Kearns built up a massive social media following by posting comedy sketches on Instagram and TikTok while she was out of work during the pandemic.
The Darklands star, currently in rehearsals for the stage production of Maeve Binchy’s Circle Of Friends, was without work for a year during the Covid crisis.
But instead of resting on her laurels, the 26-yearold, inset, put her energy into her social media sketches, amassing 65,000 followers in the process. Playing everything from an Irish mammy to a drunken pub local demanding she sing a song, the Co. Offaly actress admits she was astonished by the reaction.
‘Because I wasn’t working I wanted to keep my skills up and get the creative brain going so I thought I would throw up a few sketches, first on TikTok and then Instagram. I didn’t care too much how they went down as I was just trying something new and it wouldn’t have knocked my confidence if they didn’t do well. But people loved them.
‘I got to 20,000 followers in a couple of months and it kept going up. It was mental. People were stuck at home and got a bit of joy from them.
‘I got messages from people abroad who couldn’t get home saying it reminded them of their mam, and thanking me for putting them up. That meant a huge amount to me.
‘Compliments like that were the reason I kept going. Now it’s a different story because I’m back working and my priority is professional acting.
‘It’s funny, I get recognised a lot now and it’s always for the Instagram stuff.’