One of Ireland’s
best known award winning comedians Tommy Tiernan kicked off his World Tour of
Kilkenny at The Bridgebrook Arms, Thomastown last Wednesday night. Tiernan a subversive controversial comedian ensured
this event was not for the faint-hearted.
A large representation of young
people attended the gig alongside older fans like me who remember when he burst
onto the comedy scene in the mid-1990s. Who can forget his first fresh faced appearance
on The Late Late Show in May 1996? He
regaled the audience with hilarious tales about people and places in his
hometown of Navan. Like many Irish performers
he describes this appearance on The Late Late Show as a landmark in his career. Since this first television appearance his
material has become more subversive and he has stumbled into controversy more
than once. However, these foibles have
not detracted from his popularity judging by the full house and the number of
young people in attendance last Wednesday night.
View of Thomastown
In February of this year Tiernan was
interviewed by broadcaster Tom Dunne on a national radio station. The banter and humour between the pair was
entertaining but the interview was a revelation. Tiernan revealed due to the break-up of a
teenage romance when he was sixteen he became the victim of ‘huge neurosis,
insecurity and self-doubt’. He decided
he would ‘pray himself out of it’. He was attending boarding school in
Ballinasloe at the time and the description of his religious fervour was
hilarious. He was the only student in
attendance at early mass every morning and he prayed and prayed hoping the
neurosis would subside. When the other boarders were in bed at night he
remained in the oratory praying. He ordered religious music cassettes and sang
along to the hymns alone in his room. He
became extremely religious and toyed with the idea of entering the priesthood. He approached the Redemptorists in Galway. Unfortunately, they requested that he repeat
the leaving certificate and as he said himself ‘the vista changed’. When he finally left boarding school and all
the praying behind he veered in another religious direction and joined a group called
Basic Christian Community on the Aran Islands.
This community was started by an ex-priest he met at boarding
school. The idea of an alternative
Christian lifestyle appealed to him. He
spent a few years in this community before finally moving to Galway. His father, who incidentally never goes to his
shows, used to jokingly refer to him as a ‘martyr without a cause’.
Tiernan the man is a complicated contradiction
and this reflects in his comedy. He
bounded on stage at The Bridgebrook Arms dressed like the last Playboy of the
Western World. Wearing a cravat, a white
shirt, a brightly coloured tweed waistcoat and trousers he launched into a
hilarious, irreverent set. Tiernan’s
humour is quintessentially Irish and his stories are like streams of
consciousness. They weave, digress, twist and turn like their creator on
stage. He alternately whispered and
roared into the microphone drawing the audience to the edge of their
seats. His mastery of accents and facial
expressions ensured the show was more a high energy theatrical performance than
straight stand-up comedy. Drawing
maximum drama from his material Tiernan paced the stage toying with the
audience. Challenging, cajoling, pouncing
but above all entertaining confidently. Tiernan
laughed with the audience many times obviously enjoying the great energy and
mischief in Thomastown. He revealed he
was completing a World Tour of Kilkenny to provide for his six children. Nothing escapes his hilarious observations
and social satire. Even Thomastown didn’t escape a barb. When heavy rain pounded on the roof of the
venue he quipped, ‘Is Thomastown near the river or in the river?’ Lots of laughter emanated from The Bridgebrook
Arms that rainy Wednesday night and a mischievous Tommy Tiernan left Thomastown
to continue his world tour of Kilkenny.
