Up Close and Personal With… Brendan O’Carroll
By Philip Collins | January 16, 2008
Brendan, welcome to Gubuwire.
BOC. Thanks love (in the voice of an old Dublin woman)
Stop that.
BOC. Sorry (again in the voice of an old Dublin woman)
Fucking stop it now! No more of the Dublin aul’ one voice!
BOC. Sorry.
So Brendan, you’re Ireland’s leading comedian. After Dylan Moran, Tommy Tiernan, Ed Byrne, Dara Ó’Briain, Jason Byrne, Ardal O’Hanlan, Pat Shortt, Des Bishop, PJ Gallagher and Andrew Maxwell. So, can you tell us a joke?
BOC. Well, I don’t–
Oh, I forgot – Brendan Grace as well.
BOC. Yeah, I was–
And Sean Hughes!
BOC. Yes. As I was about to say, I don’t know any jokes, I really just say things in an aul’ one voice.
Okay… You’re mother was a TD, have you ever thought of going into politics?
BOC. I did want to at one stage, but Pat Rabbitte told me I’d never get elected because I look like a rat.
You do indeed. You’ve had lots of success with the Mrs Brown character, what do you plan to do with her next?
BOC. On her next outing, Mrs Brown is going to tackle the shocking increase of racism in Ireland today.
How will she do that?
BOC. By telling smutty and mildly racist jokes, and then showing her knickers.
That sounds great! Any plans to kill Mrs Brown off?
BOC. Sometimes I have dreams about strangling her. I sneak into her bedroom at night and I start smelling her hair and all of a sudden she wakes up and starts shouting at me with that annoying voice! And I can’t shut her up so I put me hands around her throat and strangle the life out her…
Interesting. Will you ever bring that into the stage show?
BOC. I’d love to. I’d really like to take Mrs Brown in a postmodern direction, where she’s viciously murdered by her own creator, but whenever I tell people about me idea they look at me like I’ve grown the rat’s tail back!
People are so unreceptive to daring new ideas in stage productions, it must be very frustrating.
BOC. Yep!
When do you think you’ll retire?
BOC. I’ll keep working for as long as I can.
Great. Why?
BOC. I have to keep working, I’m not like most Northsiders, I’m not content to sit around and scab off the dole.
What’s your problem with Northsiders? I mean, you’re from Finglas aren’t you?
BOC. No actually, Finglas is in Meath, I’m from Meath.
That’s bullshit, you’re a self-hating Northsider!
BOC. I’M FROM MEATH!
But you have a Dublin accent?
BOC. I put it on, like the aul’ one voice….
Anyway, back to the point, you’re never going to retire because you have a great work ethic, do you think you inherited that from your mother?
BOC. No, me father was a money-hungry bastard, just like me!
Who inspired you to get into comedy?
BOC. Mussolini, he was hilarious!
He was also a fascist dictator. I don’t think your mother would approve of that considering she was Labour TD.
BOC. So what, fuck her, I hated her! Sometimes I just wanted to strangle her in her sleep! SHE NEVER LET ME SMELL HER HAIR! She never had any time for me, always running around doing work for everyone except me!
Sorry, I wasn’t listening, I got mesmerised by your enormous baldy head.
BOC You’re just like Mother. Never paying attention to me!
….Okay.
BOC. Mammy! Look at me, I’m doing a little dance for you!
Right… we’re leaving now.
BOC. Mammy! Come back! Mammy!
Up Close And Personal With… Twink
Topics: Interviews | No Comments »
