Séamas O'Reilly: On Tommy Bowe and that 'ten siblings!?' slip-up

Within micro-seconds, we become the centre of a meme which would entwine myself and Tommy in a braid of mutual empathy for all time.

This week, I received a video in my inbox. It was one I have received, without any exaggeration, over a thousand times, and in every conceivable version and format. It concerned an interview I did two years ago. An interview that started one of the strangest things I’ve ever been the centre of and which, I now realise, I’ve never written about since.

It was August 2021, by which time I was getting quite used to being interviewed. This was the 12th I’d done that week for my book, Did Ye Hear Mammy Died. It had surprised everyone by doing quite well, not least because — though obviously excellent and extremely funny — it was a book about my mother’s death, and written by a studiously non-famous person. 

But it did do well, and the Irish media were soon clamouring to hear from me, that wise, funny man whose mum truly had once died.

All of which led me to the green room of Ireland AM. I say green room, it was really a holding cell on Zoom, where me and my charming hosts, Tommy Bowe and Clare McKenna, shared a few words during the ad break immediately before my interview. 

I have an inkling you might know the interview to which I’m referring to, but I’ll get to that in time.

I don’t think it’s speaking out of school to say it was quite clear that Tommy hadn’t read the book, which is understandable. I was probably one of 20 people they had on the show that week, and covering every book, film, TV show or public statement from every guest would be prohibitively time-consuming and, frankly, insane. 

But he and Clare were friendly, made me feel comfortable, and offered warm, if vague, congratulations on the book’s success. Perhaps enlivened by their charm, I kept things light, and we were very soon laughing in that easy, carefree way that I imagine all celebrities do at the parties to which I figured I’d soon be invited. Before I knew it, they were wishing me luck, and we were going live. My screen filled with the swirling IrelandAM logo, and I watched as my two new, dear celebrity friends, introduced me.

“Now” began Clare, “author Séamas O’Reilly was just five years old when he and his ten siblings...”

“TEN SIBLINGS?!” replied Tommy, with the kindly, open-faced astonishment of someone who’s been digging in their bag of Tayto and found a really, really big crisp. Unfortunately, Clare finished her sentence with a rather different tone: “ ... sadly lost their mum.”

OOOFT

I have tried, many times in the past two years, to describe the noise Tommy made at this point, since it’s almost certainly the most famous noise I’ve ever had any contact with. 

My best approximation is either “uuf” or “oooft”, but both render the same distinct meaning; Tommy had, entirely innocently, reacted to news of my mother’s death with the muted disappointment of someone who’d tried to pick up a really, really big crisp and accidentally broke it in half. 

Within micro-seconds, we become the centre of a meme which would entwine myself and Tommy in a braid of mutual empathy for all time.

Seamas O'Reilly. Picture: Orfhlaith Whelan

I think it’s worth reiterating here that there was clearly never one iota of harm intended on Tommy’s part, and nor was any harm accidentally achieved. 

My family and I found it extremely funny, and continue to do so. His tone and phrasing were, inescapably, hilarious. 

Not least since, while he may not have read the book, he did know its title, which made it even funnier for all of us. 

This was convenient, since we were soon being sent the clip hundreds of times by every single person who had our contact details to hand. It’s been two years and, as I began by saying, I still get sent them on a weekly basis.

ONGOING UBIQUITY

By midday it was trending nationwide, then around the world. By that evening, there were techno remixes and TikTok dances. 

It was featured on Alan Partridge fan accounts, and later covered on ITV clip show It’ll Be Alright On The Night, accompanied by voiceover from David Walliams. 

For weeks, every single reply to Tommy’s Instagram posts appeared to say “TEN SIBLINGS!”, and he was getting tagged on social media by avid fans, not as one of Ireland’s premier sportsmen, winner of two Six Nations trophies and a Lions Tour, but as “the ten siblings guy”.

By December, novelty Christmas cards blaring “TEN SIBLINGS!” were in production by a company who must have misplaced my payment details, and Brian O’Driscoll gave one to Tommy Bowe on live TV. 

As recently as two months ago, the Goss.ie Awards implored him to deliver said catchphrase into a roving mic, surrounded by cheering celebrities. He did so, but with an expression I couldn’t help but intuit as pained.

It has been odd to witness, not least since I’ve mostly escaped any such ubiquity with the meme at all. 

This has mostly been a blessing but has occasionally given me pause. 

As when, three weeks after the interview, I held my first book event in Dublin and found that it was featured by Lovin' Dublin with the headline, “Reading Of The Book Behind Tommy Bowe’s 10 Siblings Slip Up In Dublin Next Week”. 

Glad of the promotion though I was, I couldn’t help wondering if this ever happened to other writers. “Remember Fart Dad? From Viral Hit “Cat Barf Fart Dad”? Turns Out His Name’s Philip Roth And He’s Written A Book!”.

Perhaps the greatest sign that I’m not associated with this meme comes when I occasionally write about having ten siblings, and I myself get replies saying “TEN SIBLINGS!”, from people clearly intending to make a cross-referential joke about that now-famous phrase, without realising I am myself its original source.

I hope Tommy does not feel trapped within its ongoing ubiquity, and that the memes, comments and Christmas cards abate eventually. 

If not, I can only offer the most comforting words I can. A hearty, and sincerely meant, oooft.