Patrick Monahan: turning family funnies into comedy gold

THE English comedian Patrick Monahan’s father is Irish and his mother is Iranian.

Monahan jokes that his family spends most of their holidays in customs. This week, he will headline the Bulmers Clonmel Comedy Festival (Nov 27-Dec 1).

Monahan’s father moved to England from Roscommon at the age of 18. Work as a welder took him to the Middle East, where he met Monahan’s mother. Monahan, who is the youngest of three children, was born in Ahvaz, an Iranian city on the banks of the Karun River, in 1976.