Ardal O’Hanlon tells The Tommy Tiernan Show he was ‘not quite ready’ for Father Ted fame
Ardal O’Hanlon said he was 'often laughing in the background' of Father Ted episodes
The chat show host’s ‘no friends or comedians as guests’ rule was broken on Saturday night when Ardal O’Hanlon appeared on The Tommy Tiernan Show.
The comedian and actor, who shot to fame in Father Ted, told Tiernan he was unprepared for the level of fame his role as Father Dougal would bring him, despite being in his 30s when he became a household name.
“What I think happens to you when you get a big break like that - I was in my 30s by then as well - is that you're kind of catapulted into somewhere that you're maybe not quite ready for,” he said.
Although he had done gigs in London and won awards for his comedy, he said he wasn’t ready to bring his material to larger venues.
“I wasn’t quite ready for the arenas or theatres, a bigger arena. I didn't have a full-length show even. Once you do television then you're pushed into that.”
He said his experience on Craggy Island was “very exciting” and when rewatching the episodes he is surprised at how he behaves when in the background.
“I'm always struck by how unprofessional I am, actually. I’m often laughing in the background. Smiling. Sometimes it probably was just gormless grinning. Sometimes it’s me laughing at something that Dermot or someone else is doing, just laughing at the whole thing. It was a great laugh. The whole process was such good fun.”
Also on the show was neurosurgeon Professor Ciarán Bolger, who told Tiernan he plays an Xbox to stimulate his brain while his peers play sudoku.
“We are far more bombarded by information but I think some of it’s good,” he said.
“For Christmas, I got an Xbox. I've never had an Xbox in my life, and I thought ‘what am I going to do at my age starting to play Xbox’, but in fact, playing it now is great stimulation for my brain. My partner bought it from me for Christmas, I think she thinks I'm a bit of a teenager anyway so I might as well behave like one.
“I sit there and play my Xbox and then I go in and operate on people's brains the next day and try to get them to take me seriously, but I don’t tell them about the Xbox. Lots of my friends do things like sudoku to keep their brains going or crosswords. I think it's great stimulation."
Finally, poet Rita Ann Higgins said much of the early recognition of her work came through the late Gerry Ryan.
“He was a doteen to me,” she said of the broadcaster.
“You’d get the call from a producer and he said, ‘Gerry loves your poems, and he’d love you to read a few poems out on the show’. And then he had me on one of his television shows. He was very encouraging. He was saying ‘this is different’ and ‘you're getting better and better’. It's very encouraging.”
