Five of the best interviews from this season of The Tommy Tiernan Show
Anne Doyle: 'I just never really particularly wanted to have children, and I'm not alone in that'
Singer-songwriter Tolü Makay and poet FeliSpeaks described carving out their place as black Irish people while staying true to their Nigerian heritage.
“We were both born in Nigeria and moved here as children. We’re Nigerian born but Ireland formed a lot of our personality,” FeliSpeaks said.
“There's quirks and jokes that straddle both fences, Nigerian and Irish, so you're nearly too black to be Irish but you’re too Irish to be Nigerian.”
“That happens a lot,” Makay agreed and added she feels “pride” about the place they are carving in society. “I feel like we're the first of our own. We own this space and we should, we should be allowed to own it. I can switch into the Nigerian accent and then the Irish accent so quickly, it just is. It is just who we are and I think we should embody and embrace that.”
Retired newsreader Anne Doyle spoke about never feeling the urge to get married or have children.
“I suppose I never really fell in love with somebody, to a point where I felt like upturning my life, and becoming part of a married couple. And then as I got older, quite frankly, I didn't see the point,” she said.
“Judging how my life has panned out. I've never had any reason to question it. I just never really particularly wanted to have children, and I'm not alone in that. There, there are many women who for one reason or another, simply don't choose to have children, they live their lives differently. That brings its own joys and blessings and, I suppose, it also brings its own sadnesses and loneliness, but everything that you do in life will bring the flipped coin.”
Actor, comedian and Father Ted star Ardal O’Hanlon revealed to Tiernan that a lot of Father Dougal’s background grinning was actually him reacting to the late Dermot Morgan’s comedic skills.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Oscar-winning actress Brenda Fricker didn’t let the recognition of an Academy Award go to her head: her statuette keeps her bathroom door open. She spoke candidly about success, loneliness and the white lie she told Al Pacino.
“I saw out of the corner of my eye this elderly man on the banisters, it looked like he was in trouble. It was Al Pacino, who was nominated that year,” she told Tiernan, describing the night she presented an Oscar.
“He said, ‘11 times I’ve been nominated’. I said ‘you’re going to win, this is the envelope, your name is in here’. Out I go then, and said: ‘And the Oscar goes to… Joe Pesci.”
Former Ireland rugby captain Brian O'Driscoll spoke to Tiernan about the simple joys of parenthood but also opened up losing a close friend to suicide 12 years earlier and the impact that loss had on him.
“I've got a recurring dream that I get every five or six months that he comes back and he's just been away. It's actually lovely. I'm not sad when I wake up. It's kind of nice, that moment, and I'm kind of relieved,” he said.
“The whole thing never made any sense. So to get him back, that makes sense, that he went away, rather than the finite alternative. At least he was back and I was like, even if you're not going to hang out with me anymore, at least I know that you're alive. That gives a sense of comfort.”
