Tommy Tiernan Show review: Barry McGuigan says ‘my life will go on, but I’ll never be the same’
Barry McGuigan pictured in 2011 with his late daughter Nika. Photo: Richard Young/Shutterstock
Viewers of Saturday night’s Tommy Tiernan Show were touched when retired boxer Barry McGuigan spoke emotionally about the loss of his daughter Nika, who died in 2019 aged 33 just five weeks after being diagnosed with cancer.
“I lost my daughter two years ago, and it's been shocking. I never recovered. My life will go on, but I’ll never be the same,” he says. “Family was everything to me. She was such a good kid. She had a tough life all her life.”
He recalls her health struggles in infancy, her battle with leukemia at 11 and finally her death at 33.
“Losing your child is just the most shocking, shocking thing. If this had happened to me when I was in my career, I could never continue. I don't know how I could have recovered as a fighter.”
McGuigan says he wasn’t prepared for Nika’s death as it happened just five weeks after her cancer diagnosis.
Finally chatting to @Tommedian tonight is boxing legend Barry McGuigan 🥊@clonescyclone #TommyTiernanShow pic.twitter.com/BiibOShxf4
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) January 8, 2022
“Five weeks just like that. And it was just shocking. It's about acceptance, really. You see her unwell and I'm hoping and praying that she gets better and the doctors are saying no, this is not gonna end well.
“It takes a lot of time. You never accept it and then you realise actually it’s not going to end well. It was a shocking, horrible time.”
McGuigan said there is no shame in men showing emotion, pointing out that “people cry and fighters cry but it doesn't mean that they're any less of a man or any less of a fighter because they cry”.
Earlier in the show, Tiernan spoke with former state pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy, who described how she came to work in the field.
“I've been blessed and I've been so fortunate that people allowed me into their lives and let me do what I wanted to do,” she says of the Irish public.
“You’re not a film star dear, you’re a forensic pathologist”
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) January 8, 2022
Dr Marie Cassidy tells @Tommedian how surprised she was to be so well known in Ireland.#TommyTiernanShow @RTEPlayer pic.twitter.com/a3ZPZdlvkR
Dr Cassidy adds not anyone can be a pathologist as not everyone can cope with its realities.
“You learn very quickly whether you can cope with certain situations or not. It's not something that you can get used to. It is pretty brutal, some of the stuff.”
However, she says being able to help the families of the deceased was one way she coped.
“I’m here to do a job and that is to speak for the dead and it’s also so the family can get some kind of closure and they get the information.”
Dr Cassidy adds her Irish background helped her feel comfortable working with bodies as she had been attending wakes in Scotland from a young age.
“I’ve never had a fear of death. I’ve always accepted that people die.”
Also on the show was Broadway and West End star Killian Donnelly, who is currently appearing as The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera in London. Donnelly, who is from Co Meath, says he channels much of his personal life into his performances.
“I really thought about saying goodbye to my son at the airport the other day and he’s 18-months-old and he looked out the window and it broke my heart.”@killiandonnelly talks about how he channels his emotions into his role in Phantom of the Opera@Tommedian #TommyTiernanShow pic.twitter.com/ByNZa5t7I1
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) January 8, 2022
“There are moments in the show which I connect with at some personal level. Or something that's happened to me that day. I can connect with heartbreak. I can connect with frustration,” he says, noting it can be anything from a tearful parting with his 18-month-old son at the airport or the recent loss of someone close to him.
“I've been in shows where my best friend has passed away. I've been in shows where I've lost grandparents. A company manager will ring and say ‘I’m sorry to hear about your friend, do you want the night off?’ I have to do the show. I have to pour my heart out.
“I did The Commitments and I lost my best friend. I needed to scream it with a live band in front of a thousand people, just pour out this anger, this frustration. Those are the moments that I pour myself into the role and that's why I say theatre is therapy for me, it lets me get rid of so much as opposed to ‘faking it’.”
