Tommy Tiernan Show recap: Conversations with a dominatrix, a dancer, and a comedian
David McSavage, Miss Erica Storm, and Arthur Gourounlian on the Tommy Tiernan Show
There was an eclectic mix of guests on Saturday night’s Tommy Tiernan Show, including a dominatrix, a comedian, and a professional dancer.
Tiernan’s first guest was Miss Erica Storm, an empowerment coach and former international dominatrix.
Storm told Tiernan her work as a dominatrix provides a “safe space” for people to explore kinks and fetishes but she stressed that dominatrixes never sleep with their clients.
“No dominatrixes never have sex with their clients, never,” she explained. “That defeats the whole purpose: anyone can fuck you but only one can fuck your mind.”
That was not a question former dominatrix Miss Erica Storm was expecting to hear from @tommedian 😲😂#TommyTiernanShow @tommedian @Msericastorm pic.twitter.com/aDiK4217Op
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) January 13, 2024
She demonstrated some of the tools of her trade for Tiernan, from a flogger to a pinwheel, even demonstrating the implements on his hand and arm.
Storm said she finds the role of dominatrix empowering. “I became comfortable with my power and accepting who I am. That's electric.”
Tiernan’s second guest was comedian David McSavage, who said a lot of his comedy is fueled by spite.
“I would say a lot of my comedy actually is revenge-fueled, spiteful,” he said. Their conversation was at times uncomfortable as McSavage described the atmosphere on set as akin to “an interrogation because there's no audience” before snapping at an unseen person off camera to be “quiet please on set”.
Well this took a journey!
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) January 13, 2024
Tommy and David chat aging, reluctant gym attendance, ‘quiet on set’ and a missing invite from David’s cousin Ryan Tubridy 😂😂 #TommyTiernanShow pic.twitter.com/XYTWAzTifX
Viewers shared their thoughts on social media, with one person describing it as “the most awkward, unfunny, dull, few minutes of TV I have ever seen”.
Finally, Tiernan was joined by professional dancer and Dancing with the Stars judge Arthur Gourounlian who spoke powerfully about his life as a refugee after fleeing Armenia with his family in the 1990s.
Gourounlian said he was 12 when a friend he was walking with was kidnapped and forced into the army — his parents decided to leave the country because of that incident.
“Very long story short, we end up in Cologne after three months travelling through trains through Russian mafia, through hearing the bombs exploding, horror,” he said, adding they later travelled to Belgium where he lived for eight years.
Not even Arthur Gourounlian’s infectious enthusiasm can persuade Tommy to consider @DWTSIrl as a career option 🕺🕺 #TommyTiernanShow @Tommedian pic.twitter.com/NxQaHxrsGy
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) January 13, 2024
He said another turning point came just two years later when his father died suddenly after suffering a brain haemorrhage.
“After the funeral, I was destroyed, and I said that's it, I’m gonna change my life.”
He said writing about those years for his book, co-authored with his husband Brian Dowling, brought back many traumatic memories for him.
“Writing the book was a therapy. I cried. I laughed. I cried a lot. I brought [up] memories that I blocked, clearly.”
