Culture That Made Me: Kevin Twomey of I'm Grand Mam picks his touchstones
Kevin Twomey brings his live show, That’s Showbiz, with PJ Kirby to Cork Opera House in June.
Kevin Twomey, 31, grew up in Douglas, Cork. He lives in east London. He’s one half of the comedy duo, I’m Grand Mam, along with fellow Corkonian PJ Kirby.
The pair first met while students at University College Cork at its Hip Hop Society.
They host a humorous, popular podcast about life’s ups and downs, including the challenges of being gay Irish men.
Their live show, That’s Showbiz, is at Cork Opera House, 8pm, Saturday, June 1 – Sunday, June 2.
- See: www.corkoperahouse.ie.
Growing up, a TV show in our house we all loved watching – even my parents – was The Simpsons. We all sat down and watched in the living room in the evening. At the time, I was enjoying it for the slapstick and the simpler gags. When I revisit some of the episodes, I can see the writing is brilliant, all the inside jokes happening.
Pose is a scripted series about ballroom culture from the 80s and 90s in New York. The typical actors who make appearances in Ryan Murphy's shows – the guy who created shows like Glee, American Horror – are in it like, say, Angelica Ross. Janet Mock, a trans director, directed several episodes. It’s a really good series.
I grew up being a big fan of the Cork comedian Maeve Higgins. I read a couple of her books, and I’ve listened to her podcast with Jon Ronson. I've always liked her comedy, even going back to her Naked Camera days.
I remember there was a scene in that hidden camera show where she did a beauty master class with someone. It was about how to do beauty on a budget. There was a scene where she was licking Smarties and rubbing them on her eyelids, telling your one it was a cheaper alternative to eyeshadow. She’s brilliant.
The Handmaid's Tale is a bit dark but Elizabeth Moss in the lead role is phenomenal. She’s one of those actors who is telling a lot when they're not even doing any dialogue. The series examines evil. I couldn't pull myself away from watching it. Some of the stuff you would have to cover your eyes because it's so awful, but it’s a series I inhaled.
I saw Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa last year at The National in London. The performances were brilliant. Alison Oliver, Siobhán McSweeney and Bláithín Mac Gabhann, a Cork girl, were in it; all actors I was familiar with. It was good I had read the play previously in secondary school because I was up to speed with everything that was going on. There was a lot of Irish people in the audience, so that was nice – good to see a cast of Irish actors in The National Theatre doing great work. It was a lovely night.
As a teenager, I was a big Girls Aloud fan. From her first audition on Popstars, I was obsessed with Nadine Coyle. She got into the band Six but they found out she was too young so she got kicked out; I remember being distraught.
Sound of the Underground was one of the first CDs I bought. I listened to the single on repeat on my brother’s discman. An early memory of my friend Padráig was in the primary school yard when I used a traffic cone as a pretend microphone to re-enact the choreography from the music video.
Schitt’s Creek is a series I started and gave up on initially, thinking what's the fuss about? Then I was getting some work done on my teeth. The dentist gave me headphones, and there was a TV on the ceiling, and he said, “Watch what you want.” I only had two seconds to decide. I threw on a random episode of Schitt’s Creek in the middle of the series, and I found it hilarious. It was probably the worst thing I could have watched whilst getting my teeth sorted because I kept laughing when the man was trying to work on my teeth. Dan Levy, who also created it, and Catherine O'Hara are brilliant in it.
A film that left a lasting impression on me is Moonlight. I watched it flying back from Asia. I was absolutely exhausted. I remember sobbing on the flight. It’s a gorgeous film. It’s so tender. It's a coming-of-age drama, directed by Barry Jenkins. It's based on an unpublished semi-autographical play, In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. It presents three stages in the life of the main character. It’s about a black boy coming to terms with his sexuality and his identity in a rough part of Miami.
A film I loved which merits a second watch is Everything Everywhere All at Once. I went to see that last year. It’s unbelievable. You can't compare it to anything else. It's in a genre of its own.
It's an absurdist comedy drama, starring Michelle Yeoh, with martial arts, science fiction and fantasy, and it’s all a bit mad.
A book I'd recommend to my friends is At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O’Neill. The book is a love story between two fellas who meet at the Forty Foot in Dublin. It's set around the time of the 1916 Rising in Ireland. That in itself pulled my attention. It’s great.
A podcast I listen to is Young Hot Guys. It’s hosted by Tony Cantwell, Killian Sundermann and Shane Daniel Byrne. They’re three Irish comedians. I’m big fans of the lads. They shoot the breeze, offering hot takes or playing characters, or going off on tangents. Together it works. They’re funny, funny lads.
I'm a fan of Louis Theroux. During lockdown, I listened to his podcast series called Grounded with Louis Theroux. It was him interviewing different guests like FKA twigs, Boy George, Helena Bonham Carter. I love his interview style. He gets beyond the typical questions when you watch celebrities normally being interviewed, when you can see them getting fed up by being asked the same old questions, and answering from muscle memory. He gets to a deeper level, and pokes a bit further. I've always liked his style of interviewing, and I enjoy listening to his voice.
A play I saw in 2018 – and there was a big buzz about it – was The Inheritance. It was on at the Young Vic Theatre in London. It's based on EM Forster’s book Howard’s End. The play is written by Matthew López. It’s set in two parts. It examines gay love between two men in contemporary New York, a generation after the AIDS crisis. I remember being in the theatre and being in bits. It was unlike anything I'd been to see previously.
