Emma Doran on stand-up, teen motherhood and consent: ‘There wasn’t a culture of saying anything’

Emma Doran’s memoir is not the comedy ‘coffee table’ book you might expect. From teenage pregnancy to consent, she talks to Nicole Glennon about growing up in 1980s Ireland and how she rewrote the narrative through her comedy

Emma Doran at The Terrace at the Conrad, Dublin. Pic: Nina Val

When Emma Doran got pregnant at 17, there was one thing she was determined to convince her mother of — her innocence.

“I told her I was a virgin,” she writes in her forthcoming memoir, Mad Isn’t It?, “because I thought it would sound better.”