Culture That Made Me: Dublin comedian Emma Doran selects her touchstones
Emma Doran brings her standup show to the Everyman in Cork on Thursday, March 27.
Emma Doran, 40, grew up in Tallaght and later Rathfarnham, Dublin. Her early TV credits include Republic of Telly and Callan’s Kicks. Gill Books published her memoir, last year. She will perform her stand-up show at the Everyman, Cork, Thursday, March 27. See: www.everymancork.com.
Early childhood, I liked . I couldn't tell you what cartoons were on it. I loved when Podge came in as their postman. It was always this big mystery because he was like a baddie. If there was a back catalogue, I would be very excited to watch them. I was actually on The Joke Box as a child! When The Den came back and I wasn't involved, I was extremely bitter about that and continue to be.
My mam kept an eye on what I’d be watching on telly as an early teen, which annoyed me. I remember one time I was watching , an American sitcom, at home. She was saying to me, “What are what are those girls doing?” I was like, “Oh, I don't know. Smoking or something, I think.” Then she said, “Turn it off.” I didn't realise it was a bong they were smoking. Because she made such a big deal about it, I made it my business to find out why she was so annoyed that I was watching this show.
That's why I started going to friends' houses to watch telly. We'd watch sitcoms like , but then we'd also watch Ricki Lake and Jenny Jones' talk shows. The fact they were on during the day is pretty crazy, but we loved all that stuff – DNA tests; “You’ve been sleeping with my mam.” The stuff was so crazy to us, but you could dismiss it in a way – “Oh, sure they’re just mad Americans.”
I loved Steve Coogan’s earlier characters like, say, Paul and Pauline Calf, the brother and sister. He had this great special where Pauline was getting married. I watched that over and over again. He’s so good. Take Alan Partridge. Alan is a real character. He draws on comparisons – like the way Alan goes on about cars, he's quite into cars himself. It's that lovely balance between how close a character is set in reality and then just tipping it slightly to make it outrageous. If it tips too far, people don't connect with the character as much.
My parents were big comedy fans as well. They loved Eddie Izzard. When Eddie Izzard came on the scene, nobody had seen anyone like him before ever. He was – and it’s the most important thing – so funny, so confident in what he was doing, and so well read.
Someone who’s completely different is Lily Savage, but Lily Savage is so, so funny. I loved the boldness and the devilment of Lily Savage. As a kid, I wasn't too concerned about whether this was a man or was this a woman. I was just like, that's Lily Savage, an outrageous character.
There’s such a warmness from Dawn French. She’s also a clever woman. As a performer, a writer, she's so multifaceted. I watched a recent interview she did with Joan Rivers. It’s the best interview you will ever see with Joan Rivers because of the insights she gets into Joan’s personality. She’s not afraid to ask difficult questions because all the questions come from a place of sincerity. You can tell there’s an understanding between two funny women chatting together.
I definitely look up to Caroline Aherne. When I first saw her early stand-up years ago – say, when she did Sister Bernadette – I didn't realise how Irish she was. Then I looked into her and realised, seeing her talk about her Irish mother and stuff, she’s pure Irish. I love all her work, Mrs Merton, everything, but the thing I really admired about her was her ability in to have heartbreak and comedy beside each other in the same moment like, say, when she's going into labour and she's in the bathroom with Jim playing her favourite music or the episode when her nana is dying. To put comedy beside sad bits so effortlessly, you have to have a big heart.
I do a podcast with Deirdre O'Kane. I went to her most recent show, and it was amazing. Most of the time, watching a comedian, you sit there and you acknowledge that it's funny, but you don't actually laugh. But with her I laughed out loud, which is a hard thing as a comedian, especially when you know the person as well.
Somebody who’s really funny is Jason Byrne. People who know he's funny in Ireland have seen him, and the people that don't think he's funny have not seen him. There's only two camps. You have to see him. The first time it clicked with me how funny he was, I was doing the Iveagh Gardens Comedy Festival. It was one of my first festivals. I was nervous. I went into the big room because I was early for my show and I just wandered into his show. I was so charged up with tension. I sat there howling laughing at his set. He's so bloody funny.
Anthony Boyle, as Brendan Hughes, is alongside Lola Petticrew, as Dolours Price, in . The two of them together on screen are amazing. When I looked into them, I discovered they've known each other since they were 11. That makes so much sense because their chemistry together is unbelievable.
Séamus O'Reilly’s memoir is a good book to get anybody. His mother dies when he's a young child. He comes from a big family. It's a beautiful book about family. It’s not soppy. It's a lovely way to remember or to remind you of your relationships with your siblings and your family before you all left and got married and did whatever you did, all those little funny dynamics and quirks. It’s a love letter to his dad. A lot of the time, you might not hear about the great dads.
The podcast that had the biggest impact on me was , which is based on Nicola Tallant’s book. It’s an incredible piece of work. I love listening to it – I listen to that podcast every few months, driving up and down the country. I find his story – obviously a completely different life to me – so inspiring in terms of grit and determination to live, to get on with life and to keep living. I love his relationship with his family and his mammy as well. It's just him telling his story. You rarely hear from any other voices in it.
