Culture That Made Me: Irish comedian Seán Burke selects his touchstones
Seán Burke is at Cyprus Avenue in Cork on October 11.
Seán Burke, 34, grew up in Swords, Dublin. He began his online comedy career in 2012, releasing videos that have gone viral, including In 2022, the first season of his popular sketch show was broadcast on RTÉ television.
His TV credits also include BBC’s and on Channel 4. He will be performing his debut live show at Cork’s Cyprus Avenue, Sunday, October 11.
Considering the sketch comedy I do now, I can see parallels with Harry Enfield. He’s so versatile with the characters he could do, just with the change of an accent, he could be a completely different character. A character that comes back to me is William Ulsterman. It’s a parody of Ian Paisley. He completely nailed the tone of voice of those figures at that time. He's at a dinner party. He's getting offended about the canapés, but he's doing it in that style: “How dare you offer me this canapé.” It was genius.
I remember seeing Chris Morris in Brass Eye and being perplexed by it because it was edgier than Harry Enfield. The way did comedy was serious, playing it deadpan, but saying the most outrageous things. That was eye-opening, thinking you can do it that way too. They say it like there's nothing funny about this at all — that's what makes it funny. You're watching and thinking this is funny, but also, I cannot believe the neck on you to do something like this, like, say, getting celebrities to record heartfelt messages about the dangers of a made-up drug called “Cake”. Chris Morris is such a talented guy.
I loved reading Papillon. It’s an unbelievable story. The movie with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman complemented it very well. A French guy is wrongly imprisoned in the late 19th century. He tries several jailbreaks — from brutal prison environments — over the course of the book. He never gives up. The desert island desolation of the prisons I found striking and interesting, and the injustice at the very start of the book. It’s a case study of the will of someone to keep escaping, a story about human will to be free. It’s an incredible story.
The funniest book I ever read was Norm MacDonald's which it says on the front because it's clearly all made-up. It’s a book in which, while reading, you can hear the author's voice so clearly. I was genuinely laughing out loud while reading it on a train going up to Edinburgh, having tears in my eyes. There's a bit where he's talking about Rodney Dangerfield, about when Rodney Dangerfield said: “I don't get no respect.” He takes pity on him — like this poor man doesn’t get any respect. I remember reading it, thinking, that's so funny.
In terms of whose career would I like to imitate, Kathy Burke is one because she's in legendary sketch shows with Harry Enfield and others. She’s in the movie, which is an outrageous comedy, but also, she has a great acting career [in straight roles]. She does some directing. She wrote a play. Her character Waynetta Slob is hilarious and her catchphrase: “I am smoking a fag.”
Steve Coogan has done it all — he started doing impressions. Then he did sketch comedy, then sitcom, then movies, then live shows. I've read his books as well. With Alan Partridge, the mileage and longevity are extraordinary. I watch all the latest Alan Partridge stuff as soon as it comes out and it doesn't feel stale. He keeps reinventing the character. You're laughing at him. He’s a bit of a fool. I’d love to create a character like it. I find that reassuring. I revisit Alan Partridge on YouTube quite a lot.
was extremely formative. The absurd humour of it influenced every comedian of my generation. Ardal O’Hanlon’s performance as Dougal, as a dumb innocent fool, is so perfectly played. If ever I play a dumb guy in a sketch, I just conjure up a bad imitation of Dougal because he did it first. The quotes from go around in my head constantly — “Ruud Gullit sitting on a shed” — just these random phrases. That show has a strong nostalgic connection for me.
Another sitcom I love is by Arthur Mathews. You can see shades of in it, but it’s different and probably even weirder. Matt Barry plays an aging thespian. He survives by doing voiceovers for random stuff like Tube announcements. It's surreal at times. It parodies stuff in the arts and the entertainment world. Matt Berry's performance is brilliant. He has rivalries with another actor called Ray Purchase. It's theatrical and big and silly. I love that.
As a kid, every Jim Carrey movie was a huge influence — , which by his standards was one of his less ridiculous roles, I watched on repeat. The scene with Steve Carell in it, I found the funniest where he's a rival news anchor and Jim Carrey's character influences him because he's been given the powers of God to make these ridiculous noises and embarrass himself on live TV. I remember tears in my eyes crying so hard at that.
I really enjoyed the documentary . I started watching it, thinking, this is going in one direction and then it goes in an absolutely different direction. It's about a musician, but it's not a typical music documentary.
I love where a documentary maker starts following something, which they thought was one story, but then their persistence leads to something else that's much more interesting. That's the best example of that. There’s also music in that documentary that has now been rediscovered.
As a kid I read the Artemis Fowl series of fantasy novels by Irish writer Eoin Colfer. He's a kid criminal mastermind. I loved the fantastical, fun adventure nature of it. It was the perfect entry-level novel to give to a kid to get into reading.
is a comedy-related podcast. It's the story of an actor hired to play a small role in which was executive produced by Tom Hanks; he directed some episodes as well. The actor was fired from the role because allegedly Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”. As you can imagine, a hammer blow to hear that from Tom Hanks, the beloved actor.
The guy who was said to have the “dead eyes”, Connor Ratliff, is an improv comedy actor. He made the podcast 20 years later. He interviews people and actors involved in the production. It's fascinating because it's also a study of people's memory. Did this happen or did that happen? There are conflicting reports. At the end, spoiler alert, he speaks to Tom Hanks about it. It’s brilliant.
