Lord Flatley sidesteps tough questioning in TV disaster
Why? Because it’s his first interview in two years (they must have flown by), and because it is possibly the worst half hour of television, anywhere, ever.
Flatley, the Lord of the Dance, owner of the feet of flames, is an amiable fellow, a canny business operator and someone who revolutionised the venerable tradition of Irish dancing.
His interviewer, Alan Cantwell, is an extremely capable broadcaster and TV news anchorman. Together, as they used to say on Hart To Hart, it was murder.
Michael Flatley: Up Close and Personal is a companion piece to the launch of his US ratings-topper Superstars of Dance, which according to the press release, follows groups of dancers representing eight different countries as they compete against each other by showing off their skills.
Bathed in the golden hue of Flatley’s front room in his north Cork “Graceland”, Castlehyde, Cantwell dispenses with his usual newsman demeanour and instead visibly simpers as he posits questions like “how did you achieve that inner peace?” and “you are fundamentally a romantic, but how do you keep that romance alive in a marriage?”.
The Lord, aside from semi-meaningful declarations on the delights of married life and being a dad, finds time to debate the future of the country in between complimenting Alan on his questions.
“Life is about energy,” he says, adding “I could not even put a colour on it, but it glows” (much like everything in his front room, by the looks of it).
Vital kilojoules of energy were expended in putting this interview together, watts of electricity used in getting it to air and acres of trees pulped to make the paper for the press release. Those resources are gone forever. But, as Michael himself says on at least one occasion: “Don’t believe everything you read in the Irish press — bless them.”
God bless, and help, us all.
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