Comedian and all-round-nice-bloke Tommy Tiernan is back with a new show on RTE, a live video/DVD for Christmas and a series of brand new live concert shows around the country this autumn. We invited him to submit to the inquisition that is the hotpress.com mixed grill and he was only too happy to be hauled over the charcoal
On the 50th anniversary of the first reading of his epic poem Howl, a host of celebrities such as Shane McGowan, Tommy Tiernan, Theo Dorgan, Eamonn McCann, Tony Curtis, Dermod Moore and BP Fallon will commemorate the work of the legendary Beat artist, Allen Ginsberg.
Tommy Tiernan has issued a statement in response to accusations of anti-semitism, which have been levelled at him following his appearance at the Hot Press Chat Room at Electric Picnic.
Firstly, I would like to say that as a private individual I am greatly upset by the thought that these comments have caused hurt to others as this was never my intention; yet, the Electric Picnic public interview with Hot Press Magazine has been taken so far out of context that I am quite bewildered.
As cats all over Ireland prepare to have their fancies tickled, Jackie Hayden reflects on the comedic talents of one of the star turns at this year’s Smithwick’s Cat Laughs Festival, Tommy Tiernan.
When Tommy Tiernan held court in the Hot Press Chat Room at Electric Picnic recently, he had no idea the kind of shit storm that would unfold. During what was in effect a spontaneous, unscripted live performance – not unlike an appearance on The Late Late Show that also sparked controversy – he told a story about a couple of Jews who reproached him after a performance in New York. The result? He has been accused of anti-semitism and widely vilified. But those who know Tiernan are quite clear that the accusations are completely wrong. So – in order to allow people to judge for themselves – here is the full text of the Chat Room interview.
There’s no drink or drugs for Tommy Tiernan these days, but you couldn’t say his life is uneventful. In conversation with Olaf Tyaransen, the comedian reflects on tabloid interest in his private life, the night he had to get away from Jordan, the future for post-Catholic Ireland and the genius of Flann O’Brien and James Joyce. All this plus the unveiling of the secret tattoo. Photography by Mick Quinn.
Far from the misanthropic character of lore, Tommy Tiernan is in fact a remarkably upbeat performer with a spring in his step and a whole host of new material to debut on his upcoming Loose tour. “Life is good, God is great and tay is hot!” he tells Tanya Sweeney.
In Ireland, he’s the biggest name in comedy – a superstar who can pack them into live shows and shift DVDs by the jumboload. But having conquered his homeland, Tommy Tiernan faced the question: where to from here? The answer was America, the Holy Grail for anyone in the entertainment business. The story of his battle to win hearts and minds is captured in Jokerman – Tommy Tiernan Takes On America, a documentary series that is about to hit the screens on RTE. But first, there’s the important matter of a Hot Press interview to attend to.
Tommy Tiernan's latest concert tour contains tales of masturbation, marathon running and marauding donkeys. Stephen Robinson visits the land of Tiernan Og
Irish comedy is a winner this Christmas, with the local DVD and video market exploding in a way that few industry insiders had predicted. And Tommy Tiernan is the king of the scene, grabbing the No.1 spot in the latest Irish charts, in the face of the most intense competition seen in this country yet.
After an undoubtedly slack 2003, 2004 was the year in which TV comedy once again came into its own. In addition to to further series from Monkey Dust, Peep Show, Little Britain, 15 Storeys High and Curb Your Enthusiasm, there were also excellent new shows in the shape of The Smoking Room, The Mighty Boosh, Nighty Night and Catterick. In particular, the forum for alternative humour provided by BBC3 and BBC4 continued to provide an invaluable creative outlet for the oddballs, misfits and mavericks of British comedy.
Ahead of his show at the comedy tent, Ireland's favourite comedian Tommy Tiernan dropped by the Hot Press Chatroom last night to answer the fans' questions.
Ask standup comic, Perrier-award-winner, Late Late show audience-botherer and original Navan man Tommy Tiernan your questions in the Hot Press Mixed Grill
The home studio, the stadium gigs, the best-selling dvd – nope, it’s not rock’n’roll, it’s stand-up comedy. Pat Shortt talks about a boom year for mirth-making.
To celebrate hotpress’s thirtieth anniversary issue, we thought we’d break out the bubbly (and the tea!) and invite round a collection of Ireland’s biggest stars.
Comedy hit a spectacular high in 2002 with the success of The Office, The League of Gentlemen and Bachelor’s Walk. But there may be even better to come this year, as three generations of Irish comic talent tell us.
When he first arrived in the Northwest to attend college last year, Josh Clarke had no aspirations of becoming a radio DJ. Pretty soon, though, he had caught the bug in a serious way.
Along with the music, beer and scoffing, there was some serious talking done at the Electric Picnic. Shilpa Ganatra was taking notes as The Chalets, Flaming Lips, JJ72, Bob Mould, James Blunt, Tommy Tiernan, Declan O’Rourke and The Devlins were subjected to a public grilling by the Hot Press journalistic elite. And John Walshe.
0ver the past twelve months, Daniel Kitson has risen to prominence following his Perrier award winning show at the Edinburgh fringe, and his celebrated appearance on Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights but all the bespectacled comic really wants is to be recognised as a stand-up guy.
Tommy Tiernan has become engulfed in a nasty controversy over remarks made in the context of a comedic performance. The furore raises the question: are there meaningful boundaries to ‘acceptable’ humour?
His TV breakthrough came when he told Pat Kenny about how he hung weights from his penis. Since then it’s been wild globetrotting and fluent Irish all the way. And now, in his latest spectacular for the viewing public, Hector O hEochagain has only gone and bought himself a share in a racehorse.
Part two of our glance back over the year that was, complete with clickable quotes so you can read each and every article in full, if you like. And you know you like! So don't just sit there. Get reading...
Johnny Vegas to play the Belfast Festival, Scott Capuro revealed to not be Graham Norton, and Tommy Tiernan in possibly moving to LA to star in a sitcom shocker
Paddy C. Courtney may be bidding “adieu” to The Comedy Cellar, but there’s a new crop of testosterone-filled freaks waiting to take over at dublin’s most famous chuckle palace.
Nice to see Father Ted’s Graham Linehan back in Dublin recently, taking a break from writing his latest project, a comedy feature film set in ‘20s Paris
It appears that the Smuggler’s Tour scheduled for Vicar St on February 18th and featuring Howard Marks and Robert Sabbag has been canceled
Tommy Tiernan is keeping schtum about his recent visit to the USA where he ‘had talks’ with TV entertainment giant NBC
GERRY MALLON is the brains behind The Murphy's Comedy Club which has been running weekly in Galway's GPO for the last three years, despite one Englishman's determined attempt to incinerate the joint. Interview: BARRY GLENDENNING.
colin murphy is living proof that there is such a thing as a comedic afterlife. The Downpatrick funny man, who once "died every week for six months", tells barry glendenning all about heaven down here.
Such is the close proximity of most of the well-known pubs to each other and to other central locations that Galway could quite conceivably have been designed with the pub crawler in mind. The sheer abundance and variety of pubs that Galway has to offer the thirsty reveller is one of the big attractions of the City of The Tribes. Galway pubs are renowned for their unique and friendly atmosphere, mighty craic and impromptu traditional music sessions.
It's Day Two in the Hot Press Chatroom and after hosting an exceptional crop of chatty musicians yesterday, we welcomed three new interviewees to be grilled by the public.
One of the most hotly anticipated events at the Galway Comedy Festival is the show featuring stand-up comedian from the characters of Father Ted. Jackie Hayden talks to the evening's host Frank Kelly, a.k.a Father Jack.
Celebrating its 21st anniversary this summer, 1998's Galway Arts Festival promises to be the best ever. Hot Press' honorary Tribes-man, COLM O'HARE, previews the main attractions and offers a comprehensive guide
to the best places to eat, drink and make merry.
was born in Navan, discovered comedy in Dublin, paid his dues in London and then conquered Edinburgh in 1996. Liam Mackey meets Dylan Moran, the stand-up comedian with the world at his feet.
Having admitted that he really doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Brendan Dempsey briefs Paul Nolan on the upcoming Montreal Comedy Festival. and other stuff
BBC 4 & 6, Gardener's Question Time, The Guardian crossword... comedian Colin Murphy's Belfast home is a veritable hub of bacchanalia. Photos by Amberlea Trainor.
Fatboy Slim, Flaming Lips, Damien Dempsey, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Mercury Rev and Public Enemy are some of the heavyweight attractions at the Electric Picnic, which this year is a two-day event taking place on the Stradbally Estate, County Laois on September 3 and 4.
According to producer LISSA EVANS, the third and final series of Father Ted is the most fitting tribute possible to its late star. Interview: BARRY GLENDENNING
Yes readers, it s that time of year again when TOM MATHEWS hacks his way through the vin and verbiage of dear old Galway town for the cuirt festival of literature.
Father Ted writer Arthur Mathews talks about his latest movie, Wide Open Spaces, an evocation of "Crap Ireland", set in a Famine theme park, with shades of Flann O’Brien and Beckett.
He’s triumphed at comedy venues all over the country, and was a firm favourite with the blue-rinse brigade as ultra-naff country star Eoin McLove in Father Ted. Now Louth stand-up Patrick McDonnell has turned his attention to hoodwinking unsuspecting members of the public in RTE’s surreptitiously filmed prank-fest, Naked Camera.
By now one of the most esteemed events on the Irish cultural calendar, the Galway Arts Festival 2003 will once again bring you the best in contemporary theatre, literature, comedy and music
They may be about as prolific as giant pandas, but now the waiting is over. The mighty LEFTFIELD are back with their first new material in almost five years - the new album Rhythm And Stealth - and it looks set to have the same genre-redefining impact as their debut long-player Leftism. BARRY GLENDENNING talks to mainman PAUL DALEY about media critics, professional jealousy, John Lydon, banned videos and that Guinness ad.
Once he was the mouthy fop rocker who enraged at least as many people as he delighted; now with a debut novel just published he's a (mostly) critically acclaimed author whose time has apparently come. Peter Murphy meets former Toasted Heretic frontman Julian Gough to discuss a meeting with Morrissey and a near-miss with Sinead, the benefits of being humbled and crushed, fame and creativity on the dole and, one more time with feeling, the epic story of lawyers, lubricants and lunacy at Feile '92. Photography: Phillip Tottenham
Every loser wins on patrick kielty s new Channel 4 show, Last Chance Lottery , and for the 26-year-old comedian, presenter and former germ , things have never looked so good. Interview: barry glendenning.
From 15-28 July 2002 Galway city hosts one of the most comprehensive of this year's arts festivals with esoteric offerings from the genres of visual art, music, theatre, comedy and lots, lots more
Comedian of the moment Andrew Maxwell talks about his recent car-crash gig in Dublin, in which he staggered on stage drunk and promptly blacked out, the controversy over Tommy Tiernan's comments on the holocaust and his love/hate relationship with Ireland. Plus, why we're to blame for our current economic crisis and how going to the same school as U2 helped turn him into ther performer he is today.
Since 1977 Hot Press has looked at music, books, film, culture and politics. This bumper birthday issue looks back at the best bits of the last 30 years.
The latest wave of right-wing attacks on US musicians is likely to have a knock-on effect here, with the words and actions of our own artists coming under increased scrutiny. In a special hotpress report, Ed Power enlists the help of Marilyn Manson and a number of major Irish players to pick his way through the censorship minefield.
It’s the guide Ladbrokes, the Central Bank, Mystic Meg and Mark Lawrenson turn to at the start of each year – Jackie Hayden’s cultural, sporting and political forecasts for the forthcoming twelve months.
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the dissection of the rock ‘n’ roll year that is the Hot Press Summit. Gathering round the table are the good and great of Irish music, but who let Podge & Rodge in?
Prince may be content just to party but in a four-page special the Hot Press journalistic elite takes a look at everything 1999 has to offer. And then some.
NICK KELLY talks to BRENDAN DEMPSEY and PADDY COURTNEY, the respective outgoing and incoming MCs of Dublin's COMEDY CELLAR, the most important comedy club in Ireland. Pics: CATHAL DAWSON.
He’s one of the hardest-working comics on the circuit, once performing four separate shows in a single night. Now Dara O’Briain is preparing for perhaps his busiest year yet.
BARRY GLENDENNING incurs the wrath of several very hungover Irish comedians by dragging them out of bed to give progress reports after week one of the Edinburgh Festival.
Former Oranmore oyster farmer Gerry Mallon may regard himself as something of an accidental stand-up, but nevertheless he’s one of the main players in the burgeoning Galway comedy scene.
Laughlines was pleased to be among the invited comedy glitteratti at the final of RTE’s New Comedy Awards. Catherine Maher's latest project is a sit-com for RTE television based around the myths and legends of ancient Ireland which should be broadcast in late 2002.Corkonian comic Michael Mee takes his latest one-man-show to his native city when he visits the Lobby Bar for one night only on Sunday, November 25th.
IN RAT Pack Confidential, his immensely entertaining analysis of the bacchanalian rites of Frank Sinatra s showbiz pals summit in early 60s Vegas, Shawn Levy tells a story about stand-up comedian Joey Bishop, one of the lesser known rodents on the famous Sands Hotel bill which comprised such showbiz luminaries as Ol Blue Eyes, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr and Peter Lawford.
IN RAT Pack Confidential, his immensely entertaining analysis of the bacchanalian rites of Frank Sinatra s showbiz pals summit in early 60s Vegas, Shawn Levy tells a story about stand-up comedian Joey Bishop, one of the lesser known rodents on the famous Sands Hotel bill which comprised such showbiz luminaries as Ol Blue Eyes, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr and Peter Lawford.
To coincide with the launch of his new 'Greatest Hits' DVD , Ed Byrne talks to Jackie Hayden about profanity in Irish comedy, how he fucked up in Edinburgh, the Christopher Reeves joke that some misunderstood, and how he regularly meets people who claim not to know him.
OPPORTUNISTIC DUBLIN comedy impressario Buzz O Neill hasn t been letting the grass grow under his feet since pulling down the shutters on the Corduroy Comedy Club at Dublin s Norseman just before Christmas.
WE ARE pleased to report that following the second anniversary of the Murphy’s Corduroy Comedy Club (The Norseman, Temple Bar, Thursday nights), resident compere John Henderson has decided to move upstairs (metaphorically speaking, of course – the Club is already upstairs) in order to oversee Corduroy affairs from his new position as Director of Comedy.
Louth comic Patrick McDonnell has seen his profile rise of late, courtesy of TV appearances. But he d be quite happy to scratch my arse and watch Countdown , he tells NICK KELLY.
The International Bar's Comedy Improv team are recording a series of shows in February for broadcast on RTE. Stephen Robinson reports on the comics who really do make it up as they go along
Northern Irishman Colin Murphy's Blizzard of Odd series on Network 2 takes a scathing look at some of the stranger films and television shows that appear on our screens. The actor, writer and comedian returns to the stage this month with a brand new stand-up show that proves he's more than just a telly-addict. Stephen Robinson meets the man who puts the 'ouch' in couch potato
The Electric Picnic couldn’t have been any more inspiring (weather excepted). Now, roll on the Music Show....
Electric Picnic. It marks the end of the summer, and the beginning of the academic year when people start to trudge back to schools and college. It is a moment when you start to anticipate the darkness falling down around us, the days getting shorter and then shorter again, till the watershed weekend arrives when the clocks go back, and the winter comes stealing in.
A fresh-faced Snow Patrol grace our cover in 2004, with appearances elsewhere from Tommy Tiernan, Kevin Shields, The Streets (and a banana), plus The Thrills (and a skeleton).
2006 is a colourful year down Hot Press way as Arctic Monkeys burst onto our cover in a haze of yellow, Tommy Tiernan goes red, white and blue, and Franz Ferdinand sport some sunny rainbow tees.
The Simpsons crash our cover along with Bruce Springsteen, REM, Arcade Fire and The Smiths. Plus, the HP celebrates our 30th birthday with Shane MacGowan, Sinead O'Connor, Tommy Tiernan, Damien Dempsey, Christy Moore, and a lovely big cake.
The oft-overlooked green of the Iveagh Gardens in Dublin will be the location for The Modern Comedy Carnival, featuring the likes of Tommy Tiernan, Des Bishop, Emo Philips and Keith Barry.
D UNBELIEVABLES are probably the most popular comics in Ireland. As preparations continue for the opening of their new show, Olaf Tyaransen talks to the duo about rural Ireland, negative press, and whether they have yet made their fortune.
