Irish comedian Paddy McDonnell will be coming to the Laughter Lounge on September 17.
The West Belfast working class actor is well known for his hilarious stories and viral clips from various podcast appearances. We chatted to him ahead of his Dublin gig to get an idea of what to expect.
Paddy said he became a comedian “by fluke”. He was a joiner-carpenter and as a doorman on the weekend. But one day, more than a decade ago, everything changed. “I had a serious sort of assault where I lost part of my finger working as a doorman.”
After the incident, his mental health suffered a lot and his wife signed him up for an open comedy gig in Belfast since she knew he used to love stand-up comedy.
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The 43-year-old actor described his first impromptu gig: “The guy called me up on stage and I was sort of like, oh my God, I'm gonna have to do stand-up comedy here. And I loved it. I just loved it…. I was like, I need to do that again because it felt like therapy and just making people laugh, it was just great.
“When I came off, the guy was like, have you ever done that before? And I was like, no. And he says, you need to do it again. 'cause you're very good.”
After that, everything progressed very quickly. Within nine months he was supporting Des Bishop in a marquee in the Belfast city centre to a thousand people. Now he is touring the UK and Ireland and is planning to go to America and Australia next year.
Other than fatherhood and working class experiences, his stories touch upon the Troubles a lot. However, he feels like his gigs are not just for Irish people.
He said: “It also gives people from outside of Ireland an insight into the different types of Irish people and what happened and where they grew up. I grew up in a war situation in the North, and I think sometimes in Ireland, people down South don't want to talk about it or, because bad things that happened in our country, but that's not what it's about.
“It's my story telling people that this is what it was and this is what happened and it's shaped who I am, but it doesn't make me any less Irish than anybody else.”
Paddy had gigs at the Ivy Gardens in July and The Laughter Lounge just last month. He has done collaborations with the likes of John Colleary and Foil, Arms and Hog in the past and he is currently planning to do a podcast with Ballymun comedian Willa White.
You can buy tickets to see Paddy in the Laughter Lounge on the venue’s official website . Doors open at 7pm and the show starts at 8p until 10pm.
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