Ardal is conflicted. Where he comes from there is nothing worse than showing off. It’s right up there with arson or murder. Yet he shows off as a way of life. Three questions: Why? Why? Why?
But just when he thought he’d made sense of the world, when he’d finally found wisdom and peace, the world went mad again, fell off its axis. And you can’t just stand idly by.
In an age of raging populism, angry identity politics, the end of truth, the collapsing middle ground, and peak avocado, Ardal, an otherwise gentle voice of reason is forced to rejoin the fray. Terrified of being on the wrong side of history and keen to prove his age, race, gender, and class don’t necessarily define him as a person, he turns to comedy. Comedy, as ever, being the best, most therapeutic emergency response to extreme events there is.
Ardal O’Hanlon, star of such shows as Father Ted and Death in Paradise, and recently seen in Taskmaster and Would I Lie to You, continues to tour his acclaimed (and very silly) live show worldwide.
