by Mike Wade

Twitter:@iomnewspapers

Whether on TV or performing stand-up, Irish comedian Ardal O’Hanlon knows that, somehow, he has to keep showing off.

The much-loved comic and actor appears on the island next week, bringing his latest show, ’The Showing Off Must Go On’, to the Gaiety Theatre on Wednesday, March 4, from 8pm.

Ardal, who found fame as the gloriously-innocent Father Dougal in the comedy series Father Ted, created his latest show after finding that his comfortable and complacent middle-aged existence was knocked off-kilter by world events.

His new show takes a look at the world through the eyes of someone who doesn’t want to impose his own thoughts about such things as politics, but will happily look at the absurdities that brought us to where the world is today.

’While I have strong political views, I don’t want to hit an audience over the head with them,’ said Ardal.

’What seems clear about these events is that feelings will always trump facts in making decisions.

’All the decisions we make in life are irrational: our consumer choices are irrational, our choice of life partner might be irrational.

’You could end up marrying the craziest person in the world. They might stab you.

"Yes, but they have lovely hair!".’

Part of being a stand-up comedian is the need to present yourself on stage and, essentially, show off to people, something that he admits that, despite his success over the years, has never come easily or naturally to Ardal.

His fame as Father Dougal came at a time when he was developing his stand-up career in London.

In the years since Father Ted came to an end, he has mixed stand-up comedy, which has featured acclaimed appearances in Edinburgh and Montreal, with television roles such as starring in the BBC One sitcom My Hero and the light-hearted detective drama Death In Paradise.

Also in 1998 he published a bestselling novel, The Talk Of The Town, which was translated into several languages and voted as one of the 1,001 Books To Read Before You Die.

’I’m a very reluctant show-off,’ he said.

’I come from a part of the world where showing off is anathema; it’s the worst thing you could possibly do.

’When you grow up in a border area of Ireland, people are very wary and cagy and keep their head down at all times. Don’t speak unless it’s absolutely essential, and don’t give anything away.

’So showing off was a really terrible thing to do; it’s up there with armed robbery.

’I love stand-up comedy and I love performing, but I was always conscious that this is showing off and I’m slightly uncomfortable about that.

’I’ve been lucky to have other dimensions to my career, but I’m constantly drawn back to stand-up; there’s something compulsive about it. ’

Tickets for Ardal O’Hanlon are £22, available from the Welcome Centre and the Villa Gaiety box office, on 600555, and online from villagiety.com