Ted Talks
It's been an interesting few weeks for a couple of long serving Irish comics, who've enjoyed some varied roles on UK TV. After a typically rip-roaring series, Dara O Briain became the latest Taskmaster champion, with a record score. But then he is one of the brainier comics, often in demand for sciencey business. Meanwhile over on Sky, there's Ardal O'Hanlon - another recent resident of Taskmaster's 'veteran' seat - reuniting with old Father Ted colleague Pauline McLynn on the big new series Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything.
Now Ardal definitely doesn't present himself as a Dara-style brainy type, which makes sense: he'll always be Father Dougal to a lot of viewers. And because of that enduring image it would probably be a bit of a surprise to many, finding out what an influential figure Ardal was on the Irish stand-up scene. In fact, without him and a couple of other key comics, a lot of newer Irish acts might have found the road to success a lot more difficult to embark on.
Back in the late 1980s there was less at-home entertainment competing for people's attention, of course, no Netflix, or casino websites, or YouTube. But still, starting a comedy scene pretty much from scratch was a big gamble. O'Hanlon and fellow comics Kevin Gildea, Barry Murphy and Dermot Carmody did it in 1988, by launching a club in Dublin's International Bar, called the Comedy Cellar.
Now that sounds a pretty standard moniker, but the joke here is that it was actually upstairs. That's good going, a gag straight away in the actual title. Added value. And the Comedy Cellar is still going strong at the International Bar today: it's a Dublin comedy institution.
The great and good of Irish comedians over the last 30 years passed through that club, and a lot of fine stand-ups also got a nice TV credit from the show that also thrust O'Hanlon into UK living rooms. Father Ted featured a revolving cast of wayward priests, many of whom graced the Cellar's boards.
In fact Joe Rooney, who played the youthful bad influence Father Damo, is still doing a live show called A Celebration of Father Ted, which is fair enough. There are enough unofficial Father Ted spin-offs, after all.
Perhaps the most memorable guest priest was the exhaustingly enthusiastic Father Noel Furlong, played by a young Graham Norton. He eventually ended up crushed by rocks - but happy. Other big current names included Ed Byrne as a phone-pranking teenager, and Tommy Tiernan, as the depressed Father Kevin. O'Hanlon was recently a guest on Tiernan's chat show actually, and revealed his favourite bit - the sneaky kick at sports day - but also a revelation about why stumbling upon old episodes can be weird, when you're in them.
"You'd linger for a minute or two just to see something," he explained. "I'm always struck by how unprofessional I am actually, I'm often laughing in the background."
One thing none of us really expected while watching that show, though: that daft young Father Dougal and tea-obsessed Mrs Doyle would one day reunite on our screens, as husband and wife. They play Sheridan Smith's parents in Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything. Now, just imagine if that show turns out to be in the same shared universe as Father Ted, and Father Dougal and Mrs Doyle have actually run away together and changed their names - well, that really would be something.