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The Wrecking Ball


Published Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 4:11 PM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 6:10 PM

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Already a sellout star in Ireland and Britain, Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan's new special on Comedy Central will finally introduce him to a nationwide U.S. audience. CAHIR O'DOHERTY talks to Tiernan about his move into the American market.

FROM the moment he burst onto the international comedy scene, Irish funnyman Tommy Tiernan has been a star. On March 11 he launches the DVD of his new live show here titled Something Mental, which will be broadcast in a special on Comedy Central on March 14.

Tiernan will also appear as a guest on David Letterman's late night show on February 29, where he's sure to give the famously witty host a run for his money. It's often claimed that comedy doesn't travel, but playing to a cheering Chicago crowd in his live special Tiernan has no trouble bringing the house down.

His comedy style, a blisteringly funny blend of storytelling and full on surrealism, is about as Irish as can be, but he's mastered the art of translating it for a general audience.

Tiernan draws you in with simple stories that get weirder and funnier as he riffs on them. An intensely physical performer, his antics on stage are often every bit as funny as the things he's saying. Throughout his career Tiernan has somehow managed to adopt the edgy brilliance of Lenny Bruce, the existentialism of Samuel Beckett and bizarre rural capers of Flann O'Brien in one man.

Born in Carndonagh, Co. Donegal in 1970, Tiernan's family moved to Africa when Tommy was three. Three years later they moved to London. His English schoolteachers thought his background was hilarious.

"You're from Africa, mate? Funny, you don't look black!" they said, slapping him on the back. All the comments and the early continent hopping often made Tiernan feel like he was out of place, and he has used that outsider's awareness in his routines.

But it wasn't until the Tiernan family finally settled in Navan, Co. Meath in the early 1980s that Tommy found his voice. Winning Scotland's famous Perrier Award for standup right out of the starting gate in 1998, the Irish funnyman started at the top and he's stayed there since.

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