Comedian Gearóid Farrelly: I'm getting better at being a bit of a dick
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A quote comedian Gearóid Farrelly lives by is from American actress Tyne Daly: “A critic is someone who never actually goes into battle but who afterwards goes around shooting the wounded.”
It's one he has always had written in the back of his notebooks, though it's not because he has had any bad experiences.
“Nobody needs criticism,” he says
Farrelly first burst onto the comedy scene in 2008 as a finalist in the prestigious competition at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival alongside the likes of Sara Pascoe, Seann Walsh and Josh Widdicombe.
After leaving IT to go into comedy full-time in 2015, the Dubliner has been the support act for the likes of English comedian Sarah Millican, the late Joan Rivers and Joanne McNally, even featuring on her BBC podcast .
He also has his own podcast, , alongside his pal and former Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh.
This weekend he will join a host of comedians in the Paddy Power Comedy Festival in the intimate walled Iveagh Gardens.
I go to the gym a few times a week. I’ve accepted that I just have to do it and I always feel better when I do but, God, I hate it. I prefer having been to the gym rather than actually going.
I get up when my other half gets up so I’m usually up early. If it’s a gym day, I just go. Once I’m up, I have a shower and decide what I’m going to do work-wise – whether it’s a writing day or admin. Then, I clean the kitchen or empty the dishwasher. Once the kitchen is clean, I can start work so if I stop to make a cup of coffee and walk into a messy kitchen, I’m less likely to spiral and burn the place to the ground.
I have started tracking what I eat and it is the most intensely boring thing I have ever done. But it does work, especially when you’re on the road. I try to get protein in the morning.
I love chocolate. Marks & Spencer do these Outrageously Chocolatey Milk Chocolate Custard Creams, which are unbelievable. I love those.
What doesn’t keep me awake is a much shorter list. When I’m worried, sleep is the first thing to go out the window. Also, my cat [Boots] likes a cuddle in the middle of the night, so she’ll wake me to snuggle then she’ll go asleep and I’ll lie awake staring at the ceiling.
Not to God, but I have a close friend who died a few years ago and if I’m about to do something scary – the last time was an arena in Glasgow on a Friday night « I’ll ask her for a dig out. She hasn’t failed me yet!
Not really. I live with a scientist, so we’ve always been good at recycling. I guess we’re a bit more conscious of energy prices, etc, and, also, there is that low level worry that we are all floating around space on a dying planet. We’re not taking it seriously as a country at all. The fact that supermarkets still sell stuff in plastic is mind boggling. We have no business depleting resources that future generations might need.
Once someone starts with that, I tune out, but I remember a doctor told me to try giving up milk for a few weeks and I never went back.
Selfishness, people who are disingenuous [and] false promises. I’m pretty upfront with people. I don’t have the patience for people who play games or are manipulative. In this business, there is a lot of hot air and ego flying around and it’s always pathetic when it pops up.
I tend towards overthinking, which is annoying. I’m also a bit of a pushover but I’m getting better at being a bit of a dick. I’m also very impatient.
[Dawn] French and [Jennifer] Saunders, Victoria Wood, Betty White, Angela Lansbury and my pals. We’d eat quietly and just watch the conversation between the legends unfold.
I have been intending on getting a tattoo for about 15 years.
I’m busy for the rest of the year and for 2025 so I’m hoping to lie on a beach at some point after the Edinburgh Fringe. I’d also like a significant lottery win at some point.
- Gearóid Farrelly takes his new show to Vicar Street next April, with tickets available through Ticketmaster.