Dylan Moran interview

Ahead of his gig at the Philharmonic this month, we sat down with BAFTA and Perrier award-winning comedian Dylan Moran to discuss his early influences, new BBC sitcom and why Liverpool has the X factor

Words by Lawrence Saunders

How did you first get into comedy? Did you have any favourite comics growing up?

I grew up in Ireland, just outside Navan. It was very sedate, a nice place to be a kid. You know, rain, cows, pigs… it was quite quiet. When you’re a teenager, and you’re bored, and you want to take the p**s, if there are grown-ups around, you start noticing satire and all that stuff.

To be honest with you, growing up, it was more Irish ‘talk’ and just people telling stories and having fun more than anything, you know? I do remember laughing at the outrageous swearing in ‘Pete and Dud’ when I was a kid. ‘Derek and Clive’ as well. Later it was Richard Pryor – he was the man when I was growing up.

How have you found the last couple of years, not being able to perform live? Are you looking forward to starting this new tour?

Yeah, of course I am. It’s a crazy, crazy loop that we’ve been in for a while so I think it’s essential that we’re out there, sort of comparing notes if we can.

You’ve played Liverpool on several occasions in the past. Do you have any particular memories of our city?

Liverpool is one of those towns that wears its heart on its sleeve. There’s never an ambiguity about where you are, you’re in Liverpool. It’s a place with a very strong identity, like Glasgow or Manchester – some cities just have a sort of X factor when it comes to their own sense of self.  Liverpool is one of those places – it’s got an extra element.

The culture of the place is so developed that it becomes a world onto itself really. It’s not like performing in another place where it’s just another hole in a hedge up the road. When to go to Liverpool, you have to recognise that it’s not any other place.

Whenever I go to Liverpool, I will think: ‘The people are friendly, they’re variable, they’re witty, they’re people who put a big value on conviviality, a big value on being able to take the p**s out of each other and for it to be okay’. These things really matter and you do factor it all in [before a show].

What can we expect from the new show in terms of material? Will you be mentioning COVID?

Well, the thing is, we know what we’re all sick of, right? We’re all sick of what we’re sick of. But you can’t pull it out from everything else. If you went, and you just talked about what you knew was a source of pleasure, people would still walk out the door feeling weird – it would be like not mentioning the sick child in the room.

There’s no getting away from this stuff. I mean, it’s not about are you [going to talk about COVID]? It’s about how are you going to do it? And that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to talk about it.

We’re going to talk about everything. Look at us, you know? We’re all in trouble. We’re all scratching our heads. We don’t know what we’re going to do. It feels awful a lot of the time. So of course we’re going to talk about everything.

Away from stand-up, you’ve written a new sitcom, which you also star in, called ‘Stuck’, which will be released later this year on the BBC. Can you tell us a bit about the premise of the show?

I can’t give much away, but it’s kind of about a lot of the things we’re all talking about right now in terms of how we feel, what we want and what’s important. It mainly stems from relationships.

This will be the first sitcom you’ve had a lead role in since ‘Black Books’ ended in 2004. Why such a long gap?

I just wanted to do something else so I did! That’s it. Some people can clear a plate for 30 years but I don’t think I have the mentality for that. I wouldn’t exaggerate my sense of control either, I mean, I’m not sitting in some James Bond villain’s office where I just press a button [and I get a new show]. It doesn’t happen like that, you know. There’s a lot of struggling around and trying to make something happen for a long time before anything happens.

‘Black Books’ has a real cult following despite only being on the air for a relatively short time. Do you think it could have run for more than just three series?

I’m always delighted when people enjoy anything I ever did. If it made people laugh then I’m thrilled, that’s the whole point. Could it have gone on for longer? I don’t know! It didn’t go on for longer and now we’re doing other things, man! Why do you want to be thinking about whether something could have gone on for longer? It didn’t. What are you doing now?! How does the tea taste now!?

Dylan Moran plays the Philharmonic Hall on 29 March 2022

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