Freedom to fail is key to success for Tommy

I am an appeaser in the sense that I want to please an audience,” says comedian Tommy Tiernan. “The challenge is to do it in a way that’s not predictable.”

Being unpredictable yet pleasing is the plan as Tommy embarks on a tour to promote his latest DVD, Stray Sod, which was recorded in The Glebe Gardens Amphitheatre, Baltimore, Co Cork, during the summer.

Like his Crooked Man DVD of three years ago, Stray Sod is full of stories and observations about Ireland.

Tommy has been touring the island “specifically and obsessively for the past three years”, playing venues small and large across the 32 counties.

He has also toured to Irish exiles in Dubai, Australia and Canada.

“Without trying, you end up talking about Ireland specifically . . . you are mainly talking to Irish people about Ireland,” he says.

Stray Sod was recorded in an outdoor space which he likens to Brigit’s Garden in Roscahill.

It has been described as “a love letter to Ireland” although the stories weren’t developed in that way, Tommy says.

Developing his stories is a process that takes its own course, he explains.

“What fascinates me are the questions that I can’t answer.”

At the moment, for instance, he wonders if he’s doing his children any favours by educating them. He’s also preoccupied about an ancient king, Soma, who was associated with magic mushrooms, and what would happen if Soma were to sail up the Liffey today.

These are just notions and may lead nowhere, but right now they fascinate him.

“It’s not that you are always looking for funny things; it’s that you explore notions comedically and coherently.”

It’s also about keeping things fresh.

If the original mischief that drove him to be a comedian just becomes a way of paying the mortgage, things become too safe, he says.

“It’s important to keep taking chances.”

Whatever people might think about Tommy’s comedy, nobody could accuse him of not taking risks.

Among them was his decision in 2009 do a 36-hour non-stop show in the City’s Nuns Island Theatre, running from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.

That came during a difficult period for Tommy, when he realised his work had become more angry than funny.

“What I thought was a road ended up as a cul-de-sac, so I had the idea of doing 36 hours non-stop. To talk and talk and talk until I wasn’t angry anymore.”

A few months after that epic show, Tommy noticed a playfulness returning to his material.

“I wouldn’t undervalue anger or punk, but other areas of mischief became more fruitful,” he says.

Keeping things fruitful is a constant goal. That philosophy was recently explored in the RTÉ documentary, Tommy: To Tell You the Truth. It followed him on a European tour for which his shows were improvised. Some people loved it; others found it a stressful viewing experience.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.