Interview: Neil Delamere

Dara O’Briain, Patrick Kielty, Tommy Tiernan and Ed Byrne are all currently flying the flag for Irish comedians yet little is known about one of its finest talents on the circuit - Neil Delamere.

Little is known of this man that is if you’re not a regular viewer of telly in the Republic of Ireland.

Neil Delamere is however making his mark on UK audiences racking up Comedy Central credits including The World Stands Up, The Comedy Store and getting the mainstream recognition he deserves on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow.

Was it the luck of the Irish? Not really.  No gimmicks, just the charm of simply having great jokes and hilarious anecdotes has endeared Neil Delamere to audiences from Europe all the way to Canada.

Comedy Central chats to the comic on being pals with Michael McIntyre, why he’d be Jesus for the day and the curse of the Irish – ginger hair.

Neil Delamere on taking a breather:

Since the first “blind, abject terror” of his first gig back in 2001 at Dublin’s oldest comedy venue the Comedy Cellar (the club didn’t even have a microphone), Neil Delamere has broadcast from Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival, had two platinum selling DVDs and has earned five-star reviews at Edinburgh. Not bad for a lad from the centre of the Emerald Isle.

Five-star reviews aside, in August, whilst the majority of the UK’s comedians migrate like pink-footed geese north to the Edinburgh Fringe, Neil, who has delighted audiences for three years on the trot at the festival, is steering clear this year opting to play a short run at London’s Soho Theatre.

For many comics, having to take a year off from the Fringe can be akin to losing an arm or at the very least being troubled by an annoying rash, so why isn’t he there this year?

Well, over the past year in Ireland Neil has been busy working on numerous shows including being a regular panellist on RTÉ’s The Panel and hosting his new TV review show Republic of Telly – by host we mean riding around in a Delorean dressed like Marty McFly.  Jealous!

‘It took so long to make the actual show that it would have been a rush to try and get a full show for Edinburgh this year,’ Neil says.

‘Edinburgh’s definitely a place where you have to really believe in the show that you’re doing…and it’s unwise to go unprepared.’

Wise words.  But what can the punters expect of his London show?

‘It’s my favourite bits, bits that I haven’t done in a while and also the start of a new show that’s probably going to be ready in a couple of weeks.

‘So that’s why I didn’t get to go there this year but I’ll go there again next year definitely.

Citing Tommy Tiernan, Ardal O’Hanlon, Dara O’Briain and obviously Father Ted as his influences, this software engineering graduate turned comedian is now friends with arguably one of the most powerful stand-ups of in recent years – Michael McIntyre.

Lucky enough to land a spot on Michael’s Comedy Roadshow, Neil has managed to project himself right into the living rooms of the British public, where hopefully he’ll stay.

‘I’ve known Michael for years, we’ve done various things together and [when the Roadshow came over to Northern Ireland] I suppose he just knew that I was knocking around.’

The second series of the BBC show is being recorded at the moment, but Neil isn’t on the roster this time.

‘I don’t know if anybody’s going to be on series two that was on series one.

‘…or maybe there all going to be on it …which would be awkward wouldn’t it?!’

Neil’s got a plan though if they are, he’ll just sit in the front row and heckle them all!

If Neil could be anyone for the day he’d be none other than Jesus Christ (the inner Catholic within dying to burst out!)

‘Oh it’d have to be Jesus. Jesus or someone with superpowers.  I’ve no interest in just being Jesus and just kind of preaching to them and that, I’ve got to be doing shit.

‘Yeah, I’ll be curing lepers…or maybe giving leprosy to other people, I don’t know if there’s a constant balance of lepers you need in the world.’

‘Walking across water, water into wine, I mean what a hit at a party you’d be!’

Not that Neil needs any superpowers to be a hit at a party. Unless it’s the facial hair he desires…

Last year what seemed to be a mutated caterpillar had invaded Neil’s top lip.  In fact he had been taking part in Movember – the annual tache-growing event raising awareness for men’s health issues, namely prostate cancer.

‘I just remember that I looked like a paedophile, possibly like somebody who’d should be wearing a checked shirt and being surprised that there’s a black person in the United States’ White House.

‘I looked like David Niven’s creepy housekeeper. That’s what I looked like…maybe his gardener.’

Creepy David Niven look-alikes aside, he did manage to raise ‘several thousand’ Euros for the cause.

Watch a clip of Neil and his hairy friend on his Facebook page here.

But with Irish heritage comes a curse…

‘Like all Irish people no matter what you look like, including women, if you grow a moustache, or beard, it will have some red in it. It’s like genetic rules.

‘You could actually have alopecia, be entirely hairless over your entire body and you could will still be ginger there.’

‘It’s bizarre and I don’t have red hair, its like that God has decided a little bit of you will be ginger and when you least expect it its sneaks up on you.’