Ardal O‘Hanlon on being ‘absolutely at peace with Father Ted’, his mixed feelings on meeting the Pope and why stand-up is ‘more exhilarating’ on the cusp of 60

NEXT year will be a big one for Ardal O’Hanlon, and not just because the Co Monaghan-born funnyman will be embarking on Not Himself, his first major stand-up tour since 2022.

Father Ted, the iconic Channel 4 sitcom in which he made his name, turns 30 next April, while Carrickmacross native O’Hanlon will celebrate his 60th birthday right in the middle of a tour which he describes as “my most personal show ever”.

We’ll return to the former milestone later: as for marking his seventh decade in the middle of a live tour - on October 8, to be exact - happily, O’Hanlon does at least have a night off between stops in Guildford and Southport to celebrate the big 6-0.

“I didn’t even think of [my 60th] when we were putting in the tour dates,” admits O‘Hanlon, who departed the BBC’s cosy crime hit Death In Paradise back in 2020 after a three-year stint as DI Jack Mooney on the Guadeloupe-filmed series.

Disney’s Beatles ‘64 review: It’s the third best documentary on the greatest band of all time, but that still leaves it in the awesome category

Noise Annoys this Christmas: choice seasonal sounds for your consideration

“But it doesn’t really bother me. I think you become a better comedian as you get older - obviously with experience and everything else - but also just being a bit bolder and less cautious.

I think you become a better comedian as you get older - obviously with experience and everything else - but also just being a bit bolder and less cautious

—  Ardal O'Hanlon

“That’s not to say that I’m being outrageous or being controversial. It’s more just feeling the confidence to say whatever you want to say.”

Indeed, after nearly 40 years in the business, O’Hanlon is finally feeling able to just be himself on-stage.

“When I started out, I was very much into the craft of joke-writing,” explains the Dublin-based comic, who co-founded the city’s first weekly ‘alternative comedy’ club, The Comedy Cellar at The International Bar on South Wexford Street, in the late 1980s.

“I was a fairly reluctant performer and probably hid behind a persona. But, as time has gone on, I just find it’s kind of exhilarating to mine your own life for material.

“Most comedy now is about identity, certainly in England. Most of the people I see [there] are drawing on that - they’re talking about race or gender or social class or sexual orientation.

“I suppose I’m playing with that now. I’m kind of thinking a lot about my upbringing, who I am. How I ended up the way I did. How technology is shaping my life at the moment, how the ageing process is shaping me at the moment - all of those things.”

While the Not Himself tour doesn’t start until next September, according to O’Hanlon - who will also be back on our screens in 2025 in How To Get To Heaven from Belfast, the new Channel 4 comedy/thriller serial from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee which he’s currently still filming and “really can’t talk about yet” - it seems his new stand-up show is already “pretty much cooked and ready to go” following some recent work-in-progress dates.

“It starts out as a collection of jokes about whatever’s bugging you on a particular day,” explains the comic of his writing process.

“Then all these little collections start to kind of miraculously cohering into a theme or a whole. That’s a joyful part of the process.”

As for live performances, it seems he’s now much more comfortable just being ‘in the moment’ when on-stage compared to earlier in his career.

“Stand-up is all about connection,” explains O’Hanlon, who has three children with his wife, Melanie.

“Years ago, I would write a set and then just pretty much recite it. But what I find now is that I just feel very present on stage, very alive to the actual specific event.

“I hope that doesn’t sound too airy-fairy. Like, it’s not that the material is secondary - it’s very important, as is the ‘shape’ of the show. But it’s also very much about making sure the material is landing in the right way with the audiences.

“I hate to even bring it up, but I honestly think Covid made a massive difference. I had a year out with an awful lot of time for reflecting on what was important, how fragile life is and how it can all be taken away in a heartbeat.

“So, [now] it’s about treasuring every moment and realising that it’s a real privilege for me to be on stage, and that I’m lucky enough to be able to do it because I’ve put in the time over the years.

“I wouldn’t be doing [stand-up] just for the sake of it - there has to be a good reason, because you’re obviously taking a risk every time you step onto the stage.

“I mean, you’re leaving home, and you’re neglecting all those box sets you haven’t seen yet.”

Happily, with their kids all now on the cusp of leaving home, O‘Hanlon’s wife Melanie is often able to accompany him on the road. She even got to meet the Pope in June of this year, when the former Father Ted star was invited to the Vatican along with fellow Irish funnymen Tommy Tiernan and Patrick Kielty as part of an international delegation of comedy talent including Stephen Merchant, Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien and Whoopi Goldberg.

I loved my time on Father Ted and I look back on it very fondly, but I don’t think about it all the time. I’m sure people will be marking the 30th anniversary in various ways, but not from my point of view

—  Ardal O'Hanlon

Read more: Pope Francis to meet world entertainers - including Irish acts with Late Late’s Patrick Kielty

“It was utterly bizarre,” he comments.

“I guess it was a PR stunt for the Church, particularly inviting the American comedians who would be worldwide household names.

“I genuinely had very serious misgivings about the whole thing. Like, I had just made a documentary last year for RTÉ [The Last Priests in Ireland] on the influence, good and bad, of the Catholic Church and the priesthood on the Irish people.

“But I don’t know how you can refuse an invitation like that, even out of curiosity if nothing else, you know? And I have an awful lot of respect for the man himself, if not the institution as a whole.

“Also, part of me was a little bit flattered that I was even on their list. Like, I don’t know how I got on the list, but I’m on it - and Dara O’Briain isn’t.”

On the subject of the Church, you can’t interview Ardal O’Hanlon and not mention his 1995 TV breakthrough as loveably naive priest Fr Dougal Maguire in Father Ted, which landed the Co Monaghan man the Top TV Comedy Newcomer gong at that year’s British Comedy Awards.

“I’m absolutely at peace with Father Ted,” he tells me of preparing to negotiate next year’s 30th anniversary.

“I loved my time on it and I look back on it very fondly, but I don’t think about it all the time. I’m sure people will be marking [the 30th anniversary] in various ways, but not from my point of view.

“I have to pinch myself about how enduring the show is, like. It’s amazing. But, you know, it’s not something that I can afford to be too sentimental about.

“As soon as I finished Father Ted, it was time to move on. That’s just the way our business works. You can’t rest on your laurels - you’ve got to move on to the next thing.”

Ardal O’Hanlon: Not Himself: November 13 2025, Market Place Theatre Armagh / November 14, Millennium Forum, Derry / November 15, Olympia Theatre, Dublin / November 16, Waterfront Hall, Belfast. Tickets via ardalohanlon.com and ticketmaster.ie