Tommy Tiernan Show recap: John Bishop on touring on a motorbike ...
Comedian John Bishop was the first guest on Saturday night’s Tommy Tiernan Show and he spoke about his upcoming stand-up tour of Ireland, including his plan to travel the Wild Atlantic Way by motorbike.
The Liverpudlian said the adventure is fuelled by a midlife crisis. “I want to tour in a slightly different way,” he said.
“I’m going to tour on a motorbike because I’m having a midlife crisis on loads of levels. I’m going to do the Wild Atlantic Way.
“I've got this affinity with Ireland that I have always understood. I feel comfortable here.”
Bishop also spoke about the Irish influences he sees in Liverpool, particularly in attitudes towards the British government and monarchy and how let down the people there feel.
“I think the enhanced alienation has come from the fact that we've had the worst series of governments for decades,” he said, adding: “Liverpool is a city that's felt less and less part of the greater whole.”
He said he understands why Liverpool fans may boo the British national anthem at matches but said he does not consider it the best tactic.
“I think we're better than booing the national anthem. I think there's a better way of displaying it. Although when I was there, on Sunday I wasn't uncomfortable about it, but I totally, totally got it.”
Tiernan’s next guest was Capuchin Franciscan priest-friar Brother Richard, who shared his experiences in Ireland.
He reflected upon life and death from his point of view as a former hospital chaplain and why he believes we have souls.
"There is no doubt in my mind after attending hundreds and hundreds of deathbeds that it is not just a stopping. Something leaves,” he said.
“There is no doubt in my mind from what I've seen and experienced that there is something that leaves in that moment.”
Finally, Sean Nós dancer and community activist Edwina Guckian spoke with Tiernan about preserving Irish cultural heritage and her love of dance.
“I am of the old school type of dancer and I dance for the craic and respond to music rather than performing for an audience,” she said.
She also spoke about the effects of the 1935 Dance Hall Act which made it a legal requirement to have a dance license. She said this had a “bad impact on” communities.
“People always gather together in the houses to party,” Guckian said. “The next generation were the generation that had were impacted by the dance hall act and were going to the dance halls to see Dickie Rock and we're doing that type of dance.
“It's taken nearly a full generation, I’m waiting for all those ones that I'm teaching now to grow up and people and sy, ‘Well look what we have now’.”
