Larissa Nolan column: 'Rise of Irish comedy in Britain reflects new political and social relationship'
Wondering why the Irish have been getting the loudest laughs in British humour so far this year? Blame Brexit.
Coogan’s Brennan – Alan Partridge’s Irish lookalike – is already the biggest hit of the year after singing rebel songs on the BBC. Perhaps it was the personification of an honest acknowledgement at centuries of difficult history that is such comic relief.If so, is our comfort in having our identity made fun of a sign of our newfound elevated status, compared to those eejits who voted themselves out of Brexit with no plan?Psychotherapist Stella O’Malley said: “Comedy has always been subversive and it is often comedians who are the first to notice new trends in societies.
Be it half-Irish Coogan lampooning the stereotyping of the Irish as terrorists in the “Dere’s more to Ireland dan dis” sketch; Spike Milligan, whose comic novel Puckoon about the absurdities of the border seems particularly prescient now, or Fr Ted creators Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, once again with Coogan as Partridge, finding humour in British prejudice about the famine.
“I probably relished the idea of the far-right Brexiteer bulldogs attacking me on the internet for pointing out historical facts about their country. Martin was such a star turn because he could actually sing, and his accent was bang on. Small touches showed how Coogan, who spent every summer here as a child, really knows Ireland and this was key.
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