Comedian Peter McGann on how Irish comedy has come a long way from gags about the ‘gas Irish'
Viral comedian Peter McGann says Irish comedy has come a long way since bad jokes about the stereotypical drunken Irishman.
Naming Tommy Tiernan and D'Unbelievables as some of the country's finest funnymen ever, Peter said mindless gags about the 'gas Irish' and the 'locked Paddy' have mostly been wiped from the comedy stage.
Wicklow-born Peter says: 'The Irishness of Tommy Tiernan is brilliant but in a really good way, like it's from the earth.
'I think people learned the wrong lessons from Jon Kenny and Pat Shortt.
'Like you know the jokes, 'do you remember this used to happen in school?' And everyone's like, ha-ha. Or 'remember fizzy seven up, ha-ha', that's not funny.
'I think that even Tommy railed against the Irish aren't we gas.
'Or the, 'I came home, I was so drunk, I put the rashers in the toaster. Tommy he was making fun of that, like kind of back slap kind of thing, he was so right.'
Peter is the latest guest on this week's episode of the culinary podcast, Under the Grill, with Kevin Dundon and Caoimhe Young.
The Dublin-based dad-of-one continues: 'I loved Tommy Tiernan in the early years.
'To this day I'll catch myself and think 'jeez, that sounds like something Tommy would say', just in how it is phrased, not how funny it is.
'I do get inspiration from other comedians; I like the League of Gentlemen, and I've watched that a million times.
'It's stuff that I just soaked into me as a kid, and then it's kind of coming out unconsciously. There's very few of us really that comedy just comes to us completely, naturally.'
Peter picked a delicious seafood chowder – served in a bowl made from sourdough – for chef Kevin Dundon to cook up in the podcast kitchen.
Peter says: 'I haven't had it in years, but I feasted on seafood chowder every second day on what I now remember it as the best summer of my life.
'I was in college in Galway that summer, I was chasing a girl who is now my wife, and there used to be a stall in Galway selling seafood chowder in a bread bowl. I love fish, any kind of fish and a good chowder is heaven.'
Peter has had a string of acting roles, with his latest being in Sky's Small Town, Big Story with Mad Men star Christina Hendricks, and created and directed by Chris O'Dowd.
Peter, who plays a schoolteacher who is having an affair, says: 'It was a beautifully shot series, and I loved working on it. I can only hope there will be another series.
'I feel like TV shows these days there can be like five years between a season on all the big ones. So, who knows?.'
In Small Town, Big Story a Hollywood production rolls into a small Irish town and throws the spotlight on a secret that's been kept hidden since the eve of the millennium.
'Chris O'Dowd was bang on. I got to know him on the shoot, and he was just gentle, and like such a good leader as well. He got everyone's blood pumping to make something good.
'It was a passion project for him, and I think it came off on the screen. He had a vision, and it works.'
Watch Under the Grill on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Caoimhe Young, Kevin Dundon, and Peter McGann
Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 15th 2025
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