Meet the voice actor translating your favourite shows to Irish

Extra.ie​

3 hours ago

Dubbing shows for international markets is nothing new — but it's fairly entertaining when a popular show gets translated in Irish.
Of course, shows like SpongeBob and Bluey have been dubbed for decades over the years, and of course, more infamously, people of a certain vintage may remember when South Park — yes, honest to goodness, 'oh my god, they killed Kenny' South Park — was dubbed and played in the afternoons.
But despite dubs as Gaeilge mainly reserved for kids shows (and of course the one time they did South Park), shows like The Simpsons, despite being translated into dozens of languages, have never gotten the Gaeilge treatment. Enter voice actor Jack Boylan. @jackboylanvo Steamed Hams in Irish part 1, part 2 coming soon! #thesimpsons #simpsons #steamedhams #irish #irishtiktok #gaeilge #gaeilgetiktok #irishlanguage #gaeilgeoir #cartoon #ireland #funnytiktok #comedyvideo #language #voiceover #voiceactor #animation #jackboylan ♬ original sound – Jack Boylan
Jack has done voice work for over a decade, ranging from ads to announcing which celebrity and which partner are doing which dance on Dancing with the Stars (more on that in a bit!). However, he's since gone viral for his Irish translations of iconic TV shows, movies and songs; including some of the most beloved moments on our screens over the years.
'I studied music in Ireland, and then musical theatre in Dublin,' Jack told Extra.ie. 'I spent a few years there hopping around between jobs, and then about 10 years back, I settled back in Dublin as a voice actor and piano restaurant singer, which I did until the pandemic.
'I do the voiceovers for Dancing with the Stars — it's funny, because while the dances don't change, the celebrities do, so I just go in and record who's dancing. As long as I haven't begun smoking 20 cigarettes a day, they just stitch me saying 'dancing the cha cha cha' from years ago with whoever happens to be dancing!' Jack Boylan has gone viral on TikTok for translating shows such as The Simpsons and King of the Hill, and songs such as Pink Pony Club and the Muppets theme, As Gaeilge. Pic: Jack Boylan/Instagram
While some people may have taken Irish for granted growing up and may not have paid attention to the lessons in school, the rise of artists like Kneecap making the native tongue cool has seen more people going back to learn it; with Jack saying that his wife, who's Italian, helped him realise that learning foreign languages is actually pretty fun.
As to how he ended up translating TV shows such as The Simpsons and King of The Hill, and songs such as Pink Pony Club (yes, really), it was an iconic line from a different Matt Groening show that sparked what has now been a viral success on TikTok.
'I would have done Irish in school, like a lot of us,' Jack said. 'The thing that kind of brought me back was that, my wife is Italian, and I spent a few years studying Italian and it just reminded me that 'hey, languages can be cool.'' Jack has worked as a voice over artist for a number of years — and is even the voice behind Dancing with the Stars. Pic: Jack Boylan/Instagram
'So that turned into [learning Irish] next — I spent some time with that, culminating earlier this year in a little trip to the Aran Islands and having conversations with locals. But the specific thing that brought me to starting the channel was the Futurama line 'shut up and take my money.' I had that line running around my head, thinking 'what would that be in Irish? Éist do bhéil agus tóg mo chuid airgead.' I basically wanted to do that.'
With it snowballing from there, Jack has gained nearly 2,000 followers on TikTok and over 40,000 likes, but admitted there have been some detractors — although, he doesn't seem to mind, as some of the hate comments are incredibly creative.
'I remember doing Pink Pony Club — Club Cappailín Bándearg — and I got loads of lovely comments but someone commented 'this is the worst thing on the Internet.''
As for how these translations came about, he compared it to learning an instrument — where while learning scales (and grammar) is fair enough, sometimes you just want to learn how to play the songs you like (or, in Jack's case, translate the shows you like).
'One thing I came across is a translation of the Scott Pilgrim comics… it's a very nice translation, and that's what made me go 'oh, this is fun.' And it made me think of it like this: if you're learning an instrument as a teenager, learning guitar or whatever, even though it's good, you kinda don't want to spend all your time doing scales. You want to learn the three chords you need to play the Red Hot Chilli Peppers song, and so on.
'I'm thinking of it [the translations] in a similar way: doing steamed hams and doing whatever… it's a bit of craic.' @jackboylanvo The Muppets Show in Irish! #muppets #themuppets #kermitthefrog #irish #irishtiktok #gaeilge #gaeilgetiktok #irishlanguage #gaeilgeoir #cartoon #ireland #funnytiktok #comedyvideo #language #voiceover #voiceactor #animation #jackboylan ♬ original sound – Jack Boylan
As for whether a certain Irish language channel was ever looking for someone like himself, Jack joked that one of his videos getting reposted has been the height of their interactions — although he's definitely keeping lines of communication open.
'TG4 reposted my Muppets theme song and that was the only interaction so far,' he joked. 'What's nice though, for actual voice work is I have an agent and whatnot – they can reach out to me!'
Jack's voice acting and Irish translations can be found on TikTok, @JackBoylanVO.