'On stage I enter a different space' Laois comedian and TikTok star Bernard O'Shea returns to stand-up
Laois comedian, author and RTÉ star Bernard O’Shea is back on the road doing stand-up and forging a new career as an online creator with a new generation of fans. He spoke recently to Laois Life magazine about the funny business.
The only son to Mary and the late John O’Shea, Bernard had a happy childhood, going to school in Durrow and Heywood.
“I’ve three older sisters, you should’ve seen the hand-me-downs. Marie, Siobhán and Cáit. I played with all their dolls. I’m the youngest, the most loved and cherished.
“We used to basically live in Dunmore Woods when we were kids. It’s an amazing facility now,” he said.
His mother still lives in Durrow, and Bernard is inspired by her for his comedy.
“I think my next show will nearly be just her. She always says ‘I know you’re talking about me, what’s so funny about you?’. This is the woman who said last year on my 45th birthday, ‘well Bernard happy birthday, did you think you’d see it?’. She’s a constant source.”
His late father John was a Garda for over 30 years.
“He finished up in Portlaoise in the 80’s. A lot of material mined for Brigid and Eamon out of my mother and father. It was that time in the 80s there was just no money so imaginations ran wild,” he said.
Bernard now lives in Castleconnell in Limerick with wife Lorna and three children Olivia, 12, Sean, 7, and “the middle fella” Tadgh, 10.
“Half my show is about them, or what I thought being a parent would be as opposed to what it is”.
He got into comedy by accident as a student, agreeing to take part in a standup competition in Dundalk.
“I liked standup but music was my thing. My friend organised it, no-one showed up to perform but we had a full house. He went out first and told me ‘you’re going to have to do it’. I did 40 minutes and I won a crate of Harp Celebration brew and £50. For years I put in my bio ‘winner of the Harp comedy award 2000.’
“Any lads I meet now from school would go ‘I can’t believe you became a comedian’. I was very quiet. I suppose I’m shy, but I think there’s a massive difference to being funny and doing stand-up. It is worlds apart. On stage I enter a different space in my head.
“The audience wants the comedian on stage to say what they're thinking but can’t say out loud. That’s why when the sh*t hits the fan in countries with lunatics in charge, the first people they go for are comedians.
“The hard thing about stand-up, is you can get better at other things in a room on your own, piano, art, singing, but stand-up has to be in front of an audience.
“I’m back touring the last two years. The first night I got off I was like ‘oh shit, what am I doing?’. You have to get up again and again, it’s like a muscle,” he said.
A decade ago, Bernard was busy co-presenting Breakfast Republic on 2FM with Keith Walsh and Jennifer Zamperelli, while starring in RTÉ television shows Brigid and Eamon, and the Republic of Telly.
“It was a brilliant time. An extremely busy time. Our second child was born. We were trying to get a house. I was writing a book, doing a tour, doing television and radio.
“I wish looking back now they all didn’t come at once. But entertainment is a game where you have to take the opportunities when they come.
“Doing the radio show for five years was amazing. It was a bit of a grind every morning. I do remember the uncontrollable laughter with Keith and Jen, they’re the great days.”
“The highlight has to be Brigid and Eamon. It was sold to UK TV Gold and went on to Amazon. The biggest thrill I got was you’re sitting in a room with two other people for the best part of three months writing these jokes and stories. Then you show up the first day and there’s 60 people, there’s make-up, wardrobe, a canteen. You're thinking, this better be good because there’s hundreds of people relying on it,” Bernard said.
A television show with Marty Morrissey followed, but these days Bernard’s focus is on his daily videos on Instagram, Tiktok and Facebook.
“It is by far my biggest thing. Younger people now probably don’t know me from television. I am enjoying it. It’s relentless, you have to do it every single day. But you are in control of what you do and it’s an amazing way to get yourself out there. Most of the shows touring theatres now are online creators doing live stuff. It’s brilliant.
“Radio and television are still there but they don't have the same impact any more,” he said.
He is a familiar voice too in Lidl ad campaigns.
He has just finished his first Irish tour in some years. It began with 20 dates, growing to 60.
“I wondered if people would remember me, but it’s nice to be able to sell tickets. It evolves and gets better but then you have to bin it because people have seen it,” he explains.
Bernard is already preparing material for a new show, and taking festival bookings.
“I did a lot of Electric Picnics, I think I did the first one, the very first act on. To this this day I probably never played to that amount of people”.
“Hopefully I’ll tentatively put my toe back into tv waters, there’s one or two things in the pipeline. You never know,” Bernard said.
He regularly visits home, and recently took his kids on a Laois tour.
“We drove to the Rock of Dunamaise, shame upon shame I’d never been there before. Then Glenbarrow waterfall, that was amazing. Then Emo Court, then the Midlands Park Hotel and my son still says it's the nicest dinner he ever got. We called into PJ (Kavanagh’s Bar) to show them where I did my gigs.
“Then we went to the most stunning part of Laois, Durrow. We had an amazing day,” he said.
Find Bernardoshea.ie online and bernardoshea2 on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.