As she prepares to host the 2023 IFTAs, Deirdre O'Kane talks to Claire O’Mahony about keeping her irons in many fires and how stand-up comedy is both therapeutic and leaves her nowhere to hide on stage.
Comedian. Award-winning actor on stage, screen, and TV. Comic Relief co-founder. Talk show host. MC and storyteller. You can’t easily categorise Deirdre O’Kane’s career and that’s how she likes it.
"It’s very hard to pigeonhole me because I do everything – not with ease, I might add," she says. "If I do a lot of comedy, people find it hard to cast me as an actor in a straight role. They find that difficult because there’s this perception of you as funny. It’s very hard to do it all, but I kind of pride myself on trying to keep a hand in all of it, because I like all of it."
We meet in the rooftop restaurant in Dublin’s Devlin Hotel to chat, among other things, about Deirdre’s hosting of the upcoming 20th anniversary Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) Awards ceremony, taking place at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on May 7, which will be broadcast by RTÉ.
Deirdre herself is a six-time IFTA nominee and was awarded Best Lead Actress (Film) in 2015 for her role as children’s rights campaigner Christina Noble in the 2014 film Noble, written and directed by her husband, Stephen Bradley. The IFTAs promise a night of glamour and excitement and for its host, it’s all about the jokes.
"I have a monologue to do and I’ve become obsessed with that monologue. It’s very specific, obviously, because they’re industry jokes," the Drogheda native says, adding that MCing the IFTAs is the only job she’s ever sought out and chased down.
"I guess because I married a film-maker and a writer, I’ve been in so many different parts of the industry, I feel very connected to the IFTAs. I know the artists; I know what it takes to make a good movie or a good TV show. I have a great regard for the writing and the talent so I feel like I am well positioned to host that room and I work hard at it."
Since emerging on the comedy scene in the mid-’90s, Deirdre has become one of Ireland’s biggest comedy stars. The 55-year-old is currently on a national tour with her stand-up show Demented, in which she finds the funny in menopause, the pandemic and parenting teenagers. She says she was initially hesitant about featuring the topic of menopause in the show.
"I don’t think anyone is dying to talk about it. Nobody is dying to broadcast this but that makes me very happy," she says. "Also, I know there really is no room for vanity in stand-up comedy. It’s a very open, honest art form. There’s nowhere to hide and if you do try to hide, that will come across.
"Once I made peace with the menopause – it took me a while now, because I’ve plenty of personal vanity – but once I realised it’s 2022, as it was, is this really a thing? Are we still making a thing about this? When I realised that, I thought this is ridiculous. Women need to take this back and own it."
She points out that menopause has traditionally been a source of shame, and "a feeling of it’s over for you, I’m an old boot now – get out of the way." Whereas in fact, this is our prime. We’re at our best now, mentally. I think, yes, there are obviously massive downsides to it, but it’s actually a very good time of life as well."
But it’s not necessarily something she wants to continue dwelling on. "Truthfully, I’m over it because I’ve been talking about it for a year so I’m a little bit 'Move on now Dee’ but I realise it’s important and it’s having a zeitgeist moment and that’s good."
When it comes to putting her life into her shows, how much does she hold back? "Very, very little. I talk about my Dad, who passed away four years ago, in this show. I didn’t think I would talk about that and I was surprised that I did. It was very therapeutic. I didn’t realise how eccentric he was until I started writing about it," she says.
"But it’s interesting. I think I expose more than I ever realise I do. Another comic recently said to me, you do bare quite a lot. I do, probably a bit more than I ever gave myself credit. Things are layered and some things are heightened a bit,but I don’t know how to do it any other way."
She’s been on the road with Demented for a year, and she acknowledges that touring can be tiring. "It’s not the performing; it’s all the rest of it," she says. "It’s the three hours to get to Cork and trying to find something to eat, and the hour to get your head together before the show and the couple of hours’ drive back. The performing is the easy part, to be honest with you, although it does take a lot. You’re on your own and there’s a lot of concentrating but your adrenaline kicks in the minute you walk on, so that almost carries you."
Deirdre and Stephen, who have been married since 2000, have two children, Holly and Daniel, who are both in their teens. Holly is following in the family tradition and is heading off to drama school. "What can you do? I did my best to steer her out of the industry; I did everything I could. But it’s in the walls, there’s no avoiding it. I have hopes for my son that he’ll get a salaried job," she laughs.
The career path her daughter has chosen is "a wonderful life if you can make it work for you. The highs are very high and the lows are very low. You really have to navigate it and you have to have the personality to navigate the life, and that’s a fine line to walk. If you’re too sensitive for it, you can take a hammering and I’ve seen a lot of people take a hammering. It’s not for the fainthearted."
Outside of work, Deirdre says she loves to do "very little". This includes going for walks, seeing friends, having family time, drink wine and, when she has the time, to read memoirs.
"I’m very drawn to trying to learn how other people lived their lives," she explains. She is also an avowed food lover but prefers when other people cook for her. "I know what I want but I’m just not a natural. Some people can throw together food and it’s such a talent. I’m very envious. But I’m not awful," she says. "At this stage though, I’ve let it go. You can’t be good at everything Deirdre, let that go…"
As to what’s next on the agenda for her, the Demented tour is ongoing and she has started to write material for a new show. She agrees that she thrives on the diversity of what she does.
"I think I’m very easily bored and I like different kinds of people. I miss actors when I’m not around them. I like writers, I like directors and I like producers and I like fresh energy. I could never be in one job. I like to be around new people," she adds.
For details of Deidre O’Kane’s upcoming Demented tour dates, see deirdreokane.net.
