Hello. I have a few things I do most days when I switch on my computer. I’m sure you do them too. I check my emails and reply to them. I update iTunes to make sure I’ve got the podcasts I want. I go to running websites like MapMyRun to see if I’m on track for NYC and to seek some much needed inspiration. Then I go to Facebook and Twitter and, once I’ve read the Blogs and things I like, I often go to Chortle for comedy news, views and listings. It’s not a bad morning. But today on Chortle, I noticed the debate I’d missed by stupidly being in Cork last week: that based on this article about why comedians shouldn’t do commercials. I felt the hairs stand-up on the back of my neck and other clichés rain down on me like cats and dogs. They were talking about me.
From 1994 until about 2004, I made the majority of my income from voiceovers. This work predated comedy, and overtook acting: I was good at it. I enjoyed it. It meant I could come off the dole. Other actors would sneer and say “I’d never do ads” , then shift uneasily from foot to foot, hoping I’d go to the bar and buy them a pint. Again. Seriously, name a product and I have probably voiced it at one time or another. I’ve even been the voice in Ireland of the Cadbury’s Caramel Bunny – surely the only ads ever to get young men turned on by chocolate. (They like oversized, furry animals – back away from the Brazilians, ladies, there’s obviously no need.) I used to joke that I would say anything for money.
That wasn’t true, though: I’ve turned down party-political broadcasts, no matter what the offer; my politics are private. I never charge charitable organisations for voicework. Now that I’m properly veggie, I do feel a little odd about the Irish lamb voiceovers I did in 2000, and I have to try to view it as promoting Irish agriculture, but I certainly don’t regret it. If I do an ad for a large, global corporation for whom I hold little or no admiration, I see it as a way to get some of the money back from them, and put it to non-evil use…like trying to get an Improv night off the ground.
Integrity comes in different shapes and forms. Read Carl Donnelly’s and Mark Watson’s excellent and succinct responses to the recent Chortle article. Meanwhile, if you like electrical goods at low, low prices, look out for my newest foray into the land of the commercial (this time on camera) in Ireland soon. Before you call me a sellout, I’d like to point out that I love electricity.
Running the NYC marathon on November 1st for the Alzheimer’s Society. If you’d like to donate, please go here.
