Yippee! I’m off to Dublin on Friday. It’s for a couple of meetings, so not strictly a pleasure trip, but that night I’m staying with a very lovely friend of mine and her new puppy. I mean, come on: that’s too much fun in a bun right there. I haven’t seen her in ages and she’s having a few of the other girls around so we can catch up. Needless to say, I’m excited.
These are that lovely breed of female who don’t shriek and scream when we meet, but are great craic. They work in the business, but don’t feel the need to talk about auditions and the lack or abundance thereof all night. They’re all independent without being scary and all very, very funny. I’m so lucky to be invited.
I lived in Dublin for nearly 17 years so I knew it pretty well. I’d bought my first home there, fallen in and out of love and in and out of work there, too. I have some great memories but – three years after moving to London – there’s not that much that I miss. These ladies and a couple of other human slices of loveliness, and that’s it. It’s lovely around Christmas and the buildings are nice, but – don’t make me say it again – that’s it.
There’s a lot about Dublin that I actively don’t like: it’s not an easy city, it’s expensive, traffic’s insane and there’s a small-town chippiness that has no place in a bustling, exciting town. But it’s taken a huge hammering this last couple of years, so I’d rather focus on the good things.
It’s really easy to get around on foot; if you forget something, going back isn’t traumatic. The pubs are, indeed, phenomenal, and drinks at the top of the Guinness Storehouse aren’t something that only tourists should do. There are little gems of restaurants like Dunne & Crescenzi where you realise that, yes, you do live in Europe. You can get great coffee pretty much everywhere: it’s one of the factors that led to the once ubiquitous Bewley’s falling off in popularity. Bewley’s was one of the first importers of coffee to Ireland and if you ever went up to Dublin from the country, you had to go there; waitresses in little pinafores brought you cake. But then they modernised it and although the Easter eggs were still mesmersing, the coffee no longer fooled people who’d been to Paris, Rome or New York. It was also comparatively expensive. Then the pinafores went and the cakes were farmed out. Not the same. Everyone thought so – certainly everyone I tried to get to come there with me. Bewley’s all but disappeared – except for the nostalgia save that is the concession in Café Bar Deli on Grafton Street.
Stephen’s Green is fantastic; Merrion Square is better – it’s not as crowded of a lunchtime and you have the bonus of lunching with the campest statue ever in a reclining Oscar Wilde. Around the corner, taking a short-cut through the cobbled walkways of Trinity College resonates with every other (very brainy) foot that went before you (and every film crew).
There are more comedy gigs in Dublin now, even than when I left. But to my mind, the oldest is still the best. The International: the spiritual, historical and geographical home of Irish comedy has shows every night. Have you been to the Improv on a Monday? Why not? Have you tried to get in on a Wednesday or a Saturday? Couldn’t? Get there earlier next time. There is no mic, it’s a sweatbox, but the bar-staff is incredible and I haven’t met a comic yet who doesn’t love to play there. You don’t get easy laughs, but if they’re with you, they’re with you. Let’s face it, if you can get a laugh in the face of chippiness and a belief that everyone is funny (because we are…you racist fecker) then you can probably get one anywhere. My photo is among those of the old guard up on the walls, but don’t let that fool you. The last time I was on there, the very young MC asked for my surname again. Then my first name. Grounding.
Ah, Dublin: you’re a funny old mess of contradictions. Of dodgy priests and sweary TDs (MPs). Of lovers of a fry-up who ooh and ah over the live animals in the moving crib. I do miss it. But for the moment, I’m happy just to visit.
I’m singing with Lenny Beige at the Pigalle on Dec 21 and playing with London Comedy Improv on Dec 30. Details here.
