I know we’re a few days after St. Patrick’s Day, but I’m sure you’re still celebrating with your green beer and your green M&Ms and your repeated viewings of the movie The Green Mile starring Tom Green. But you did it all wrong! None of those things are Irish just because they have the word ‘green’ in them! And it was Tom Hanks not Tom Green in The Green Mile, yeh feckin’ eejit!
Luckily, your genetically paddy pal Brendan is here with some recommendations new and auld with some of my Irish favorites to keep that Irish spirit going for at least another couple of months before you get into your problematic celebrations of Cinco de Mayo. So here are some great Irish movies and TV you are now contractually obligated to watch by finishing this sentence. Don’t worry - it’s the best thing for you!
Father Ted
To me, this is the granddaddy of them all in terms of Irish comedy. For three glorious seasons in the mid-90s, we were blessed with visits to Craggy Island with three inept priests and their tea-pushing housekeeper. I fucking adoooooored this show. With its mix of sacrilegious satire and Conan-esque absurdism, Father Ted is on the Mount Rushmore of comedy for me along with the British Office, Mr. Show, and of course Small Wonder. These days, there are a few comic takes that don’t hold up (it was the 90’s after all) and the co-creator Graham Linehan has outed himself as an anti-trans bigot. But hey - if you nerds can still watch Harry Potter, I can keep my Father Ted. So go on - give it a try. Ah, go on. Ah, you will. You will, you will, you will, you will…
Some Mother’s Son
When it comes to capturing the emotional depth of 20th century Irish history, you’d be hard pressed to find a writer better than Jim Sheridan. Check out this list: My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, The Boxer, In America - what a run! Brilliant films worth watching, all. For this article, I chose to highlight Some Mother’s Son because I think it’s a little more under the radar than the others and I just love the conceit of looking at the violence and hunger strikes in Belfast through the point of view of the soldiers’ mothers. Plus, Helen Mirren - as always - fucking rules. If you want something a little lighter, Barry Levinson’s An Everlasting Piece about two Northern Irish wig salesmen is worth a watch as well. No Helen Mirren, but you can’t win them all.
Moone Boy
If you liked Derry Girls (and come on - who among us didn’t like Derry Girls?), you should certainly check out its spiritual predecessor Moone Boy. The always delightful Chris O’Dowd plays the imaginary friend of a 12-year old boy in late 80s/early 90s western Ireland. The brilliant stroke of this show is that the kid is an absolute idiot. He’s so dull that he named his imaginary friend Sean Murphy - the most common name in Ireland. The comedy does a fun tightrope walk of mixing of era-specific jokes (in one episode the women in the family get their haircuts to match Mary Robinson, the first Irish woman president) with a sort of broader glorious dumbness accessible to people who aren’t middle aged and Irish and named Brendan. It’s dumb! You’ll like it!
This Way Up
Aisling Bea is a goddamn national treasure. She first got my attention with her standup bit about Irish flirting:
Even though This Way Up is technically a British show, Bea (who wrote and starred) explores mental health and family in a funny, sad, and unmistakably Irish way. The tone is perfect and the characters are human, relatable, and (most importantly) hilarious. Plus, the big bonus of this show is that Bea’s sister is played by fellow Irish goddess Sharon Horgan. Everything Horgan does is pure Irish gold (not the butter, although the butter is also good so maybe yes the butter?) This Way Up ended prematurely because of COVID, but it is still worth watching both seasons. Prepare for an unsatisfying ending, but hey - you’re adults. You can manage. On a side note - it’s not Irish, but be sure to watch the Sharon Horgan show Catastrophe as soon as humanly possible. You’ll thank me.
Kneecap
As far as Irish music movies, I don’t even have to recommend The Commitments because of course you’ve all seen The Commitments because if you haven’t seen The Commitments what are you doing reading this instead of watching The Commitments? Go watch The Commitments right fucking now and come back when you’re done. I’ll wait…
You’re back! So good, right? Ok, so Kneecap premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, the first Irish language film to do so. It tells a dramatized version of the story of the real life hip hop trio of the same name as they emerge in Belfast with their brash, drug fueled Irish language lyrics, pissing off both the British loyalists and the stuffier respectability-concerned Irish. The film’s structure is a little on the formulaic side, but the tone is a very Irish mix of wiseass fun with politically rebellious spirit. And Michael Fassbender didn’t pull out his penis this time. So that’s… good, I guess?
See? Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day isn’t just about drinking pints in a pub! It’s also about watching movies and TV in which people drink pints in pubs! So get out there and then immediately turn around and go back inside and watch the shit I recommended! It’s the best thing for you!
Boogie Writes is a completely independent endeavor by one hard-working funnyman trying to make his way in the world today (which takes everything you’ve got.) If you like what you read, please subscribe, support, and tell a friend! Also - do you need advice? Of course you do! Send your queries to brendan@brendanboogie.com with “Dear Boogie” in the subject and get some solid or at least passable advice!