Never say no to the Pope (and 9 other life lessons from Father Ted's Ardal O'Hanlon)
A conversation with a milkman
Ardal O’Hanlon has survived Basildon cinemas, slippers on stage, and an audience with the Pope - so it’s fair to say he’s picked up a few life lessons along the way.
A sitcom icon, accomplished stand-up, actor and bestselling author, the Father Ted star has spent decades proving there’s far more to him than Craggy Island and whether things might be small… or far away.
This year sees him back on tour with his latest show, alongside a special star-studded Comedy Sans Frontières night in aid of Doctors Without Borders, a cause he’s long supported. When we sit down to chat about it, he shares that he sums up his comedy as “observational, with surreal edges, and maybe a bit of bite,” he says, “It starts with myself: who I am, where I’m at in my life, and the way I see the world around me. Like any stand-up, it’s about who you are.”
Here, the comedy legend shares ten of the biggest life lessons learned along the way - from disasters to divine intervention…
1. If you can survive a bad night in Basildon, you can survive anything
“When I started out, I forced myself to do the worst gigs imaginable. I had a policy: I will do the gigs that nobody else will do. I even did gigs in prisons.
I remember doing one in the lobby of a cinema in Basildon. People were buying popcorn, playing fruit machines, walking in and out - and I was in the corner with a crap mic doing comedy.
Not one single person looked at me or listened. I was there for about 20 minutes talking into a void. Nobody even looked out of curiosity to see why there was a man talking to himself in the corner.
When you’ve done shows like that, in the future you think: no matter how bad it’s going, it’s not as bad as that.”
2. Comedy is cheaper than therapy… and it works
“Comedy is kind of therapy - for comedians as well as audiences. It’s an important tool. I don’t think I’d be doing comedy if my life was perfect, or everything was wonderful.
You’re doing comedy to scratch an itch and to process stuff; it’s a healthy outlet.
That itch - it’s the desire to express yourself. In my current show, I’m teasing out aspects of my own identity a little bit, because comedy is often about identity. You’re always analysing yourself as a comedian. If I didn’t have comedy in my life, I think I’d be quite pessimistic and quite gloomy.
Comedy is a beautiful thing. It’s the way I see the world. We’re living in a time where people are very uncertain, and the world seems quite chaotic, and everything feels so far out of your control.
Stand up is a way of controlling the world. You’re in charge for that 20 minutes, or hour and a half. You get to control the narrative for once. It gives you that sense of control over your own life, and poking fun at stuff is very healthy. It’s very therapeutic.”
3. Saying what everyone’s thinking is a public service
“Audiences love when you trigger them by suddenly saying something they’ve absolutely thought, but haven’t quite put into words. Facetiously, I would call it a public service - you’re identifying the petty concerns everybody has, and you’re articulating them on behalf of the audience.
At the moment in my show, I’m talking a lot about lifestyle, the neurosis around eating, and the huge impact technology has on our lives. And it’s how puny, powerless people - like ourselves, as individuals - try to navigate that, resist it, and fight back.
Naming that is the first thing, and I think that’s what audiences enjoy. That’s the comedian’s role, in some ways.”
4. Getting older just means more to laugh about
“With experience, you get more confidence and become bolder. Every year, someone makes pronouncements about what’s in and what’s out in comedy, and I don’t pay attention. There’s a place for everybody - every gender, background, age. It’s a broad church.
You find new things at every stage of life. Twenty years ago, I was talking about bringing up young kids; now it’s more existential. Thoughts of mortality creep in.
I’m conscious of my privilege as a man. But with age and experience comes a certain amount of wisdom, if that’s not too pretentious. I think I know stuff now, and I’m more confident expressing it than I might have been 20 or 30 years ago.
I’ve always been attracted to well-crafted jokes and wordplay. The challenge of being articulate and eloquent. I love the language side of it. And I love surreal comedy - taking people on a verbal journey, creating visual images, and surprising people. That’s been there from the start.”
5. The biggest life lesson from Father Ted that changed everything
“I was very much a stand-up comedian when I started that, and stand-up can be quite lonely. You’re at your desk on your own a lot, or lying in bed musing on your own, or on stage alone, or travelling alone.
What was wonderful about Father Ted was the collaborative element - working with other people: great actors, writers, directors, producers, and everyone who works hard to make a television show great.
I really enjoyed that, and you learn so much. When I started doing stand-up, it was very casual. It wasn’t as polished as it would be today. People were shuffling on stage, sometimes in their slippers and mumbling into a bad mic.
I learned a lot in terms of performing, watching actors up close, and seeing people invest so much in what they’re saying. At every stage of life, every job you do, you pick up so much from the people you work with - their work ethic, appetite, energy, enthusiasm, and technical skill.
You’re always learning. To this day, I’m still learning hugely. Even though I’m 60 now, my performance levels are ten times what they were when I was 20.”
6. Confidence on stage can hide a lot of insecurity
“Like a lot of comedians, we’re insecure people, and we give ourselves a hard time. You might come across as brash and confident, but the reality is very different.
When I started out, I was quite shy. So I think I hid behind a character, a persona. My persona was wide-eyed, bewildered, not really understanding the world around me, but hopefully saying really clever things. My idea was always to make astute, clever observations about the world around you, but dressed up as innocent and stupid.
A lot of my comedy still is very, very silly, but I always like to think it’s underpinned by something more profound, or at least more real. Every little bit that I do, no matter how silly, is based on a real experience or real observation or a real conversation, or something I overheard, or something I witnessed.”
7. If the Pope invites you to pop round, go
“Last year, I was bizarrely invited to an audience with the Pope, with comedians from all over the world - including Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, two or three Irish comedians, and about 50 Italian comedians, which was a bit disproportionate. It was surreal.
I wrestled with whether I should accept the invitation, as a lapsed Catholic. It was so out of the blue. Basically, for PR, the church thought it would be a good idea to get comedians from different parts of the world together.
Of course, everyone goes out of curiosity - to get an inside look at the Vatican and get up close to one of the most iconic figures in the world, whether you like him or not. Whether you respect him or not is beside the point.
It turned out to be a great day and really enjoyable. It got me thinking about my relationship with my upbringing.
Comedians are needy people - we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing if we weren’t. We want attention. So for the Pope, one of the most iconic figures in the world, to come out, wheeled out by the Swiss Guards, and make a speech about how great comedy is, how valuable comedy is, and how wonderful comedians are… it was just great.
It was an extravaganza, surrounded by frescoes by Raphael and Michelangelo, and he gave a really well-crafted speech. It was basically: comedians aren’t a complete waste of time, not a complete waste of space - and that’s coming from the Pope, a figure of moral authority, blowing smoke up our asses!”
8 … and always bring home a souvenir for mum and dad
“My parents are very Catholic. They still say the rosary a lot. So, to get in their good books, I brought my parents’ rosary beads with me. When it was my turn to meet him, I said, ‘Excuse me, Your Holiness. If you don’t mind, would you bless my parents’ rosary beads for me?’ Which he did.
So I brought them home to my parents. Now I’m their golden child.”
9. Keep learning new things - you never know when you’ll need them
“I’d love to be a good sword fighter. That would be a useful skill, particularly if - as we fully expect - there’s a nuclear war and everyone has to fend for themselves.
Pickling is something else I’ve never quite mastered. I’d quite like to do that.”
10. Do good where you can
“Next, I’m on the bill for London’s Comedy Sans Frontières stand-up night, in aid of the international humanitarian charity Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders.
It’s going to be a great show. It’s for a great cause. Doctors Without Borders is one of the great humanitarian organisations. They’re at every flashpoint in the world. They’re usually first with boots on the ground. They’re politically neutral, and do great work - doctors, nurses, drivers, support staff.
They’re an organisation that I’ve supported for a very long time; it’s very special to me. When I was asked to get involved, I jumped at it. It’s a great line-up - including Dylan Moran, someone I’ve admired hugely from the day he started. In fact, I saw his first ever gig, believe it or not. It was at a little comedy club in Dublin called the Comedy Cellar, which I used to run with some friends of mine. Dylan arrived fully formed. He was really amazing - idiosyncratic, surreal, literate.”
Comedy Sans Frontières - a stellar night of unmissable comedy raising funds for Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF UK) - will take please at Soho Theatre Walthamstow on Saturday 31st January. Tickets here.
Ardal O’Hanlon is on tour in the UK and Ireland in 2026 with latest show ‘Not Himself’. Check out tickets and tour dates at ardalohanlon.com/tour
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