Ardal O'Hanlon: Father Ted opened so many doors

"No, it doesn't get on my nerves. I am very proud of that show and I still pinch myself that I was a part of such a great thing," Ardal O'Hanlon says, explaining the phenomenon that was Father Ted.

"It opened so many doors and enabled me to reach a much bigger audience. For all those reasons, I could never complain about it."

Ardal's Father Dougal McGuire is one of the classic comedy characters of our time. The show only ran for three series totalling 25 episodes back in the 90s but is one of the all-time greats.

"I can only look back on those days fondly," continues the 47-year-old. "I never thought I would have a career in TV at all. I didn't really know what I would be doing. Y'know I was very happy doing stand-up. I never foresaw it. I think I am the most surprised person out of everyone when it comes to me having a career in TV.

"There is sometimes frustration but that's only down to the fact I think it has lost me more varied roles. To this day, I am still offered roles that are essentially just another Father Dougal. So I do take on things to put more distance between it, such as theatre and writing.

"I do want to move on and try different experiences. I have never been one to dwell on the past. Since Father Ted I have tried to mix up the jobs and run with different things. I've never been one to do the same thing day in day out."

We'll next see Ardal on our screens in London Irish, a new Channel 4 comedy he describes as being similar to The Inbetweeners and Fresh Meat in terms of shock value.

It centres around a group of young Northern Irish friends making it in London and Ardal plays Da to brother and sister Conor and Bronagh.

However, controversy followed the previews earlier this year, with The Huffington Post, Mirror and Independent all questioning whether or not it was stereotypical and racist.

"I didn't see that short clip they put out six months ago but I think they wanted that provocation, that controversy. People love pushing boundaries with these things.

"But I think people are sensitive to the way Irish people are portrayed on TV. Y'know we got the same criticisms when Father Ted came out.

"The writer (Lisa McGee) is Irish, the actors (Kerr Logan and Sinead Keenan) are Irish but this will upset a lot of Irish people. There's no getting away from that. It will upset a lot of viewers in general.

"But I don't see it as an Irish thing. It is about young people making their way in London, they could just as easily be Welsh or Scottish – the fact they are Irish is incidental.

"It was refreshing for me to be back in front of the TV cameras to film this, it is always fun to film. And this is an outrageous show. Very very different to Father Ted. There is a heart to it but the stuff they are putting out there is pushing the boundaries."

Despite his runaway success in TV (Ardal also starred in the ridiculously popular BBC sitcom My Hero), stand-up remains his true passion.

O'Hanlon, who hails from County Monaghan, was one of the founder members of Dublin's International Comedy Cellar. Fresh out of university, he said the club came about "partly out of boredom, partly out of lack of opportunity elsewhere". It was where he honed his craft and was later spotted for Father Ted.

And he will be returning to the road and picking up the mic again soon, stopping off in Telford and Birmingham, although his approach to gigs now is much different to back then.

"When I started out 20 years ago and I used to be so nervous and would agonise about every little thing. I was much harder on myself because I only had myself to worry about," the father-of-three explains. "But as you get older and you get more responsibility, children being one of them, there are just bigger things to worry about.

"I really look forward to touring now. I relish it. I hesitate to use the word 'therapy' but it is certainly a great outlet. You get to be an exaggerated version of yourself, be a bit crazy, it really is a lot of fun. You get to come out of yourself for a while.

"I'm excited at this stage of the proceedings. It has been three years since I toured properly. I do little gigs here and there but it's been a good few years since I've properly toured on this scale.

"I'm fine-tuning the show at the moment but to be honest that goes right up to the wire and beyond it – you're fine-tuning it when you're on stage. I've been doing previews the last few weeks and that's a great opportunity to see what works and what doesn't.

"The show is always chopping and changing, it evolves, but sometimes if you're too slick, the audience don't really like it. They prefer a bit more spontaneity and interaction. And sometimes I don't like those super-slick shows as much, they can be a bit mechanical. It's nice to try out different things, there's a bit more virtue to that."

The new tour is about life itself, an observational and sharp look at everything from sex to cycling, politics to his beloved Leeds United.

"I try and avoid anything too obvious, too easy. It is observational but I am trying not to be too generic. It's about my life and my experiences and hopefully that's why people come to see me – they are interested in what I've got to say and they want a unique experience. It's my take on things.

"I often get questions along the lines of 'Why do you still do comedy?' and I expand on that a bit in the show. I come from quite a religious family and I talk about my background. It's silly. It's just the frustrations of a middle aged man really. I know my main objective is to make people laugh and I'm very conscious of that but hopefully they take something from it, maybe learn a little.

"I talk about sex, the importance of heroes and I touch on politics and sport. Football is my passion, I wanted to be a footballer before I was a stand-up. I still love the game but the players let it down and I talk about the return of football violence and racism. I talk about cheating in sport too and the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong. Stuff like that and the importance of real heroes."

But does he still get people turning up to the show expecting 60 minutes of Father Dougal?

"Not really. I hope people know now what to expect from my shows and not to expect Dougal. I hope people know I am a stand-up first and foremost. I was a stand-up before, during and after the show. But then I also know I don't do an awful lot of stand-up on TV and that people do know me as Dougal and other TV characters. I don't really mind why people come, as long as they do. My thing is that I entertain them and, y'know what, in some ways, my stand-up persona is not a million miles away from Dougal. In some ways it's very different but there are similarities. Perhaps just not that naivety that Dougal had."

The tour ends in early December and normally Ardal would take time out to recover. No such luck this time around – he had a mini-tour in Russia followed by a three-month stint in the West End.

"Normally it takes me a year to recover from a tour but this year it's been one thing after another," he says. "The UK tour finishes and then I'm going to do a tour in Russia in December. It's exciting but I don't quite know what to expect.

"Then in January I am straight into The Weir in the West End. You don't plan these things but sometimes they just end up stacked one on top of each other.

"The play will run for three months and then I shall sleep all through April and May. I will collapse and no one will be able to find me. It will be great."

By Elizabeth Joyce

* Ardal O'Hanlon will be performing at Telford Oakengates Theatre on October 31 and Birmingham Symphony Hall on November 23