Top Irish stand-up Neil Delamere has announced details of his brand new tour ‘Handstand’, coming to the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone on February 16.
Describe yourself in three words?
Tall, dark, and mendacious.
What is your most treasured possession?
My hairy lurcher. That’s a dog in case anyone thinks I was using some odd euphemism. He brings an indescribable joy to almost all occasions, except when he sees a squirrel. In those situations, I can see murder in his eyes.
What is your worst habit?
I’ve got a very short attention…
What is your favourite movie of all time?
Ah there are so many to choose from. I love a good heist film. Something about the logic, planning, and reward allows me to entirely ignore the morality of armed robbery. For the sake of this though, I’ll pick Cinema Paradiso. When my brother told me it was his favourite I thought he was being deliberately pretentious. It sounds like one of those things you say when you’re asked about your favourite film and the real answer is Expendables 3. Then I watched it. It caused an emotional reaction in me hitherto only seen when Offaly last won the Leinster Football Championship in 1997.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Being hungry, tired, and stuck on a bus with people speaking in the ‘Dort’ accent. That is a Dante’s circle of hell that isn’t mentioned enough.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
I don’t know about identifying with him, but I really like the lifestory of Red Hugh O’Donnell. I made a documentary about him once and, maybe it was holding a 400-year-old letter he’d signed or maybe it was the tights I was wearing during filming, but it made me really curious to imagine how Ireland would have turned out if he’d survived a bit longer.
If you could travel back in time, where would you visit and why?
Assuming for a second that the magic time machine would make me fluent in Arameic, I’d go back to Palestine around 33 AD. It always sounds to me like there was an awful lot going on in those parts. It’d be fairly interesting to meet the man himself and see exactly which bits tally with the stories, plus Mary Magdalene sounds like she was good craic.
Who would win in a fight, MacGyver or Chuck Norris?
That depends on whether the fight was a spur of the moment thing. If it was just a spontaneous situation that got out of hand, like if MacGyver insulted Chuck Norris’s ma outside a chipper, you’d have to go for Chuck Norris. He has the skills. On the other hand, if MacGyver had time to plan and assemble various weapon from toothpicks and chewing gum , you’d have to make him favourite.
What is the single best thing about working in comedy?
Not having to get up in the mornings.
For tickets and tour info for Neil’s brand new tour ‘Handstand’, visit www.neildelamere.com/gigs Follow Neil on Facebook and Twitter.
