Monosyllabic Mirth

November 22, 2000

Sally Hall assumed that comedians were sparky, good company and a good laugh. An encounter with Irish comic Dylan Moran soon put her right.

If moaning were an Olympic sport, the Sydney games would not have been Britains greatest triumph in 80 years.

We would have swept the board in the 500-minute whinge and still stand unbeaten in synchronised grumbling every time.

Britons are so good at moaning we have turned it into an art form. We moan with cheer, with fortitude, with self-deprecating wit. We are never such good company as when we are grousing.

So it is no surprise we love the comedians who make a living out of it.

Cantankerous comics are as much a part of British culture as warm beer, drizzly picnics and unreliable public transport-all of which make great gripes.

From Tony Hancock to Victor Meldrew, we have worshipped at the comedy altar of belligerence and grumpiness.

Now Irish comic Dylan Moran has stumbled straight into the time-honoured tradition, with his shoelaces trailing and socks mismatched.

The befuddled looking Moran charmed audiences with his bumbling, put upon, sweetly lugubrious character in the Simon Nye-scripted sitcom How Do You Want Me.

In his latest venture, Black Books, he showed a darker side as misantrophic, curmudgeonly and downright arsey bookshop owner Bernard.

And it was his spectacular stroppiness, his grumpy meanness and his adeptness at Oylmpic-level moaning that really got the critics raving.

Moran believes people are compelled to laugh at taboo behaviour. He says " I think anger's funny. You know, you always feel a bit giggly if someone is cross. It's a bit like church laughter if somebody's very, very angry, because you know you're not supposed to laugh."

So, i ask him, are you alot like your character in Black Books? After all, the sitcom's co-writer Grahma Lineham, said " When i say' Bernard', everyone else says 'Bernard, what do they mean? It's him, it's Dylan!' It's kind of Dylan's stage character walking around in the world."

Moran says: "Yeah, there's a fair dash of whatever I am in there." Kind of misantrophic and arsey you mean? "Yeah."

There is a pause while i wonder what to say next. Finally, he drawls in his just out of bed Irish twang: "Arsey is a very good description. I think i might put that on my tombstone."

The fact is, Moran is arsey. I do't know why i should be surprised about that, but i am. I'm still labouring under the illusion that comedians are sparky, dynamic and a good laugh. But if they make a living out of misantrophy and grumpiness, why should they be anything other than misantrophic and grumpy?

Again, Moran is in estimable company. From Tony Hancock to Spike Milligan, the line-up of great comedians has often included those whose ill-humour spilled over from their stage personas and into their everyday lives.

Right now, Moran has a lot to be happy about. A successful sitcom under his belt; a smash-hit tour underway. But he doesn't seem very happy. He is monosyllabic and almost surley.

And the very things that seem hilarious on TV and stage are toe-curlingly awkward in person. I ask him about an interview he did where he spectulated that the Big Brother gang were being pacified by copious amounts of dope. He says: "Well, you know, I really don't give a monkey's what they were doing there. I don't know why anybody was watching it. I hate it."

I know he's going to hate my next question- what does he think of being seen as a sex symbol? "You're right. I hated it."

Oh dear. What about his forthcoming stnd-up act? " I don't know that it's got any themes, other than how dreadful people are."

I'm beginning to flounder. Not only is he grumpy, it would take a JCB digger to burrow a lengthy answer out of him.

How did he get into comedy? "I just saw some people on stage in Dublin and said 'Can i do it?'"

Did it go down well? "Well enough to do it again." What attracted him in the first place? "No qualifications whatsoever." Is that the main thing? "Mm hmmm."

Did anyone mention blood and stone? The thing is, his promotional material is hilarious, Still arsey, but hilarious:
"After a quiet half dozen years doing what he coyly refers to as 'tricks utilising almost every part of my body' aborad an oil rig in the South Seas, Dylan Moran realised all ambition had disappeared. Spiritually broken and thirsty for some kind of love, however fraudulant, he took to the stage.

" In a misguided effort to offset debts, Dylan Moran will be flinging his, moulting, raddled and uniquely scaley arse around the remoter, uninformed parts of the country. Patrons are advised that for very little extra cost they will recieve a glass of Asti-Spumanti and enjoy a complimentary leg-rub from Dylan Moran himself. Extras are of course negotiable, including the famous'glove of love'."

But Moran mentions nothing about the glove of love to me. He does generate some enthusiasm, though, for the idea of being back on the road.

"Well,it can be great fun, you know, when it goes well. There is that thing, you know, it is a bit of a tightrope walk but it's a good focuser. If things are going pear shaped, it's a bit unnerving because you're desperately trying to turn your pear back into an apple.

"But if you're off on the right track generally after a while you're home and dry, you know. Maybe there's a streak of masochism in it, but i'm sure working in an abbatoir is far from full and varied."

It is surprising to hear Moran's enthusiasm for getting back to stand-up. But before start to worry that his bad-tempered venner has started to crumble, i remember what he said in an interview with The Independent a couple of months ago.

" Misery is the watchword of the tour. I was thinking of calling it the Non Stop Death Roadshow, but there is a slight twang of uncommerciality about that, isn't there?" And, sure enough, when i ask him about plans for the future, he returns to his Oscar-The-Grouch-style form.

"Well, we''flog the same horse again, do Black Books again, go back on the road again. The horse will get more and more knackered-looking and ratty, and i'll come up with some new dodge."

Original interview- www.thisisbrightonandhove.co.uk/brighton_hove/leisure/moran.html