Derry Girls actress Tara Lynne O’Neill has paid tribute to her on-screen husband Tommy Tiernan insisting he is ‘just an amazing human being’.
O’Neill, who plays the stereotypical Irish mam in the hit comedy, was speaking about her co-star’s versatility.
The constant battles between Gerry and his father-in-law Joe was a constant source of laughter throughout Derry Girls, but as well as his acting career Tiernan has continued to perform stand-up comedy and host his chat show.
O’Neill spoke to Joe.ie about her admiration for the Donegal star. She said: “He’s just really interested in people and there’s a kindness behind that, it comes across in his show and every time I watch it, my jaw just drops.
“He’s almost like a psychotherapist in some ways. He’s just so interested in people. To me, he reminds me in a way of Blindboy because they both have similarities.
“Tommy doesn’t pretend to be an expert in anything, he’s just curious about everything. It doesn’t matter who he meets and that’s how I find him as a person.
“The fact that he doesn’t know who’s coming on, the questions aren’t handed to him by somebody. They’re just the questions that Tommy Tiernan wants to ask. How he still finds comedy in that is incredible – and you cry. I’ve cried at nearly every episode. He makes people feel very comfortable and that’s very difficult. They also open up and say stuff that’s very difficult for them to say, stuff that people would never say in another interview.
“I wasn’t too well when we were filming last year and Tommy and Kathy Kiera Clarke (Aunt Sarah) took great care of me. He’s just a lovely human. I was a huge fan of his stand-up before meeting him, but he’s just as an amazing human being, he’s just beautiful and he’s a brilliant actor. I hope he does more acting but it’s hard to fit in with his schedule. That’s what’s amazing about him, he can go from doing stand-up in front of thousands of people to sitting with one person on a TV show for an hour long chat.”
Take a look at some of the best battles between Gerry and Joe from Derry Girls.
