 that's why I started crying but I go back whenever I'm up that part of the world you know and I've played the Colgan Hall a few times and for a long time as well my tour manager was also a Karen Mann and I've had good chats recently with Katrina the director of the Abbey who's also a Karen Lady so I still I have very fond memories of the place. When I say you don't you don't do various tours by halves you really you go all out and I think the last time I was chatting to maybe you were doing a tour of the islands and so yeah yeah you know you cover all the nukes and crannies it's it's a full-on proper extensive tour of Ireland it's not just you know pick and go in cork and Dublin no but I I mean I find it very hard to know what to do in a day when I'm not working so I prefer to be on the road you know and I've gotten great life blood and energy I've toured the county of Donegal a few times you know I was up there recently in one of the Kushlaka in Guido isn't it and then I've done the islands I've done I was in Bundor and recently I've done Donegal town I've done glentees you know so um it's always an extra element of I wouldn't say it's book wild energy but there's a kind of um there's a lift in the room that you wouldn't get in Sligo or Tyrone um you know and Derry has a bit of a there'd be slightly more defiant in Derry but there's good mischief in the room in Donegal you know and I uh it's a place I uh once you go through the the gap there the far side of Donegal town the barendest gap I just uh it's all changed I love it you know um uh and I'm not one like I would have no interest in say traipsing up now to uh a 5000 seater venue um somewhere in Chirkunnel or in Ijone and doing one show and then doing nothing for a fortnight I prefer to be working every night and playing to 200 300 people at a time you know it's kind of it's a way of life more than more than balancing books or anything like that it's kind of and I love it it's it's it's a it's a strange sort of an existence it's a kind of a manic sort of an existence because I would imagine that that most performers would prefer the the latter sorry the the former in that you you know you play the big venue you're in a county you play you pick out the biggest venue if you you know if you can fill the place and that's it that's that box ticked and that's great and it's on to the next county but you're right I mean and then what are you supposed to do for the other six days of the week like I spent time with the do you know what I mean play golf is this and swing into Daniels for a cup of tea and I'll question me mind with that you know it's um what I do is I I'm a mouth worker do you know what I mean and I I develop my craft and my stories by being on stage as often as possible so to me it doesn't really matter if there's if it's what I love is a full room but the size of the room is not important so you could be playing to 25 people in a 23 seater and that would suit me down as much as a thousand people in vicar street you know so it's a full room is a full room a full room is a full room and I I thrive on it I was never any good at school you know what I mean I I knew from an early age that I never wanted a job um I put down a parcel on me CAO form like you know I'm not designed for the industrial workplace or anything like that I'm I'm an old talker that's all I am I'm just a talker and I need people to talk to that's why I'm on the road as much as I am speaking of sort of um you know unconventional things the the part that you play it in Derry girls has that opened you up to a new audience is there a new especially in Derry maybe and would you find now that there'll be you know bigger crowds than normal in Derry or and elsewhere in the country because you know obviously Derry girls doesn't doesn't end at the county line and do you find that when you're playing in other places that playing the part of Jerry yeah there's different things that people treat you differently or react differently um so when I was saying earlier on this year now when I hit the road um people were being hit by uh just in terms of my terrible face um people were were seeing me on Derry girls and they were seeing me on the chat show and they were seeing me listening to me on the podcast that I do with Hector and Larita so that definitely you know sold a few more tickets and all that but the strange one was um I was doing a festival recently in Montreal and a man who works as a promoter in uh out in New York and across America says to me would you like to come over um and do an American tour I was kind of humming and hawing about it and I didn't know I kind of find it difficult to be that far away from home you know I've no problem sleeping in a hotel in Lether Kenny uh but I would have difficulty being at peace sleeping in a hotel in New York a couple of thousands of miles away from the family and he said to me he said um your big calling card in New York is Derry girls and that caught me on the hop that because Derry girls is now on Netflix um and is successful in places like Australia and America and Canada that kind of took me by surprise um so it the and there was a bit of a lift in England I did a tour of England there in March or April and there was more tickets sold than ever before and that was probably on account of Derry girls but um the big surprise was that Americans uh were watching it and will come and see me on account of it so that's um that was unusual I thought you know you'd wonder at a fella or a family sitting down in Wisconsin or Austin Texas and trying to get their ear around uh Michelle and Airdyn having to go at one another uh on the street to Derry you know that's that's a that's unusual like you know you'd wonder did they run subtitles underneath it like that's because that's hard enough for people from Leedsham to understand they're from like people from Las Vegas but they they have done and uh and it's just shows how good the show is how good the writing isn't it yeah yeah well written it was yeah well you know that takes some credit as well as you know a big part of it's the acting as well um what if you had to if you had to pick one of them Tommy acting um presenting uh live shows or doing podcasts you could only for whatever reason you could only do the one which would be the live shows would it definitely okay because there's a there's a sense of it like say in the Aragile hotel now which I haven't played for a few years so I'll go on stage there now I have a brilliant support actor followed by the name of John Caleri who people might remember from the Savage Eye many years ago and he's one of the finest stand-ups stand-ups in the country um so I feel very privileged to have him going on before me but I'll go on stage maybe uh around a quarter to nine or something like that nine o'clock so you have I can't remember how many fit into the room it could be seven or eight hundred and there'll be drink on board uh it's a room that they don't feel intimidated by everybody is kind of they've been at 21st in that room they've been at wedding receptions they've been at funeral receptions it's a room that they they know and they kind of own so the energy of that and the confidence of an audience in their own town is something to behold so they'll be you know and they'll have paid good money like the tickets are 35 quid each so you're not talking about something that's you know uh you're not talking about a cheap night out for people so people have kind of laid away a significant amount of their monthly wage you know there could be two or three of them from a family going there could be a babysitter there could be taxis and there'll be drink maybe there'd be dinner beforehand so they're right to expect a good show and they'll you know see and and they're they'll talk back to you and it's just the adrenaline of that that I thrive on the expectation of it it's kind of it's a very very heightened energy and I do my best myself and John to deliver a really really great night out for people so when people are leaving the room about you know 10 30 that physiologically they're kind of half changed because they've had two hours of laughing and all that positive all that serotonin all them bubbles in your blood flowing around your body so you can you you I'd be off stage by then but I'd hear the buzz of the crowd as they're walking out to the hotel bar or a bar in town or into the car park you know so the the the thrill of that is like it's like being a bare knuckle boxer you know or uh you know it's just or a bike rider or something it's just a thrilling way of life it keeps me active it's no wonder that Bob Dylan is still touring at the age of 81 do you know what I mean it's it's a wonderful wonderful way of life you drive off that reaction that the audience reaction there'll be a lot of comedians we just rather just you know somebody says something just straight away they try to put them down you and move on and go back to the script or something sure yeah yeah you you try to have it you you relish it well yeah I kind of every heckle is an invitation and now you don't always get it right I mean and that's the that's the jeopardy you don't always think of something funny to say and every heckle is almost a challenge to see are you really funny but that's you know stand-up is very very democratic you do people and we all do it and we're sitting at home and we're watching television maybe it's the news or something and somehow politician is coming on and he's trying to bamboozle us with percentages and figures and amounts of money and telling us that everything is all right and deep in our bones we know the man or the woman is not being totally truthful so we shout at the television but the man in the box doesn't answer back the man in the box just keeps going the man in the box doesn't even hear you but you shout at the stand-up comedian and he does hear you and there are very few you go to an opera and people tend not to shout at the singer you go to music and you know your your voice gets drowned out by guitars and drums but you go to stand-up and it's kind of now i'm not inviting it it's not like a town hall beating right like that it's not a free for all a challenge but part of the romance of stand-up is its democracy so you're entitled to shout up now if you shout up 10 or 12 times and you're hammered drunk and you're making no sense then you'd be taken out the back and you'd be dealt with severely but other than that it's very it's all kind of good natured and good crack the title of the tour is tom fullery um it's it's usual tommy tearing show isn't it it is yeah you know but again you the whole thing about is trying to stay try to stay kind of um that the show never gets too predictable you know that you're that you're making people laugh in ways even though they'd be very familiar with your face and the sound of your voice that you're making them laugh in ways that they're comfortable with but they're kind of half surprised by um so that's the challenge once you get if you're too predictable i think the game is up really you're you're almost um you turn into your own tribute act uh you're on you're on your own nostalgia tour i don't think anybody would accuse you of being uh predictable i hope not i hope not we'll we'll plow on you know and like i said it's a way of life you know and um i am i'm the better for us really well i think well i'll be the better for going along and having a good laugh and a bit of a a bit of a distraction from from a lot of the stuff that's going on in the world at the minute for sure two dates tomorrow night and friday night at the millennium forum and then i think i think i think i'm in the millennium forum on saturday as well now i have a feeling sorry it's friday night and saturday night you're in the millennium forum no no no it's thursday friday saturday in dairy all right but i have a feeling they're all gone all right i hope i'm not speaking at a turn now but i have a feeling them shows is if they're not sold out they're on the the very edge of it so check out the box office call the box office check out the box office but it's uh the aregle that there are still some tickets available for the for the monterey glota fair enough that date is saturday the first of october all right tommy and look forward to it and and thanks for joining us good luck dear a pleasure talking to you god bless and good luck tourism businesses have a brand new mark of employer excellence driven by the employee's voice the employer excellence program recognizes employers who consistently create better workplaces for their employees attract and retain top talent shine the