COMEDIAN Tim McGarry “genuinely can’t wait” to get back on stage in front of a large audience for the first time in over a year.
The Give My Head Peace star will be joined by historian David Hume at the Stormont Hotel in east Belfast in two weeks to perform the first live version of Radio Ulster’s The Long and the Short of It.
“We trialled an online version earlier this year, but this is the first time David and I will be going out on the road and seeing the whites of the eyes of the people in the audience,” said the 57-year-old.
“We are very excited to see real-life people in a real-life venue.”
With the Give My Head Peace theatre tour grinding to a halt last year at the beginning of lockdown, the past 18 months have been “awful” for Tim.
“I did a wee stand-up gig at the Hatfield a few weeks ago, but this upcoming show is the biggest in over a year. It’s a bit frightening if I’m honest,” he said.
“We managed four shows of the sell-out Give My Head Peace live tour and missed out on nine, so it’s been a while.
“It’ll take a minute or two to get back into it. I suppose when you haven’t done it in a while, you wonder ‘How does this work? Can I even tell jokes anymore?’ But this upcoming show will be a bit different because it’s not pure stand-up.”
The live show of The Long and the Short of It will sit somewhere between a lecture, a comedy set and a debate.
Tim on The Blame Game with, from left, Neil Delamere Jake O'Kane and Colin Murphy
“There will be a bit of chat, a bit of banter and a bit of history, something similar to the radio shows,” Tim explained.
“We chat about topical events but in a very light-hearted way.”
The self-confessed amateur historian has spent several series of the show learning about Irish history with David.
This time, they will be paying attention to a timely and controversial topic: the creation of Northern Ireland.
“We work well as a team, but we’re a bit of an odd couple. I’m 6ft 3in and he’s 4ft nothing,” joked the comedian.
“We come from different backgrounds and perspectives, but we respectfully agree to disagree on many topics, including this one [the creation of Northern Ireland]. We discuss often whether it should be celebrated or not.
“I think it’s an important topic to discuss. [It’s good to] find out a bit about where we came from, where we are now and where we’re going in the future.”
Their “respectful disagreements”, as Tim calls them, are always light-hearted and entertaining, with both men going out of their way to ensure the show “isn’t too heavy”.
“We’re not afraid to tackle the serious issues but in a refreshing and honest way,” he said.
Among the topics likely to be covered, the DUP is sure to come up at least once.
Tim said the party had provided “some top-class entertainment” over the past year.
“I’ve had hangovers that lasted longer than Edwin Poots did as leader,” he quipped.
“I’ll be mentioning a few different topics like this and some current affairs, but I will primarily focus on the history of Northern Ireland.”
Over the past six years, David and Tim’s show has covered possibly “every single controversial subject of Irish history we could think about”. “Everything from the Famine and the Norman invasion to the B-Specials and the Troubles... we have debated everything and it’s been really good fun,” he said.
“One thing we do like to do is to tackle the misconceptions that both sides have. We would both tend to agree that history is a lot greyer than most people think. It’s not black and white.”
Tim believes it is also important to avoid comparing the motives of people 100 years ago to those of people today.
“I think we’re guilty of imputing motives on people when they simply didn’t have those motives back then,” he said.
“It’s like asking ‘What’s Patrick Pearse’s position on internet porn?’ We need to remember these people are of their time and to take that into consideration when learning about them.”
For Tim, Northern Irish people tend to view history through the lens of the Troubles.
“The difficulty is to divorce from that. Even 100 years on from partition, it’s still a very live issue here,” he said.
At the end of the show, there will be a fun question-and-answer session for members of the audience.
“People can ask about anything, whether its politics, history, Give My Head Peace or the Blame Game,” the comedian said.
“It’s a bit of a different evening, but I think audiences will get a lot out of it.”
One topic which will be off-limits, however, is Covid.
“We touched on it a bit in the Give My Head Peace shows and I suppose that after a year-and-a-half people are a bit fed up hearing about it all the time, so we will definitely be focusing more on the history aspect,” explained Tim.
“I’ll probably come on for a warm-up at the start, chat about different things and current affairs and then get on with it.”
The presenter hopes to return to the stage again next spring with The Hole in the Wall Gang, the idea being to perform tour shows that were cancelled after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are set to be in the Grand Opera House next March and I just can’t wait to be back performing there,” Tim said.
“I managed to get a glimpse of the newly refurbished venue and I’m really looking forward to it. We perform there every year and it really is the finest theatre in Northern Ireland.
“It’s hard work to write the live shows, but once it’s up and running, it’s just great and there’s nothing like being back on stage.”
Last year, Give My Head Peace was revived for four Christmas-themed TV specials, and Tim, who plays Da, is expecting more shows later this year.
On the first of the Christmas episodes, the cast paid tribute to Big Mervyn actor BJ Hogg, who died last March.
They hope to continue the shows in his memory.
“BJ wasn’t a colleague, he was a great friend,” said Tim.
“The Last time I saw him before he passed away, we were on stage together in Armagh.”
BJ’s funeral was particularly sad for the cast because, due to coronavirus restrictions, many were unable to attend.
“We felt that we couldn’t give him the proper send-off he deserved,” Tim said.
“So, we raised a glass to him in the first episode last year and we will continue to do so throughout the shows.
“BJ was very much a special character in The Hole In The Wall Gang. We miss him dearly, but all the memories we have of him is of us all laughing together and having great fun, so it’s a great way to remember him.”
The comedian also revealed that the Blame Game is returning to screens in November.
“We filmed a couple of series of the show over the past year, but the audience was all on Zoom,” he said.
“Even though we are really appreciative of our online audience, there really isn’t anything that quite compares to a live audience, so I’m really looking forward to that.”
- The first live The Long and the Short of It will be recorded at the Stormont Hotel on Friday, August 6. Tickets are £18 from www.eastsidearts.net. Previous episodes are available on BBC Sounds
