Conan O'Brien goes full Irish for soap opera

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0v0z4gzq29o

Ciarán McCauley,
BBC News NI

Conan O’Brien's CV is pretty much incomparable - from Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, to 30-plus years as one of the United States' most famous talk show hosts.

Then there's the podcasts; the guest spot in the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm; his appearance on the Scoville-scale smashing interview show Hot Ones, which recently exploded across social media in a flurry of memes thanks to the O'Brien's trademark comic energy.

But all that fame, fortune and hot sauce was mere preparation for his most challenging role yet – balloon delivery man on an Irish language soap opera.

The 61-year-old’s memorable cameo on Ros na Rún, a long-running staple of Irish language network TG4, is due to be broadcast on Tuesday night.

He called into the fictional County Galway village while filming his own travel show for HBO Max, Conan O’Brien Must Go, which sees him taking a dive into the cultural delights of nations such as Norway, Thailand and Argentina.

But it’s the Ireland episode, released earlier in April, which could be the most personal.

O’Brien, whose quiffed-up red hair has become a visual emblem of his long television career, uses the episode to trace his extensive Irish ancestry and indulge in some of the local culinary and cultural delights, whether that be eating black pudding (aka blood sausage) or belting out Danny Boy with the Irish Tenors.

But none of that could prepare him for tackling the native language of his heritage.

"Getting to work with the cast and crew of Ros Na Rún was a delightful highlight of my trip to Ireland, and I apologise in advance for inadvertently butchering my Mother Tongue,” he said earlier this year.

How did Conan O'Brien get on an Irish soap?

According to Ros na Rún series producer Marion Ní Loingsigh, the “fabulous” day on set came about thanks to his producers contacting the show to see whether he could make a guest appearance.

“He came and talked to anyone and everyone who was there, because they wanted to get as much stuff as possible for their programme. We had the lines written out phonetically and people were really keen to watch him," said Marion.

“He went on set, the place was full, there was a great atmosphere, a lot of laughs. And we got the scene. He did very, very well.”

It wasn't easy for the comedian - the scene, written especially for his cameo, features several lines of dialogue for O'Brien's hard-pressed delivery man as he spars with pub owner (and village rogue) Tadhg Ó Direáin.

The difficulty came at the behest of O'Brien's crew, said Kevin Hussey, a Ros na Rún script supervisor who was tasked with coaching the comedian through his Irish language debut.

"It's sizeable (dialogue), it was wild. His team insisted on that," said Kevin. "From our side, we would have made it simpler. But his team said they wanted to see him struggle.

"For an American, with not a word of Irish, he did a fantastic job. I had a little bit to do with that but it was the whole cast and crew."

Kevin hails from County Limerick, like O'Brien's ancestors, and like the majority of Irish people he did not grow up speaking Irish. While it's mandatory to study the language in school, the country's last census shows about 40% of the population speak it at some level - but more than half of those people do not speak it well.

It is the likes of Ros na Rún - and other Irish language broadcasting - that seeks to preserve and promote the language. Which is partly why having one of the US' most famous funny people on set was such a big deal.

There were challenges, however.

Kevin is responsible for ensuring the Irish spoken on the show stays consistent and correct to the script, which can be tricky given all the various Irish dialects used by different actors coming in and out of the cast.

But Irish-American O'Brien had no previous exposure to the language, said Kevin, beyond some famous phrases like céad míle fáilte (one hundred thousand welcomes).

"Usually when an actor comes on set, they might not have the best Irish but they usually have a cupla focal (a few words)," he said.

"So my job was to get him at ease, have a bit of craic with him and run through the lines."

That meant guiding O'Brien through some phonetic cue cards before and during filming. Fortunately, the comedian picked things up quickly in between cracking jokes with cast and crew.

"He was very down to earth, he was joking with everyone, he was just a very charming person.

"At the end of filming he did a little speech thanking people for putting him at ease.

"And he did say, in his thank you speech, how much it meant for him to connect with the language of his ancestors."

He added: "At one stage, in between takes, the two other actors were speaking in Irish and they realised and began to explain to him what they were saying.

"And he just said: 'No, I love hearing the language.'"

For producer Marion, it was good news for the soap's typically tight shooting schedule that the scene went off without major hiccups.

“Everything went smoothly. And if Conan was struggling, the actors in the scene (Macdara Ó Fátharta and Annamaria Nic Dhonnacha) helped out, suggesting how he could say the lines in certain ways. Everyone helped."

O'Brien isn't even the first famous face to pop into Ros na Rún's village pub - in 2010, Stephen Fry made a guest appearance as a tourist while singers Daniel O’Donnell and Nathan Carter have also featured.

However O'Brien's huge US fanbase was an new kind of opportunity, said Marion.

“We know he has a huge audience and a huge Irish-American following, so it was a fabulous opportunity.

“The show can be watched around the world and we know lots of people would watch Ros na Rún to learn or improve their Irish.”

So could there be more famous faces taking a trip to Ros na Rún any time soon? Marion said that it’s great for the show, which employs about 200 people in the west of Ireland six months a year, but they’ll see if any one else fancies following in O’Brien’s Irish language baby steps.

“We’ve nobody lined up,” Marion laughs. “When the opportunity comes up, we’ll do it if it’s right for the programme. But it has to be right.”

Kevin Hussey, however, has a suggestion.

"Beyoncé would be a good one."