'Culture in Europe is more mature': Irish comic Tommy Tiernan's unfiltered humor hits Prague

Tommy Tiernan has spent a lifetime navigating cultures—on stage and off. The Irish comedian, known for starring in Derry Girls and Conversations with Friends, having his own acclaimed talk show, and even being a popular candidate for Irish president in a public 2025 poll, believes that comedy is most powerful when rooted in personal and cultural truth.

Ahead of his upcoming Prague show on April 4, the comedian sat down with Expats.cz to discuss the deep connection between comedy and cultural identity. From the distinct rhythms of laughter in Moscow to the lessons learned from a childhood in Zambia, Tommy reflects on how diverse environments have shaped his fearless approach to humor, why authenticity always trumps universal appeal, and the sheer thrill of stepping on stage with no script—just instinct, breath, and the energy of the room.

You don't want it ever to be diluted. So I think sometimes what you sacrifice in meaning you make up for in authenticity or momentum or pace. I always have an ear out for whether or not people are laughing or how much they're laughing, but I think the thing to do is to be as peculiarly local to your own upbringing, and that's the only way it's interesting. I'd hate to be universal.

Yeah, I think so. But as a performer, you always have an ear out for if people are engaged. I remember one time I did a show in Moscow and the rhythm was different. The rhythm of an Irish audience is they get all the inflections, they get all the small little ornamentations. But the Russian audience were almost taking me seriously. Then afterwards, they were like, 'oh my God, that was so funny.'

It did a couple of things. It cast me as the outsider from a very young age. I lived in rural Ireland, and then we moved to Africa, and then London, and then a few different places in Ireland. So I became very used very quickly to being the new boy. And I've got very used to having to make new friends, and I think that kind of stood out to me in stand-up—that sense that you're kind of addressing the class, saying ‘I'm the new guy’. 

I think another thing that it did for me is give me great faith in my curiosity about other cultures. I grew up with black African kids. I have no problem making jokes about black Africa. I've no qualms about making jokes about any culture, really, because I trust my instinct. Other people who are scared of multiculturalism would rather not speak. But I'm very confident with it.

This isn't totally true across the board, but I think there’s an element of everyone being out to get one another. There's a predatory aspect to modern culture, which is deeply ugly, and it's about shaming other people. It's about intolerance, it's about a merciless pursuit of people who make mistakes.

If people want to listen to kind of contentious, off-grid stand-up, there's so much of it out there—so I don't think comedy is repressed or anything like that. I just noticed that sometimes in audiences, there can be an element of self righteousness. Somebody might say ‘you're not allowed to say that’, and you kind of go, ‘what gives you that authority?’.

There's people who want to be mainstream successes; there's conservative stand up; and there's a kind of unhinged, desperate stand up. And I think they've always existed, so I don't think it's any different now.

I did quite a big European tour a good few years ago. The feeling in Berlin is quite different to the feeling in Copenhagen or Stockholm. But my overall sense is that the culture (in Europe) is more mature. It doesn't mean that it's not prone to prejudice, but I think the culture is mature, and I love that.

Definitely in comparison to America. Even though American people—you meet them on the street and they’re funny, they're kind, and they love stand-up. But I much prefer the complications of Europe.

I remember performing in Paris and in Estonia and in Berlin, and I remember being very grateful for the rich cultural history that Europe has. I'm imagining the same will happen on this tour as well. We're very lucky to have such a diverse continent beside us.

No secret. Just pure instinct. I can't think about it too much. Breathing is the big thing. I’m always in a battle between caffeine and breathing—the coffee is good for writing, the breathing is good for talking.

For the chat show, the image that I had in my head for this year was committing totally to whatever ‘music’ the guest is playing. If a guest comes on and they seem kind of lightheaded or distracted or not grounded, then you fully commit to that, and you have a light-headed, ungrounded, silly conversation that might lead somewhere else. If a guest is serious, then you commit to that. It’s not about trying to impose anything.

It's quite a hectic tour, but we have committed to drinking in each city. A lot of the time we're flying in in the morning and flying out the following morning—so the only way to survive that is to make a commitment to visit a bar each night.

I think total commitment. There'll be storytelling, there'll be kind of flights of fancy. But the main thing is that you're committed to the performance, and that the performance is different each night. And that you're fully there, that it's not a script recital, it's not acting. It contains elements of those things, but it's neither. You want it to feel like play. For 80 or 90 minutes I'm going to be speaking in a present way, and whatever happens, happens—so that every gig is different.