COMEDY
STATE OF THE UNION Crossing the Line BELOVED COMEDIAN PATRICK KIELTY WILL BE ARRIVING IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE THIS MONTH, TO LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF DIVISIVE TIMES
WORDS BY MIRIAM BALANESCU
“We like to watch news now essentially as a box set: ‘What did you think about Northern Ireland?’” Patrick continues. “‘I thought the first couple of series were great. I mean, the Good Friday Agreement – what a season finale.’ We want our news events to be things that end, so we can move on to something else.” A 2021 BBC documentary called One Hundred Years of Union saw Patrick meet those on both sides of the divide in Northern Ireland, while tensions simmered over the new sea border. Borderline deals with the same dilemmas of national pride versus nationalism: “We’ve had to challenge ourselves to make peace in Northern Ireland. There are a lot of questions about who we are, who we were told we were and who we think we are, that we’ve already processed. Brexit is one of those things, where British national identity has been challenged in a way it never has before.”
eturning to his roots, Patrick Kielty’s new show Borderline has sent him around Northern Ireland,
WE’RE MORE SIMILAR THAN WE THINK
where he grew up amid the Troubles and birthed his satirical style. Skipping across old and new divides – now that a line has been drawn across the Irish sea – Patrick’s tour soon lands in Cambridgeshire, taking on exactly that. “At the heart of Borderline is the idea that we’re all different, but more similar than we think,” says Patrick. “It’s the most personal show I’ve done, about growing up in a little village, thinking it was heavenly with four miles of beaches, mountains and a castle – then suddenly realising it wasn’t.” After his father was killed by loyalist paramilitaries in 1988, the rift between communities in Dundrum hit home. “It looked like that could never be fixed – but somewhere so polarised managed to make peace.” Seeing similar patterns emerge elsewhere, having lived through the Trump era in Los Angeles and Brexit in London, inspired his latest material. Patrick’s comedy career began when he was a student, getting gags out of the absurdity of the conflict happening on his home turf. He has since smothered our televisions with appearances, from Live at the Apollo to an exclusive interview with Tony Blair. “Comedy serves a more important purpose in a broken world, weirdly. You can never make a joke about the awful thing that’s happened, but you can about the stupid decision that’s led to it,” he says. “I used to think this place was batshit crazy. Now, looking back, I realise we were ordinary people living through batshit crazy times,” says Patrick. Brexit has stirred up old unease. “You had the whole UK government talking to the European Union about where I’m from, and people going: ‘Oh God, Northern Ireland is the problem – again.’ I wanted to get onstage and say: ‘Actually, we’re not the problem. We solved ours. What you’re doing is making this one for everybody.’”
HOMECOMING Borderline is Kielty’s first stand-up tour for seven years, after a spell in the US
His documentary-making has infused his stand-up with new- found sincerity. “A week after One Hundred Years of Union came out, I was on a train from Liverpool. It stopped at Stoke, and this guy tapped me on the shoulder, put a note in front of me and left. It said: ‘I know nothing about Northern Ireland, but I just want you to know that you being honest about yourself is a really good thing.’” Now back from the US, with his last tour seven years ago, the comedian has happily settled into a new routine. “I can sneak off for a few days at the end of the week, tell some jokes, have a dad nap in the afternoon and pretend to [his wife] Cat that I’ve been working really hard,” Patrick says. Of Cambridge, he recalls merry, pint- grabbing audiences, with “A much more Irish vibe than I expected, so I’m kind of looking forward to getting back.” Catch Borderline at Key Theatre in
14+24 MAY
Peterborough on 14 May, and at Cambridge Junction on 24 May.
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK MAY 2022 41
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