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Any experiences with Irish "celebrities" ?

The_Dark_Lord

Ireland is a relatively small place so there's a good chance many people have met some we known Irish people. When I worked in a high profile hotel, I served many celebrities, not just Irish ones. Most of them were as you'd expect them to be. Gabriel Byrne was an absolute gentleman. Graham Norton was also wonderful. Brendan Gleeson was a lovely man.

Gerry Ryan, on the other hand, was awful. He was incredibly rude and obnoxious, and treated staff like they were beneath him. And strongly gave off the whole "do you know who I am?" vibe.

Have you ever met an Irish "celebrity", if so, what was your impression of them?

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PTH2009

Jack L was sitting in the same row as me at the 3Arena at a concert last October. He seemed sound when I siad hi too him

Met Ricky Warwick (frontman of Black Star Riders and was lead in recent reincarnation of Thin Lizzy) he was pretty sound. A lot taller than I expected

Came across Ray D'Arcy once and he wasn't overly friendly. Saw his name sake former Ireland and Leinster Rugby player Gordon D'Arcy in Dublin Airport and he seemed very chatty to those around him

Saw Pat Shortt coming out from a Munster match. Kind of kept to himself and wasn't in his acting mood

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119146684#Comment_119146684

I used to meet him a lot (friend of my parents). He could be hilarious. But he was very moody

Dr Turk Turkelton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119144241#Comment_119144241

You do realise that while sitting on your couch you have sat in Ronan O'Gara's dried in loads?

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147055#Comment_119147055

Gay and moody

Not uncommon

[Deleted User]

I've never met Marty Whelan; but his wonderful radio show in the morning is such an antidote to the world of outrage, anger, and immediate current affairs.

Pussyhands

Ken Doherty is a gent

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147280#Comment_119147280

He is , He stopped his car and let me out onto castle wood avenue , big smiley wave 😂

sam t smith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147190#Comment_119147190

You could start a people I’d like to meet thread.

KaneToad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147280#Comment_119147280

I second this. I've passed him on the street, mainly around Ranelagh, several times over the years. Always makes eye contact and says hello.

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119144689#Comment_119144689

Think they do piss on them

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119145321#Comment_119145321

I was waiting for this ! According to a previous thread packie blanks everyone 😂

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119145423#Comment_119145423

I had heard the same about Bonner and was really disappointed to hear it as he seems like a nice chap. Then I saw him in An Poitin Stil maybe 8 or 9 years ago eating his dinner with a friend of his. An elderly man was in with his son who had Down’s syndrome and he asked Bonner to get a photo with his son. Bonner got up and left his dinner and spent a good 10 minutes talking with the father and the son and got a photo and signed something the waitress gave him (could have been a menu!!!) and then sat back down to eat the rest of his, no doubt stone cold at this stage, dinner.

Bonner can be as rude as he likes to people but that was a really nice touch I thought and it says a lot about a person.

Hangdogroad

Didn't meet him exactly but was sitting in a train station overhearing Eoghan Harris engaged in a long conversation. Came across as every inch the pompous, self important windbag as he does in interviews and his articles.

Similarly didn't meet Michael Healy Rae but saw him mocking the busker Pecker Dunne as he passed him on the street in Killarney about twenty years ago. Was never keen on him to begin with but ever since, whenever I see the arsehole on telly I'm reminded of that.

Hangdogroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119145400#Comment_119145400

Bekind.

Slideways

Another person I met was Duncan Stewart. Was doing a cash job, ran a load of calves to Spain and was coming back with a load of onions, was maybe 2004/5

I bumped into him and he didn’t seem at all impressed to see someone from Ireland saying “ah jaysus, I know you”, in fact he was in a wojus hurry to get away from where I saw him.

sam t smith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147795#Comment_119147795

Spanish onions?

Slideways

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147804#Comment_119147804

Yes. Spanish onions from Spain..

CGI_Livia_Soprano

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147859#Comment_119147859

You know your onions.

Rothko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147652#Comment_119147652

"#Bekind"

EmmetSpiceland

#obsessed

fatbhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119145420#Comment_119145420

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119145400#Comment_119145400

What's with the personal attacks on the poster: comments about him having a chip on his shoulder. He's entitled to his opinion. and to express it without getting his character assassinated. So I suppose his comment was borne out of frustration. Take a look at yourselves.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147859#Comment_119147859

...are you sure of this, maybe they were onion Spanish from onion!

topcat72

In a past life when working in ( a then prominent) Dublin retailer

Morrissey ( of the Smiths, Not Marty) - came in on a mooch around , wearing a hoodie ( OK he's not irish per se, but..) was fine until he copped we recognised him , then turned on his heel.

Leo Varadkar - he was working in the same place ( as a student parttime job) - ironically he was almost permanently broke , spent a lot of his time talking to customers at work rather than , actually working . Had a certain awkwardness socially if he didnt know you ( he wasn't out at the time - at least not publically) , and most of the staff were what might be described as lefty types , so that made for interesting conversations. Had you told me then he was a future Taoiseach , I would have laughed.

Gay Byrne. One of those ' smaller in reality than you expected' people . As you'd expect from his public persona, very affable.

I can but echo the Brian O'Driscoll comments - saw him being extremely demanding to people who were working with him on a promo event ( from the promoter) . So much attitude. Hugely talented player, would not want to work for him.

CGI_Livia_Soprano

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147984#Comment_119147984

Thanks, fatbhoy. Rothko has a tendency to follow me around and make sly little digs at my posts and my signature. And this is not the first time I have gotten pushback from committing the cardinal sin of saying that professional rugby players are not saints, even if they are good players and “great craic” in interviews.

The fact of the matter is that rugby is played to a high level in only a handful of countries, as a minority sport at that (except maybe in New Zealand). Fair play to the few, posh, privileged, Irish richboys who can play it for being good at their niche game but the worship of the ground they walk on in Irish society is vomit inducing. It’s pathetic.

That won’t please everyone but the least people can do is not threaten me for it.

miamee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147313#Comment_119147313

I'd heard the same about Pat Kenny but everyone here seems to have had good experiences with him (I've never met him myself)

Reminded of a few more:

Kenneth Egan just after he'd won his gold medal, sound chap (I got to hold the medal 😁)

Pauline McLynn - hung out with her at Electric Picnic for a while in a larger goup, very chatty and lovely

Gordon Darcy - met him at a charity thing for Barretstown and got a pic with him, nice guy

Aidan Turner - didn't actually meet him but nearly fell into a real swoon when he walked in to the venue I was in once, not long after he'd done The Hobbit. A head turner with real presence in a room.

Camille O'Sullivan - very sound and lovely, down to earth while also very artsy/hippy or something, does her own thing

CaboRoig

I've posted on the thread but I'd completely forgotten that I met Micheál Martin walking a dog last Christmas up near the golf course in Mahon. I was walking a greyhound and we swapped dog tales for a minute or two. Not being from Cork myself, I found it hard to understand everything he said. The Cork accent must get stronger closer to home! But a very friendly man.

Arghus

Haven't really met a great deal of "famous" Irish people.

Served Tommy Tiernan and Hector, independently and not together, in a shop a few times. Hector usually had a baseball cap down over his face and didn't want to be hassled or recognised, which is fair enough, can't say whether he was pleasant or unpleasant - he made no impression really, which I'm sure was the effect he was after.

Tommy was completely ordinary. It was a bit surreal, every once in a while, to hear a "excuse me" and turn around and be face to face with Tommy Tiernan, as he asked with complete sincerity where the apples/milk/nappies or wherever were. It was a bit of a struggle to keep it together and stop myself from blurting out "Jesus, you're Tommy Tiernan!" I remember dying of a hangover one day and I heard the soft attempt to get my attention from a customer right behind me and I turned round - no doubt looking completely wild-eyed and smelling vaguely of drink - and there he was asking very quietly where such and such a product was. I didn't want to let on how utterly smashed and simultaneously low key star-struck I felt at suddenly such close quarters, so I overcorrected by being extremely stiff and matter of fact. He thanked me without much fuss, but there was a glint in his eye that he knew the craic.

David O' Doherty has been a gentleman any of the rare times I've met him.

Served Brendan Grace in the shop once. He was nice, but he was absolutely plastered.

Brenda Fricker was/is a totally ordinary person, who just happens to have won an Oscar at one stage. Zero airs or graces.

Saw Gabriel Bryne getting out of a bumper car once at a fairground, he looked to be with his kids and looked happy. That's it: my Gabriel Bryne story.

Alan Hughes. Everyone seems to have bumped into him at one stage. I've never met him, but I did see him eating outside a restaurant as part of a gang on Quay Street in Galway once. Oh, there's your man, I thought. I couldn't peer deeply into his soul or anything in that split second, but he did look like the type of customer, at first glance, who could end up being a pain in the arse.

Met Niall Quinn as a kid. He signed autographs for a line of about 50 kids and didn't seem to be too pissed off about it.

Briefly met John Giles at some event. He seemed like a nice man, but I felt a bit sorry for him. He was absolutely tiny and was just nursing a Bacardi and coke and obviously just turning up at the event to do his piece and then get out again as quickly as possible, you could tell he wasn't mad interested. It's a strange existence. Turning up at these roadshow type things, waiting for your turn to speak, eyeballing the exit the whole time, drunk people wanting a piece of you the whole time.

jimdemp

Sean Obrien the Leinster rugby player once Pissed on a woman in a pub who rejected him. Her screams were heart-breaking but eventually drown out by the laughter of the rugby players

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147066#Comment_119147066

Straight and moody.

Not uncommon either.

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119148027#Comment_119148027

Yup, chip on both your shoulders, all right.

I mean, what's this "played to a high level in only a handful of countries, as a minority sport at that" bull? I mean, see also American Football, baseball, Aussie Rules, and, er, well, Gaelic football and hurling!

The "posh" thing might have been true to some extent (outside Munster and Connacht) four decades ago, but we're not in the 1970s any more. But I'd take that over soccer players earning (I use the term loosely!) between STG£2.5 million and £20 million/year for a combination of football and acting skills, any day.

Or y'know - just let people enjoy what they enjoy?