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Brunker Meets...
amanda.brunker@sundayworld.com
ACTOR & COMEDIAN PAT SHORTT
'Making Killinaskully was great craic..we blew up tractors and rode horses about, it was nuts'
PAT SHORTT has come a hell of a long way since his 'Crazy Tom' days, where he used to terrorise tourists on Craggy Island, wearing his 'I Shot JR' t-shirt. He's had his mug on a stamp, won awards for his acting both here and abroad, and at the age of 45 (his birthday was Monday), he's entertained us with songs about Jumbo Breakfast Rolls and helped coin the immortal phrase 'dat's right'.
Campaign
Although filming on his much-loved Killinaskully has wrapped, Pat is back on the campaign trail to promote a new D'Unbelievables DVD - or "video" as he calls it - and a two-part Mattie TV special, which starts on St Stephen's Day.
"We've changed the character Mattie around; it's called Sergeant Mattie now. It's a whole new programme, a whole new cast and we've moved Mattie from the city back to the country," says Pat.
"Effectively, we did a Coronation Street on it; had a big tram accident and killed everyone off. I suppose we just decided to rejig it and get it back to the more Killinaskully style of madness."
The wacky fictional village remains close to his heart, even though it has become a victim of the downturn.
"We had great craic doing Killinaskully, but sadly budgets ended the run," he says. "We got six, seven years out of it. Every day was great craic, blowing up stuff and what not, but it was the cost of making it that ended it.
"We did it during the boom, when there was a lot of money floating about. We did big explosions, big cast days, you just couldn't
continue with it.
"Obviously with RTE funding it you couldn't let on you were having too much fun, but we were ridin' horses around fields, special effects guys filling up woods with smoke, blowing up tractors, it was nuts stuff. With Sergeant Mattie we're going back to that country madness, but on a lower budget..."
Demise
Despite the demise of the boom times, Pat can't complain about lack of work. "Right now I'm busy acting in a film called Life's a Breeze. When you're using your own material you can wander a bit with the script, but the director, Lance Daly, is very strict.There's no ad libbing, but I haven't been put on the naughty step yet."
Pat's movie career really took off after the success of the critically acclaimed Garage. "I've no idea how many movies I've made now. I'd say 20 or more at this stage. I suppose I've done a lot of movies noone has ever heard of," he chuckles.
"I would consider myself more an actor than a comedian anyway because I feel that my comedy is based on acting out a character.
"After Garage did well at The Cannes Film Festival, I started getting calls in the middle of the night from agents in LA. There was loads of interest, people trying to set up meetings, but I never made it out.
"I'm currently working on a new show that will happen next year. After I finish on this film I'll start work on that and then I have another film starting at the beginning of the summer.
"I'll be touring the new material around a lot of small venues but there's a lot of interest from abroad so the aim is to take the tour to other countries.
"I've had huge interest to go to Australia. I was just talking to Jason Byrne and he's huge over there. I think he's one of the funniest guys in the country. Sadly the market is getting smaller here so you have to spread it out a bit."
Being one of RTE's golden boys and a regular cover star for the RTE Guide Christmas edition, I was interested to hear how he felt
about sharing the limelight with Brendan O'Carroll this Christmas?
The Finglas funnyman gets pride of place in the Christmas Day TV schedules with his Mrs Brown show. It's a hit with the viewers but regularly gets mauled by critics, something Pat knows all about.
Abuse
"Ah listen, we got awful abuse for Killinaskully," he says. "There were a couple of journalists who were scathing of us, but the audiences were massive. There's a big audience for Brendan and he's one of the funniest guys I've met.
"What he's done in the UK alone has been great. In a way it reminds me of the Father Ted days, where one success paves the path for more Irish comedy.
"I've been approached about doing something and I know Chris O'Dowd is doing one with Sky, so opportunities are opening up."
Sergeant Mattie is on RTE ONE St Stephen's Day at 6.25pm and December 27 at 8:30pm.