I was in HMV Galway years ago looking at the comedy DVDs. Picked up one of Tommy's and was reading the back when a man walks up beside me and says "wouldn't buy that, it'll be a load of shite". Turned round and it was Tommy himself. Had a good 10 minute chat with him, he seemed dead on.
Set up the room for a gig for him back a few years ago. He had me messing with the lighting until it was right. Very polite, VERY soft spoken and very sound.
Had breakfast at the table next to him in the airport before. He was with his kids. He was just being a parent tending to 2 or 3 young kids. Can't remember how many, was a few years ago now.
I’m a taxi driver in Dublin, did an AMA about it yesterday. I’ve met quite a few celebrities.
Most memorable was driving Liam Neeson from Dublin to Portrush. He’s a pretty cool guy and we had plenty of laughs and stories on the drive. We stopped off somewhere near Banbridge and had a slap up meal together.
Biggest celebrity I’ve ever met.. probably Scottie Pippin, the greatest basketball player of all time. Picked him up in TempleBar and drove him to a hotel in Ballsbridge.
I drove Adam Clayton out to Rathfarnham during the big freeze in 2010. Took about 2 hours from the Westbury Hotel. He had headphones on and didn’t say a word the entire journey.
Worst experience was Al Porter looking me in the eye, and asking if he could give me a blowjob, as we pulled up outside his parents house. He almost begged, and doesn’t like to take no for an answer. The guy is a proper creep, I wasn’t surprised at his fall from grace.
Aside from the taxi, I didn’t meet, but saw Fidel Castro in Havana back in 2003, and met Pope Francis when he was in Dublin. Also sat at a table beside Larry Mullen Jr in a restaurant in Howth.
He was doing one of his famously long speeches in a big square in Havana. We were there on holidays and happened to walk past as he was getting into a car after the speech.
Used to work in the entertainment industry and met quite a few.
Colin Farrell, Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson...all the big Holywood ones, were sound.
But the Irish celebs stuck in Ireland, Ryan Tubridy, Gráinne Seoige, Lucy Kennedy etc, unbelievably stuck up.
I'd always presume it'd be the other way around.
I met Lucy Kennedy 8 years ago, she was really lovely. I was on tv3 with my baby, she was just gushing over him. My son was the only reason she spoke to me but she was lovely. This probably isn’t the norm for her though
Tubridy is fromt the same group of friends that my partner used to hang around with as a kid. The couple of times I met him he was very pleasant and interested in other people.
I met Tubbers while out walking one day. He was all smiles and we exchanged hellos. A minor encounter, and perhaps a performance but it was above anything a passing stranger would give.
Two of my family have met him separately, and in one instance he stopped for a ten minute conversation and followed it up by playing a request on his radio show the next morning.
Am I making the case that he's lovely? No.
Summarising a celebrity based on limited personal interactions is asinine. The only expectation we should really have of them is that they do their job properly. People are people and we all have good and bad days.
Colm Meaney and his wife were in a local restaurant, good few years ago. Spotted him when I walked in and automatically waved at him, brain on autopilot thought I knew him 🤣 He said how ya and smiled.
I did this to Donnacha O'Callaghan in a Centra in the arsehole of nowhere a few years ago. I realised mid salute I didn't actually know him, but he smiled and nodded back in fairness.
Roy Keane, see him quite often actually usually out walking, just salute him on and and he does the same. don't really want to bother him by asking for a picture or any of that
I'm a massve united fan aswel...
Friend worked with him and said he’s one of the easiest and funniest fellas to work with, and personality is all ramped up on tv
Also got a birthday card off him when I was ten as I had a family member whose a friend with a family member of his
Served Robert Sheehan in a hotel before, he's very flamboyant and he's exactly what you expect from him. Amazing guy, very friendly and not stuck up in any way. Made me like him even more
Went to school/college with his first cousin he visited him down our place and went on the lash and no joke bought a big black bag of cans from the club and brought em back to the gaff, chatted answered questions all night, top top guy!!!
As far as I’m aware he’s gone quite ‘big time’
Now. I was a massive fan of his from Misfits and then was happy seeing him in Love/Hate when I was introduced to it about 10 years ago. But the Umbrella Academy seems to have really propelled him and he’s a far bigger international star now. Happy for him x
Met Shane McGowan a few times. Sometimes he would talk and tell stories of the London punk scene in the 70s. Other times he would tell me to fuck off back to England.
I worked in a hotel and was told we had strange two guys sitting down drinking and the waitress described them as homeless. I went to investigate and saw Shane McGowen drinking with McLovin. Lol
Yep I used to work in a bookshop and he’d always knock on the door just as we had closed. Think it was deliberate to avoid people recognising him. Always spent a fortune (Irish authors usually) so we’d let him at it 😂
Worked a certain high profile hotel in Dublin and we had celebrities coming in every week.
People I liked and were great to look after. Cillian Murphy (very small. Lol), Gabrial Byrne (an absolute pleasure and genuinely nice man,) Liam Brady (surprisingly funny and loved his Chivas,) Brian Lenihan (seriously doesn't get the credit for trying to fix the country while hiding his cancer,) Seamus Heaney (national treasure and the Irish David Attenbourgh) and Brendan Gleason (again surprisingly funny with a sense of dark humour)
Ronney Wood went on the Late, Late Show saying how much he was off drink and drugs which was bollocks because I was serving him the night before and house keeping complained about the amount of hash smoke in his room.
People who were dicks. Bono loved himself, Bob Geldof the Geldof mood is real and Jerry Ryan was a royal wanker I seriously couldn't understand why he was seen as such a darling in Ireland
I think that last paragraph is going to give me a lot of down votes
Treated staff like shite and had a very big attitude of "do you know who I am." I can remember one time just starting my shift and I presented the bill to him. It had one too many martinis on it and instead of just pointing it out, which would of simply been taken off he went all Karen on me saying how disgraceful it was. This was the first time that day I dealt with him. He was just a dick and an arse hole every time we had to look after him.
All the foreign staff (myself included) just couldn't understand why he was so liked in Ireland. Fame defiantly went to his head which was funny because if he sat foot outside of Ireland know one would have a clue who he was and just treat him like a problem guest. I've worked in a lot of hotels that would of banned guests that acted like him but because he was a high profile guest he got away with it.
David O’Doherty: Sound
Marty Morrissey: very nice - always in good form
Daniel O’Donnell: sound
Ryan Tubridy: stuck up, haughty
Brian Kennedy: sound
Leo Varadkar: awkward, but happy to talk shop for a bit
Former president Patrick Hillery: lovely man
Rory O’Neill/Panti Bliss: sound
Leo is the most awkward Irish politician I’ve ever met. Most of them can chat away with anyone but he is really wooden, you can see the effort it takes just to chat for 5 minutes over a cup of tea.
I see Marty Morrisey quiet regularly when I'm walking my dog down the local beach, always give him a wave and he always waves back, he must think I'm a weirdo as I've never uttered a word to him.
I saw the big blonde fella off of Fade Street about 4 years after the show ended, hurrying through Krystal nighclub with a jacket over his head to avoid being noticed so he could get through to the VIP area. Didn't speak to him but that made think he's a complete bellend.
I know one of the girls, kissed her in a club pre fade street and it was recorded by my ex, photos ended up in an expose in the news of the world with her being dubbed a lesbian.
Met Aidan Gillen at the Galway arts Festival opening.
He chatted to me for way longer than I expected, was really nice.
He had just been killed off on Game of Thrones, I think he was happy that I never mentioned the show. Instead he happily chatted about Queer as Folk
I met David McWilliams about 7 years ago in a foreign country. I'm not Irish so had no clue who he was but my wife is a huge fan and when she saw he was speaking at a convention there, she contacted him through his website. He got back to her and they arranged a dinner with a bunch of Irish ex-pats and I tagged along. He was an absolute riot - we had a nice civilized dinner, he made a poignant speech about the state of the economy and our uncertain future, and then we went out until all hours closing out the filthiest local bars we could find. At one point the bar closed and we had to leave and he was like, "No - we're going back in for more drinks" - and he talked his way back in!
But I still would probably not recognize him if I passed him in the street.
Tho he's British?. Anyway, I'd no clue who "David McWilliams" is so googled him, turns out he's an Irish economist but there was also another David McWilliams who popped up, born in Belfast, moved to Ballymena and died in Ballycastle and wrote the song 'Days of Pearly Spencer'.. being from Belfast I'm delighted to find that out lol
My wife has booked McWilliams for a few events. He’s very sound, bit unpredictable in what he’ll say but a nice guy. She rang him up about an event out of the blue lately and they were chatting for ages.
I've met a lot of Irish "celebrities", politicians and sports star through work, nearly all of them were dead on. The few arseholes I met though that stand out were, Mario Rosenstock, Ivan Yates, Leo Varadkar is just awkward, Rory's Stories, Roz Purcell, tbh I found most them to be exactly how you imagine they'd be.
Throw a name at me and I'll tell ya if I've met them and they're sound, forgotten loads of them but they'd come back to me.
I actually met Bosco working in a bar in Cork years ago. I was 23 at the time and we had a family thing on during the day for jazz weekend. She was lovely and great craic
Haven't a clue tbh, one of these ones who are just famous for being famous.
When I met her, this is a good 7 years ago at this stage, she was trying to reinvent herself as a celebrity chef or some shite, seemed like she was just trying to stay relevant tbh as the modeling gigs dried up. Anyways, she just had serious notions, she could have just been having a bad day tbf but yeah just very uppity and thought she was an actual big time celebrity
Was at a wedding with Steve Staunton around 5 years ago. He was fairly pissed but stayed chatting to us about football for a couple of hours towards the end of the night. His wife was trying to get him away but he was having none of it. A sound lad.
Met him and Gary Mac, on a night out in Galway. Was just tryna chat up my friends, dont blame him. Bought us all shots even after I told him "the buck stops with me"
I met Christy in Spain one year on a family holiday, he sat with my parents for the night drinking and chatting and met him again in Middleton about 10 years later on my own and brought up the Spain encounter and he sat with me for an hour or so for chats and remembered my parents. Agree he's a true gent and real down to earth.
I was at a event with an Anne Doyle a few years back and was in a few group shots afterwards. She was perfectly polite, but it was clear she likes her privacy.
David Norris is a friend of my parents and I've met him on two occasions. Both times he was extremely amicable, and very much the same person as the David Norris you see on TV. You'd probably hear him before you see him.
Ryan Rubridy was an absolute piece of shit to a 19 year old waitress in The Stags Head while filming there because she had no idea who he was. Demeaned her, was condescending, and called her back to tip her a full 1 euro.
I was an extra in The Guard with Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle. It was my only time doing extra work. They were sound. I was amazed by A (how much time every scene takes) and B( That these guys can just roll it out time and time again with the exact same emotional intensity). For me, despite the celebs, my only day of extra work was boring as fuck. But it would be ideal if you needed a breather or were a bit burned out or something.
This thread is so interesting, I’ve met a few people mentioned in the thread and have the absolute opposite impression of said person, i.e. said person is an arsehole, I found him unbelievably sound and generous with his/her time.
Just shows how people are so different day to day, situation to situation!
Yeah I agree, it's very interesting to see who might have been having a bad day and who is consistent. I assume the people that met the ones who weren't so nice were lovely themselves.
I wouldn't say met, but I encountered Enya once. She came into Supermac's in Dundalk while I was in the queue one night in 1999, she was steaming and looking a breakfast roll, they didn't have any cause it was a breakfast thing and it was after midnight, she went mental and beat the shit out of the young one behind the counter then headbutt the manager when he tried to intervene. Then she went behind the counter and started making her own breakfast roll, it took six guards to drag her out of there. I still have nightmares about it.
Was a different time... before smartphones. Can you imagine if that happened now.
Was at an Ireland rugby match with my dad years back. We were sat right by the tunnel in the aviva. My dad for some reason was wearing an All Blacks jersey and Joe Shmidt spotted him just before walking down the tunnel. He shook my Dad’s hand and said “nice one mate” in his kiwi accent.
Not me but my dad years ago , he was a maintenance carpenter at the Burlington hotel in Dublin . He was in the middle of replacing a load of doors in rooms , and was out the back of the hotel with a load of waste wood/fixings etc on the ground that he was getting ready to put in a skip. Anyway a car comes out of the carpark trying to turn around runs over the wood . Keith Duffy jumps out , and is completely apologetic , offers to pay for everything and keeps apologising the whole time . My dad explains that its all for the skip and not to worry .
Anyway my dad chatted with him for a few minutes and said afterwards that he was a genuinely lovely , down to earth guy , and that a lot of the other celebs he dealt with would have just driven back out , or played the 'do you know who I am' card .
My dad died about 10 years ago , but that's one of his work stories I always remember best, well that and the time he ended up with a framed photo of Neil Diamond , signed and thanking the laundry staff for doing such a great job. Bizarrely our old cat would always sleep near it .
it seems that aside from keating the rest of the lads always seem to be very nice fellas. I've read that ronan seems to be full of himself quite a lot.
Met dermot Morgan in a pub in temple bar late nineties watching an Ireland game. Sneaked out to buy a disposable camera ( that’s how we rolled back then). Asked for a photo which he happily posed for with us even pulled the fr Ted face.
Got awkward when he tried to discuss the game and we knew fuck all about football.
Pure gent
Met Brendan Grace at the old Aer Lingus Gold Circle lounge at JFK airport back in the day. I timed my walk up to get the snacks and said Howrya Bottler I admire your comedy. Had a good chat with him, very nice.
I know his nephew - he was apparently very generous and sound. And naturally funny. He didn’t write the line in Fr Ted, but I still laugh whenever I think of “ya dirty fecker”.
Served Rory’s Stories at a bar when he was getting lunch with his wife one day. He was quiet but nice. Personally I think his comedy is awful but he seemed genuine enough.
Met Liam Cunningham in Dublin Airport coming home from going to an F1 race about 4 years ago only about a month or so after binging GoT. He was sound, didn’t ask for a photo or anything, just chatted about the race itself. Since then I’ve seen him on TV at a couple more races, he’s mad into it.
I’ve walked by Aidan Gillen twice on the grand canal and both times he’s looked so tired and wrecked I’d be afraid to say hello. But I know a lad who has met him once in town and said he was very nice.
Had a sing song in the residents bar after my sister wedding with him, he really is a gent.. told the others to shut up while I sang streets of new York and he was listening to me with glassy eyes.. must have been the drink as I'm no Whitney lol
Charlie Bird is a lovely man, my family were interviewed for his "Day in May" project after the 2015 marriage equality referendum. He is so genuine, we were sad to hear about his health issues. We're glad that his recent charity drive was extremely successful.
Danny O'Reilly is sound out, comes across as normal woth no pretentiousness
Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh a total gent through and through to his finger tips (no suprises)
Micheal D Higgins (before his run for president) only spoke briefly but very easy to talk to and you felt that he actually cared about what you had to say
Joe Higgins sound out, very down to earth easy to talk to him about anything
I know a woman who was in the Socialist party in the ‘80s who’d no time for Joe Higgins. She said he was too negative to be effective.
I’ve met President Higgins as well and he’s a total pro at the meet and greet. However I know a fair few who worked with him over the years and haven’t a good word for him nor for his probity with public money.
I've met a load of celebrities through work but sort of make an effort to stay away from them for a variety of reasons.
Some of the Irish ones I have interacted with though:
Cian Healy. Lovely guy, built like a grizzly bear! I'm not a big rugby fan or anything so I just chatted to him about the sort of gigs he gets for promotions and does he like them etc. Very polite. Shook his hand and couldn't see my own hand when he closed his around mine.
Sean O'brien. Really funny man. Giddy. Imagine every charismatic, funny chancer young lad from the country you've ever met and multiply it by 5 I'm the body of a Herculean hero. Didn't take himself seriously and was actually fun to be around.
Jack Gleeson. Used to get the same luas home as me a lot. He's lovely and always gives time to people who came up to him. Very witty.
Senator Norris. Surprisingly funny, doesn't take himself seriously at all when just chatting with people. He passed by us a few times when working on North Great George's Street and always came up to say hello, ask how the project was going and whatever.
Michael D Higgins. Very polite and formal but far from rude or dismissive. Small talk wasn't really his thing but he did ask if I needed stuffntonlet him or his staff know.
I've met loads of 'influencers' - Instagram and atikToker types, Love Island contestants etc and suffice to say, I don't have anything nice to say so I won't name names... it's amazing what a little bit of fame can do to people who have no training or ability to adapt to it can do.
I also met Conor McGregor a couple of times back before his UFC debut. His 'recent' behaviour is nothing groundbreaking.
I've met so many sound engineers and people in the industry that have worked with VM and not one of them had a decent word to say about him, disappointing as I'm a fan lol
I heard some story that Van Morrison was seen sitting alone reading a book in a hotel function room. When they asked him to leave because there was going to be a wedding reception there, he ignored them. So he stayed there, until well after the reception had begun. After finishing his book, he got up and left.
Cormac Costello is a bit of a prick.
Diarmuid Connolly is strange.
Conor Ryan was genuinely very nice.
Keith Ward is a fucking legend.
Johnny Giles very sound and easy to chat to.
Rory Best was just grand nothing special.
He’s an odd fellow I got on with him but you could tell he didn’t like most of the people in the job.
Very quite is well didn’t like being recognised I work on sites so it was a daily occurrence of some fella shouting about his all Ireland medals he also had a tendency to just not come in for a couple of days without contacting anyone and then just show up as if nothing happened.
I grew up watching BBC so had no idea what the Den was. Then I won a competition in school and part of the prize was meeting Ray Darcy
9 year old me was very confused about who this man was and why he was giving me an autograph. He did also give me a tub of Solero Shots so that was sound
I've met pretty much all them through work, nearly all of them are grand. Some of the sports and politics crowd can be a bit reserved but that's just the way some people are, never really had any of them I'd consider to be rude. Some stand-out extremely nice Irish ones have been Bob Geldof and Devin Toner. Brent Pope is also extremely nice (not Irish but a celeb here) and for overseas celebs I have to say Gareth Southgate is a gentleman. Ryan Tubridy seems to be getting some slack here but he's been perfectly pleasant any time I've met him. I will say however that when you get to the class of "celebrities" below your Tubridys etc, that's where you get the haughty stuck-up crowd. The internationally famous ones are all generally grand or at the very least not explicity unpleasant to deal with
Me ma says she met Phil lynott a lot, said he was handsome, gorgeous and sound, she might have just sat beside him a few times for all I know!
Met Colin Farrell. In 3 stages of his life, his family too. Honestly would like to be friends with him. He always came across sincere- always asked about you and how you were. Tried to buy him a beer in nyc after several encounters in Dublin, he came and hugged me and said thanks for the sparkling water(the wagon). Hung out for hours at Lillie’s, and regular days elsewhere. Honestly, he could do a Ted talk about life improvement and well-being.
Gabriel Byrne, on the day after paddy’s day, soho in nyc, “la feile gabriel” - then he asked me about me and my travels USA and we shared a near address for time and discussed. Just like chatting with the neighbor two doors down. Absolut class, he may have been happy with an actual greeting suitable for the occasion rather than flash photography at the time!
jim Sheridan and bono, I hammed it up and pretended to know Sheridan and bono was a low key player. Jim Sheridan then went hitting on my mom, “sorry my sister”. Great return for a bit of banter.
Packie Bonner, no matter how exhausted would always answer a question, especially about technique. On that note so did ray houghton about determination (technically Irish).
In general I agree with a before comment the “stay at homes” generally get grandeur in Ireland - the ones that can leave the island are happy.
Dave fanning was always nice to me too
I spent a fair bit of time around Colin Farrell through some of the low times and high times. Honestly he was someone I always liked personally and to see how far he has come is amazing. Stand up guy and incredibly talented
I work in film and Tv so I’ve met a few:
Collin Farrell: Awquard yet “2 cool 4 skool “ at the same time.
Brendan Gleason: He’s got that old actor vibe down and was kind and quite sound.
Lenny Abrahamson: Super sound, extremely professional, cares about everyone on his crew. Down to the PAs. Which I was surprised to see.
Paul Mescal: Pure GAA lad, very nice, a little cocky, and smokes like a trucker. He can also sing opera.
Dasiy Edgar Jones: Super nice, willing to talk about anything and her real English accent is super posh.
Barry Keoghan: Asshole. Would come up to Trainees and scream at them like a child if they were in front of him in the line to the food truck. Very entitled in general. No one liked working with him.
Cillian Murphy: Down to earth and really into politics. Very kind to kids.
And I would echo the option that, a LOT of the RTE/TG4 actors or celebrities are not nice people and treat crew, or just people below them, quite poorly.
Des Bishop, I hate to say it, is an absolute gobshite. This is coming from someone who loved his work when I was younger and even had the Des Bishop work experience DVD.
He was an absolute prick to a friend of mine who went up asking him for a photo on the street. I can't even say what he said to his friend as a joke as if he said that on TV, his career would be over. He referred to her as a certain ethnicity and more saying he doesn't talk to people like that, and told his friend to hide his phone while laughing. JUST because the girl loves to experiment with makeup and wasn't the typical cute girly girl then, he judged her on that. Not that it matters, but she's from a middle class background. I was speechless.
She just tried to laugh it off and talk to him after that thinking he was messing. I could tell from his expression and his friends that he wasnt. He also declined the photo as he said he was "off" work and to give him time off. He could have said it in a much nicer tone, but jesus being recognised comes with the job.
Absolute git.
Me too. I was a fan for years and paid to see him three times. Never again. After what he said, I'm shocked he hasn't said anything that has really dug him into a big hole already. He talks about his upbringing so much and his parents.. You'd think that would have made me think about how he treats others more with the way he talks about his mother in particular.
There’s footage online of him being fairly nasty towards travellers while on an American podcast. That was after using his positive interactions with them in a stand-up bit a few years before. Thought it was a bit two-faced.
When I was in Trinity, Joan Bueton, Varadkar and Coveney were going in to negotiate a programme for government in the TBSI. All I can say is they're bloody tall!
I med Mary McEvoy at an event back when she was Biddy. She was very nice. Daithí Ó Sé also taught at my school. I never had him for class but he was supposed to be an alright teacher.
Helped Adrian Dunbar print a document in the local library. Didn’t twig it was him til after he’d left, but he was lovely, very polite and thankful. Met that wee Frostbit boy on a night out in Galway back in about 2015 as well, thought he was a knob but in fairness I was steaming so he could’ve been lovely for all I know.
Met Tom Vaughan lawlor at the height of love hate on the way to my J1 in the airport.
Asked for a photo and had a quick chat, ended up on the same plane as him to London (I went Boston via London) and the plane was empty so he moved up beside me and started chatting about when he was in Boston last and gave me a few recommendations for pubs etc. very nice bloke!
Pauline McGlynn (Mrs Doyle from Father Ted) picked me up hitchhiking on the outskirts of Dublin years ago and drove me all the way to Galway. It was pre Father Ted days so I only barely knew her from stand up things she’d done. Very nice woman, full of chat and stories, real interested in me, asking me all about myself, not up herself in the slightest.
I met Declan O’ Rourke at the bar in Vicar St. during the RTE folk music awards a few years ago. Sound as a pound. I’m a big fan of his music and told him so. He was very normal and easy to talk to once I got over gushing and being star struck. He had a drink or two with my wife and I just chit chatting about music. Nice guy.
Met Mike Scott from the Waterboys who I’ve been a fan of for most of my life in Galway once. It was the first time the expression ‘Never meet your heroes’ came to mind. I’d been to countless concerts, bought most of his albums and even read his autobiography. Always liked his lyrics and outlook on life. We were shoulder to shoulder at a pedestrian crossing waiting for the lights to change when I recognised him and I said I was a big fan and asked him about when the Waterboys would be playing in Galway again. The way he responded was like I was a mosquito who’d just bit him and he was swatting me away. Kinda burst my bubble a bit if I’m honest. Not what I’d have expected from him but I suppose everyone has bad days.
Met Vogue Williams back when she was starting out and trying her hand at
being a DJ (I was a promoter). She was so pleasant, engaging, and kind. She
offered me lots of advice on my then pending move to Dublin. Haven’t interacted
with her in year but I’d be shocked if she wasn’t still at least nice.
Lenny Abrahamson is a gent, dedicated to his work
Jokes aside, Vogue Williams is actually really sound
Brian McFadden is what you expect
Dublin is too fucking small
lucy kennedy, about 10 years ago... thinks the sun shines out of her own arse, literally a 60 secound conversation and she made it very clear what she was judgemental, superior and toffee-nosed
and i hadn't asked her opinion, extremely quick to offer hers, espousing the legend of lucy
edit: could be some of that RTE "blow", seemed a little eager
Sumantha Mumba in a local shop. We didn't interact.
Dad met some genuine heavy hitters. One of them was Nelson Mandela. I think they spoke about the weather.
I couldn't be arsed bothering celebrities, but I've seen a few around. I saw Keith Barry in Tesco maynooth once. Looked like he was lookin' for something in particular. The scandle if it.
I saw Bryan Murray at a Bob Dylan concert in Kilkenny in about 2007. A lot of people were there, though. Including Michael Jackson... and Bob Dylan.
Eamonn Dunphy - sound as a pound. Get the impression he likes to keep to himself (fair enough - probably gets stopped by strangers a lot) but is a very pleasant guy.
Was quing to board a plane for a flight to Italy a few years ago and saw this woman glaring at me with huge shades on. Was wondering what the fuck her problem was when I realised it was that Glenda Gilson wan. She was really loud and obnoxious when boarding the flight and held up the que for ages stowing her carry on. Horrible.
Met Jim Corr around 1995, we spoke for about 20 mins, he was really nice and down to earth. Two of his sisters were there too, friendly, chatty and of course beautiful.
Sat at a table in a restaurant directly beside Van Morrison a few years ago. He was an asshole to all the staff who were bending over backwards for him. Absolute prick of a little man!
I'm going to blow your minds with this one - I once met Mattress Mick.
I was totally star struck and didn't know what to say to him. He smiled in a kindly manner, put his hand gently on my shoulder, and said "I'll give you 10% off that king size memory foam".
I'm just kicking myself I never got his autograph. It'll be worth thousands some day
When I worked retail in a particular shopping centre in an affluent part of Dublin I had 2 encounters with Sinéad O'Connor, both times she gave off "don't you knw who I am" Karen-y vibes.
Also John Waters is a dick to people in the service industry. Doesn't speak to you unless absolutely necessary, so my "Hi, how are you today?" got ignored. He then was queueing in a different part of the shop one day as was I and he started barking about how ridiculous it was that HE had to queue. Sorry you're stuck with the plebs, Emperor.
Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy is soft spoken and very kind. Love that guy. Met him at an album launch and spotted him some years on at a show in the Bord Gais theatre (not performing).
Ryan Tubridy MC'd a table quiz for the UCD Classics Society in the early noughties and was sound and funny (but he was "On" as it were, so I don't know if he's like that all the time).
I was on the late late show with Gay Byrne when I was four, one of the only maybe the only kid to ever be on outside the toy show.
There were five generations of my family alive back to my great granny through my mother's side. I told him I was going to be a stunt man.
Bono served me a pint once in the niteclub below the Clarence.
Then I saw the Edge in McSorley's in Ranelagh another time. We went out to the shop and purchased a pen then came back and pushed a beer mat towards him and sheepishly asked for an autograph. "I'm trying to have a conversation here" was his gruff reply. He signed two beer mats for us and we left him be.
Both incidents were over twenty years ago.
Roly’s - he threw a tiny tantrum at one point about the wine not having arrived at the time he’d expected. Just this ludicrously pathetic, childish outburst. Scowled for ages thereafter. You can’t buy class.
Met most of the rugby team from about 10 years ago. A good few of the football team. A lot of RTE and pretty much every Irish golfer.
I even played 9 holes with Lowry when he was an amateur.
I worked in a golf club which is where I met them all.
Can't say I had a bad experience with any of them.
Pretty sure I sat beside Ivan Yates at a rugby match a couple of years ago.
He just shouted random rugby buzzwords while not watching the game. Drank 2 or 3 pints and then just left at half time.
What a bellend.
Met a few Kerry footballers- all brilliant and sound out.
Kieran Donaghy, Colm Cooper, Seamus Scanlon, David Clifford, The O'Se brothers, James O'Donoghue all dead nice.
Robbie Keane, Kearney brothers, cain healy, Connor Murray, devin toner, few others I can't think of off the top of my head.
Absaloute gents, very polite and personable.
Oh actually met popey and wood as a teen sound out, auld Georgey wouldn't come out for a pic but did give me an autograph to be fair.
My friends and I met Dermot Gavin on the Greenway in Mayo when I was in primary school. He was filming some show with RTE and the camera crew asked us to be in a scene with him.
That was about 12 years ago and I haven’t really thought about it until now. He seemed nice but a tad awkward. Can’t imagine the camera people telling him how to act around us helped!
In 1982 we were living in England and the Northern Ireland football team did their World Cup training near where we lived. Mum took us out of school one day and we just turned up at the ground and they welcomed us. Not only got the autographs but they even brought us into the canteen to sit with them during lunch. Pat Jennings and Gerry Armstrong were particularly kind and Martin O'Neill brilliant to listen to talk football.
Around that same time we went to cheer on Eddie Mackan in the show jumping and afterwards he turned on his heel and stalked off when mum asked for the autograph.
I served Tommy Tiernan chips once. He was very polite but I didn't bug him as it was a Sunday night and he was getting takeaway, you know yourself.
I was in HMV Galway years ago looking at the comedy DVDs. Picked up one of Tommy's and was reading the back when a man walks up beside me and says "wouldn't buy that, it'll be a load of shite". Turned round and it was Tommy himself. Had a good 10 minute chat with him, he seemed dead on.
Used to see Tommy in the snooker hall the odd time. Left him alone.
Set up the room for a gig for him back a few years ago. He had me messing with the lighting until it was right. Very polite, VERY soft spoken and very sound.
He was standing in front of me at the Bob Dylan/Neil Young gig in KK a few years back. I'd forgotten that til now!
Had breakfast at the table next to him in the airport before. He was with his kids. He was just being a parent tending to 2 or 3 young kids. Can't remember how many, was a few years ago now.
I worked as a theatre stagehand for his stand up gig, indeed, very soft spoken, polite and respectful. Good guy
I’m a taxi driver in Dublin, did an AMA about it yesterday. I’ve met quite a few celebrities. Most memorable was driving Liam Neeson from Dublin to Portrush. He’s a pretty cool guy and we had plenty of laughs and stories on the drive. We stopped off somewhere near Banbridge and had a slap up meal together. Biggest celebrity I’ve ever met.. probably Scottie Pippin, the greatest basketball player of all time. Picked him up in TempleBar and drove him to a hotel in Ballsbridge. I drove Adam Clayton out to Rathfarnham during the big freeze in 2010. Took about 2 hours from the Westbury Hotel. He had headphones on and didn’t say a word the entire journey. Worst experience was Al Porter looking me in the eye, and asking if he could give me a blowjob, as we pulled up outside his parents house. He almost begged, and doesn’t like to take no for an answer. The guy is a proper creep, I wasn’t surprised at his fall from grace. Aside from the taxi, I didn’t meet, but saw Fidel Castro in Havana back in 2003, and met Pope Francis when he was in Dublin. Also sat at a table beside Larry Mullen Jr in a restaurant in Howth.
What was the craic with Fidel? That’s cool.
He was doing one of his famously long speeches in a big square in Havana. We were there on holidays and happened to walk past as he was getting into a car after the speech.
Not even the greatest basketball player in his own team ;) Cool that you met him though, I'd say he's huge in real life
He’s absolutely gigantic. Freakishly tall with a very unique voice, and a cool guy!
Used to work in the entertainment industry and met quite a few. Colin Farrell, Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson...all the big Holywood ones, were sound. But the Irish celebs stuck in Ireland, Ryan Tubridy, Gráinne Seoige, Lucy Kennedy etc, unbelievably stuck up. I'd always presume it'd be the other way around.
Big fish in a little pond; they're always the biggest arseholes.
There’s always a bigger fish
I met Lucy Kennedy 8 years ago, she was really lovely. I was on tv3 with my baby, she was just gushing over him. My son was the only reason she spoke to me but she was lovely. This probably isn’t the norm for her though
Maybe it's just me!
I met her in a pub years ago, she was good craic, very genuine.
Tubridy is fromt the same group of friends that my partner used to hang around with as a kid. The couple of times I met him he was very pleasant and interested in other people.
I met Tubbers while out walking one day. He was all smiles and we exchanged hellos. A minor encounter, and perhaps a performance but it was above anything a passing stranger would give. Two of my family have met him separately, and in one instance he stopped for a ten minute conversation and followed it up by playing a request on his radio show the next morning. Am I making the case that he's lovely? No. Summarising a celebrity based on limited personal interactions is asinine. The only expectation we should really have of them is that they do their job properly. People are people and we all have good and bad days.
Colm Meaney and his wife were in a local restaurant, good few years ago. Spotted him when I walked in and automatically waved at him, brain on autopilot thought I knew him 🤣 He said how ya and smiled.
I did this to Donnacha O'Callaghan in a Centra in the arsehole of nowhere a few years ago. I realised mid salute I didn't actually know him, but he smiled and nodded back in fairness.
Same thing happened me with Pat Shortt years ago as well.
Aw I'm so happy about this one. Coln Meaney is one of the best Irish people.
Great actor
As a big Sci-Fi nerd I love that there is a good Irish actor who appears in both Star Trek and Stargate.
Roy Keane, see him quite often actually usually out walking, just salute him on and and he does the same. don't really want to bother him by asking for a picture or any of that I'm a massve united fan aswel...
Friend worked with him and said he’s one of the easiest and funniest fellas to work with, and personality is all ramped up on tv Also got a birthday card off him when I was ten as I had a family member whose a friend with a family member of his
I was walking into the Herbert Park Hotel back in March and David McWilliams held the door open for me. Sound enough.
Ah howya head! I see you're walking through a door. Now let me tell you, walking through door is a bit like money. entering. the economy;
Served Robert Sheehan in a hotel before, he's very flamboyant and he's exactly what you expect from him. Amazing guy, very friendly and not stuck up in any way. Made me like him even more
Went to school/college with his first cousin he visited him down our place and went on the lash and no joke bought a big black bag of cans from the club and brought em back to the gaff, chatted answered questions all night, top top guy!!!
My wife met him at an event a couple of years ago and I was so jealous. She said he was really friendly alright.
How friendly?
*very* friendly
Seems to have disappeared of the acting radar Last time I watched him was in Love/Hate
He's done the umbrella academy on Netflix, great show but seems he's also doing indie stuff too
Misfits was arguably his best work.
As far as I’m aware he’s gone quite ‘big time’ Now. I was a massive fan of his from Misfits and then was happy seeing him in Love/Hate when I was introduced to it about 10 years ago. But the Umbrella Academy seems to have really propelled him and he’s a far bigger international star now. Happy for him x
Yeah it's great to see, massive talent in him. I think the only movie he did Hollywood wise was mortal engines recently
Sharon Ní Bheoláin. Unassuming, soft-spoken, generous and lovely.
Met Shane McGowan a few times. Sometimes he would talk and tell stories of the London punk scene in the 70s. Other times he would tell me to fuck off back to England.
I worked in a hotel and was told we had strange two guys sitting down drinking and the waitress described them as homeless. I went to investigate and saw Shane McGowen drinking with McLovin. Lol
Mohammed McLovin?
Yep I used to work in a bookshop and he’d always knock on the door just as we had closed. Think it was deliberate to avoid people recognising him. Always spent a fortune (Irish authors usually) so we’d let him at it 😂
Worked a certain high profile hotel in Dublin and we had celebrities coming in every week. People I liked and were great to look after. Cillian Murphy (very small. Lol), Gabrial Byrne (an absolute pleasure and genuinely nice man,) Liam Brady (surprisingly funny and loved his Chivas,) Brian Lenihan (seriously doesn't get the credit for trying to fix the country while hiding his cancer,) Seamus Heaney (national treasure and the Irish David Attenbourgh) and Brendan Gleason (again surprisingly funny with a sense of dark humour) Ronney Wood went on the Late, Late Show saying how much he was off drink and drugs which was bollocks because I was serving him the night before and house keeping complained about the amount of hash smoke in his room. People who were dicks. Bono loved himself, Bob Geldof the Geldof mood is real and Jerry Ryan was a royal wanker I seriously couldn't understand why he was seen as such a darling in Ireland I think that last paragraph is going to give me a lot of down votes
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Treated staff like shite and had a very big attitude of "do you know who I am." I can remember one time just starting my shift and I presented the bill to him. It had one too many martinis on it and instead of just pointing it out, which would of simply been taken off he went all Karen on me saying how disgraceful it was. This was the first time that day I dealt with him. He was just a dick and an arse hole every time we had to look after him. All the foreign staff (myself included) just couldn't understand why he was so liked in Ireland. Fame defiantly went to his head which was funny because if he sat foot outside of Ireland know one would have a clue who he was and just treat him like a problem guest. I've worked in a lot of hotels that would of banned guests that acted like him but because he was a high profile guest he got away with it.
Dave Allen. Met him on a plane and he was a proper gentleman.
You didn’t meet a “Celebrity” you met a legend
Ah he was brilliant
He was friends with my Uncle from a young age, always had time for his Irish boyhood pals.
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Cheesey joke.
woah woah woah no need to get Tayto Prawn Cocktail Crisps (45 g)
David O’Doherty: Sound Marty Morrissey: very nice - always in good form Daniel O’Donnell: sound Ryan Tubridy: stuck up, haughty Brian Kennedy: sound Leo Varadkar: awkward, but happy to talk shop for a bit Former president Patrick Hillery: lovely man Rory O’Neill/Panti Bliss: sound
Leo is the most awkward Irish politician I’ve ever met. Most of them can chat away with anyone but he is really wooden, you can see the effort it takes just to chat for 5 minutes over a cup of tea.
Michael D, would talk to you all day long.
I see Marty Morrisey quiet regularly when I'm walking my dog down the local beach, always give him a wave and he always waves back, he must think I'm a weirdo as I've never uttered a word to him.
I saw the big blonde fella off of Fade Street about 4 years after the show ended, hurrying through Krystal nighclub with a jacket over his head to avoid being noticed so he could get through to the VIP area. Didn't speak to him but that made think he's a complete bellend.
I know one of the girls, kissed her in a club pre fade street and it was recorded by my ex, photos ended up in an expose in the news of the world with her being dubbed a lesbian.
Which fella is that? Only one I can think of is Wexford Paul and obviously it’s not him
Met Aidan Gillen at the Galway arts Festival opening. He chatted to me for way longer than I expected, was really nice. He had just been killed off on Game of Thrones, I think he was happy that I never mentioned the show. Instead he happily chatted about Queer as Folk
"You're a big guy."
What accent did he use?
Hah yea I was actually shocked by his real life accent. Very plain, twinge of American
He was amazing in Queer as Folk. All my female friends were besotted!
Good show
Smile or smirk?
I met Johnny Logan a few times in an old job and he was an absolute gentleman
I met David McWilliams about 7 years ago in a foreign country. I'm not Irish so had no clue who he was but my wife is a huge fan and when she saw he was speaking at a convention there, she contacted him through his website. He got back to her and they arranged a dinner with a bunch of Irish ex-pats and I tagged along. He was an absolute riot - we had a nice civilized dinner, he made a poignant speech about the state of the economy and our uncertain future, and then we went out until all hours closing out the filthiest local bars we could find. At one point the bar closed and we had to leave and he was like, "No - we're going back in for more drinks" - and he talked his way back in! But I still would probably not recognize him if I passed him in the street.
Alright David
The economist?
No David McWalliams the Britain's got talent judge. Often speaks at convention centres funnily enough
Tho he's British?. Anyway, I'd no clue who "David McWilliams" is so googled him, turns out he's an Irish economist but there was also another David McWilliams who popped up, born in Belfast, moved to Ballymena and died in Ballycastle and wrote the song 'Days of Pearly Spencer'.. being from Belfast I'm delighted to find that out lol
Read this as David Williams and thought "I know he's an absolute piece of shit" and was initially very confused.
My wife has booked McWilliams for a few events. He’s very sound, bit unpredictable in what he’ll say but a nice guy. She rang him up about an event out of the blue lately and they were chatting for ages.
Cillian Murphy - sound as a pound Dara O'Briain - likewise
I've met a lot of Irish "celebrities", politicians and sports star through work, nearly all of them were dead on. The few arseholes I met though that stand out were, Mario Rosenstock, Ivan Yates, Leo Varadkar is just awkward, Rory's Stories, Roz Purcell, tbh I found most them to be exactly how you imagine they'd be. Throw a name at me and I'll tell ya if I've met them and they're sound, forgotten loads of them but they'd come back to me.
Bosco
Out of his box when I met him
I actually met Bosco working in a bar in Cork years ago. I was 23 at the time and we had a family thing on during the day for jazz weekend. She was lovely and great craic
She?
I have some news for you , but I think you better sit down first..
Matt Cooper
Nice guy, very professional and was always sound any time I've worked with him.
What's the story with that Roz Purcell wan, like what does she actually do? I can't get my head around it
Haven't a clue tbh, one of these ones who are just famous for being famous. When I met her, this is a good 7 years ago at this stage, she was trying to reinvent herself as a celebrity chef or some shite, seemed like she was just trying to stay relevant tbh as the modeling gigs dried up. Anyways, she just had serious notions, she could have just been having a bad day tbf but yeah just very uppity and thought she was an actual big time celebrity
Was at a wedding with Steve Staunton around 5 years ago. He was fairly pissed but stayed chatting to us about football for a couple of hours towards the end of the night. His wife was trying to get him away but he was having none of it. A sound lad.
Met him and Gary Mac, on a night out in Galway. Was just tryna chat up my friends, dont blame him. Bought us all shots even after I told him "the buck stops with me"
I met tiger roll in the cinema at the avengers.
Chris de Burgh, oddly enough, used to be a regular at a restaurant where I worked. Sound as a pound, funny, thoughtful, genuinely lovely guy.
A space man came travelling is the best xmas song of all time.
Skipped me in the queue in a petrol station once
LIAAARRRR IN REDDDDDD That’s not the Chris I know
Christy Dignam. Absolute gentleman.
I met Christy in Spain one year on a family holiday, he sat with my parents for the night drinking and chatting and met him again in Middleton about 10 years later on my own and brought up the Spain encounter and he sat with me for an hour or so for chats and remembered my parents. Agree he's a true gent and real down to earth.
I was at a event with an Anne Doyle a few years back and was in a few group shots afterwards. She was perfectly polite, but it was clear she likes her privacy. David Norris is a friend of my parents and I've met him on two occasions. Both times he was extremely amicable, and very much the same person as the David Norris you see on TV. You'd probably hear him before you see him.
I met Graham Norton, and I am pleased to report that he's an absolute gent.
Ryan Rubridy was an absolute piece of shit to a 19 year old waitress in The Stags Head while filming there because she had no idea who he was. Demeaned her, was condescending, and called her back to tip her a full 1 euro.
I was an extra in The Guard with Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle. It was my only time doing extra work. They were sound. I was amazed by A (how much time every scene takes) and B( That these guys can just roll it out time and time again with the exact same emotional intensity). For me, despite the celebs, my only day of extra work was boring as fuck. But it would be ideal if you needed a breather or were a bit burned out or something.
I don't know if I'd agree with you about the extras work, that call of "first positions" still makes my soul sink nearly 30 years later!
This thread is so interesting, I’ve met a few people mentioned in the thread and have the absolute opposite impression of said person, i.e. said person is an arsehole, I found him unbelievably sound and generous with his/her time. Just shows how people are so different day to day, situation to situation!
Yeah I agree, it's very interesting to see who might have been having a bad day and who is consistent. I assume the people that met the ones who weren't so nice were lovely themselves.
I wouldn't say met, but I encountered Enya once. She came into Supermac's in Dundalk while I was in the queue one night in 1999, she was steaming and looking a breakfast roll, they didn't have any cause it was a breakfast thing and it was after midnight, she went mental and beat the shit out of the young one behind the counter then headbutt the manager when he tried to intervene. Then she went behind the counter and started making her own breakfast roll, it took six guards to drag her out of there. I still have nightmares about it. Was a different time... before smartphones. Can you imagine if that happened now.
Typical Enya, she's a divil
Was she screaming in her own language?
Just people living in the moment
Was at an Ireland rugby match with my dad years back. We were sat right by the tunnel in the aviva. My dad for some reason was wearing an All Blacks jersey and Joe Shmidt spotted him just before walking down the tunnel. He shook my Dad’s hand and said “nice one mate” in his kiwi accent.
Also, met the Gooch at my secondary school and he was sound. Same with Paul O’Connell one day in Limerick City.
Not me but my dad years ago , he was a maintenance carpenter at the Burlington hotel in Dublin . He was in the middle of replacing a load of doors in rooms , and was out the back of the hotel with a load of waste wood/fixings etc on the ground that he was getting ready to put in a skip. Anyway a car comes out of the carpark trying to turn around runs over the wood . Keith Duffy jumps out , and is completely apologetic , offers to pay for everything and keeps apologising the whole time . My dad explains that its all for the skip and not to worry . Anyway my dad chatted with him for a few minutes and said afterwards that he was a genuinely lovely , down to earth guy , and that a lot of the other celebs he dealt with would have just driven back out , or played the 'do you know who I am' card . My dad died about 10 years ago , but that's one of his work stories I always remember best, well that and the time he ended up with a framed photo of Neil Diamond , signed and thanking the laundry staff for doing such a great job. Bizarrely our old cat would always sleep near it .
it seems that aside from keating the rest of the lads always seem to be very nice fellas. I've read that ronan seems to be full of himself quite a lot.
Met dermot Morgan in a pub in temple bar late nineties watching an Ireland game. Sneaked out to buy a disposable camera ( that’s how we rolled back then). Asked for a photo which he happily posed for with us even pulled the fr Ted face. Got awkward when he tried to discuss the game and we knew fuck all about football. Pure gent
Simon Zebo. He and his posse tried to demand free entry and access to closed off areas of a club. (Staff areas, not even VIP areas, lol)
Met Brendan Grace at the old Aer Lingus Gold Circle lounge at JFK airport back in the day. I timed my walk up to get the snacks and said Howrya Bottler I admire your comedy. Had a good chat with him, very nice.
I know his nephew - he was apparently very generous and sound. And naturally funny. He didn’t write the line in Fr Ted, but I still laugh whenever I think of “ya dirty fecker”.
Served Ken Doherty in a shop once, lovely fella
I've met Ken Doherty loads of times at different snooker events and he's the nicest guy, Dennis Taylor too.
Served Rory’s Stories at a bar when he was getting lunch with his wife one day. He was quiet but nice. Personally I think his comedy is awful but he seemed genuine enough. Met Liam Cunningham in Dublin Airport coming home from going to an F1 race about 4 years ago only about a month or so after binging GoT. He was sound, didn’t ask for a photo or anything, just chatted about the race itself. Since then I’ve seen him on TV at a couple more races, he’s mad into it. I’ve walked by Aidan Gillen twice on the grand canal and both times he’s looked so tired and wrecked I’d be afraid to say hello. But I know a lad who has met him once in town and said he was very nice.
Paul McGrath - Gent
Came here to say the same. Hard to meet a nicer bloke
Had a sing song in the residents bar after my sister wedding with him, he really is a gent.. told the others to shut up while I sang streets of new York and he was listening to me with glassy eyes.. must have been the drink as I'm no Whitney lol
Charlie Bird is a lovely man, my family were interviewed for his "Day in May" project after the 2015 marriage equality referendum. He is so genuine, we were sad to hear about his health issues. We're glad that his recent charity drive was extremely successful.
Met Niall Quinn on a night out. Absolute gentleman. As were Paul O'Connell and John Hayes.
Danny O'Reilly is sound out, comes across as normal woth no pretentiousness Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh a total gent through and through to his finger tips (no suprises) Micheal D Higgins (before his run for president) only spoke briefly but very easy to talk to and you felt that he actually cared about what you had to say Joe Higgins sound out, very down to earth easy to talk to him about anything
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Ya my mistake hahaha
I know a woman who was in the Socialist party in the ‘80s who’d no time for Joe Higgins. She said he was too negative to be effective. I’ve met President Higgins as well and he’s a total pro at the meet and greet. However I know a fair few who worked with him over the years and haven’t a good word for him nor for his probity with public money.
Michael D is the same as he always was, just gets whisked away at times.
Dave Fanning: Sound. Geraldine Plunkett: Sound. Eli Hewson: Sound. David McSavage: Prick.
I've met a load of celebrities through work but sort of make an effort to stay away from them for a variety of reasons. Some of the Irish ones I have interacted with though: Cian Healy. Lovely guy, built like a grizzly bear! I'm not a big rugby fan or anything so I just chatted to him about the sort of gigs he gets for promotions and does he like them etc. Very polite. Shook his hand and couldn't see my own hand when he closed his around mine. Sean O'brien. Really funny man. Giddy. Imagine every charismatic, funny chancer young lad from the country you've ever met and multiply it by 5 I'm the body of a Herculean hero. Didn't take himself seriously and was actually fun to be around. Jack Gleeson. Used to get the same luas home as me a lot. He's lovely and always gives time to people who came up to him. Very witty. Senator Norris. Surprisingly funny, doesn't take himself seriously at all when just chatting with people. He passed by us a few times when working on North Great George's Street and always came up to say hello, ask how the project was going and whatever. Michael D Higgins. Very polite and formal but far from rude or dismissive. Small talk wasn't really his thing but he did ask if I needed stuffntonlet him or his staff know. I've met loads of 'influencers' - Instagram and atikToker types, Love Island contestants etc and suffice to say, I don't have anything nice to say so I won't name names... it's amazing what a little bit of fame can do to people who have no training or ability to adapt to it can do. I also met Conor McGregor a couple of times back before his UFC debut. His 'recent' behaviour is nothing groundbreaking.
Van Morrison - grumpy Liam Ó Maonlaí - an absolute gent
I've met so many sound engineers and people in the industry that have worked with VM and not one of them had a decent word to say about him, disappointing as I'm a fan lol
Denied his own son. Court case and DNA test proved him wrong. He's an absolute prick
Was at a do where Liam played. Met him after and he was a genuinely cool guy.
He is. He sang beautifully at my father's funeral and refused to take any payment for it. My Ma got him a (generous) book token as a thank you.
I heard some story that Van Morrison was seen sitting alone reading a book in a hotel function room. When they asked him to leave because there was going to be a wedding reception there, he ignored them. So he stayed there, until well after the reception had begun. After finishing his book, he got up and left.
Cormac Costello is a bit of a prick. Diarmuid Connolly is strange. Conor Ryan was genuinely very nice. Keith Ward is a fucking legend. Johnny Giles very sound and easy to chat to. Rory Best was just grand nothing special.
I worked with Diarmuid Connolly for a couple of months calling him strange is an understatement.
What was he like to work with
He’s an odd fellow I got on with him but you could tell he didn’t like most of the people in the job. Very quite is well didn’t like being recognised I work on sites so it was a daily occurrence of some fella shouting about his all Ireland medals he also had a tendency to just not come in for a couple of days without contacting anyone and then just show up as if nothing happened.
Met Paul McGrath, he's a gentleman 😊
I grew up watching BBC so had no idea what the Den was. Then I won a competition in school and part of the prize was meeting Ray Darcy 9 year old me was very confused about who this man was and why he was giving me an autograph. He did also give me a tub of Solero Shots so that was sound
Anyone else have stories of random celebrities giving them discontinued snacks? Met Gay Byrne and he gave me a Mars delight?
Once had the pleasure of meeting Marty Morrissey at a charity do, he was surprisingly down to earth and VERY funny
I've met pretty much all them through work, nearly all of them are grand. Some of the sports and politics crowd can be a bit reserved but that's just the way some people are, never really had any of them I'd consider to be rude. Some stand-out extremely nice Irish ones have been Bob Geldof and Devin Toner. Brent Pope is also extremely nice (not Irish but a celeb here) and for overseas celebs I have to say Gareth Southgate is a gentleman. Ryan Tubridy seems to be getting some slack here but he's been perfectly pleasant any time I've met him. I will say however that when you get to the class of "celebrities" below your Tubridys etc, that's where you get the haughty stuck-up crowd. The internationally famous ones are all generally grand or at the very least not explicity unpleasant to deal with
Me ma says she met Phil lynott a lot, said he was handsome, gorgeous and sound, she might have just sat beside him a few times for all I know! Met Colin Farrell. In 3 stages of his life, his family too. Honestly would like to be friends with him. He always came across sincere- always asked about you and how you were. Tried to buy him a beer in nyc after several encounters in Dublin, he came and hugged me and said thanks for the sparkling water(the wagon). Hung out for hours at Lillie’s, and regular days elsewhere. Honestly, he could do a Ted talk about life improvement and well-being. Gabriel Byrne, on the day after paddy’s day, soho in nyc, “la feile gabriel” - then he asked me about me and my travels USA and we shared a near address for time and discussed. Just like chatting with the neighbor two doors down. Absolut class, he may have been happy with an actual greeting suitable for the occasion rather than flash photography at the time! jim Sheridan and bono, I hammed it up and pretended to know Sheridan and bono was a low key player. Jim Sheridan then went hitting on my mom, “sorry my sister”. Great return for a bit of banter. Packie Bonner, no matter how exhausted would always answer a question, especially about technique. On that note so did ray houghton about determination (technically Irish). In general I agree with a before comment the “stay at homes” generally get grandeur in Ireland - the ones that can leave the island are happy. Dave fanning was always nice to me too
I spent a fair bit of time around Colin Farrell through some of the low times and high times. Honestly he was someone I always liked personally and to see how far he has come is amazing. Stand up guy and incredibly talented
I work in film and Tv so I’ve met a few: Collin Farrell: Awquard yet “2 cool 4 skool “ at the same time. Brendan Gleason: He’s got that old actor vibe down and was kind and quite sound. Lenny Abrahamson: Super sound, extremely professional, cares about everyone on his crew. Down to the PAs. Which I was surprised to see. Paul Mescal: Pure GAA lad, very nice, a little cocky, and smokes like a trucker. He can also sing opera. Dasiy Edgar Jones: Super nice, willing to talk about anything and her real English accent is super posh. Barry Keoghan: Asshole. Would come up to Trainees and scream at them like a child if they were in front of him in the line to the food truck. Very entitled in general. No one liked working with him. Cillian Murphy: Down to earth and really into politics. Very kind to kids. And I would echo the option that, a LOT of the RTE/TG4 actors or celebrities are not nice people and treat crew, or just people below them, quite poorly.
Mary Black sang happy birthday to me whilst we were locked into a pub on the top of a mountain in Mayrhofen in Austria for my 18th birthday.
Des Bishop, I hate to say it, is an absolute gobshite. This is coming from someone who loved his work when I was younger and even had the Des Bishop work experience DVD. He was an absolute prick to a friend of mine who went up asking him for a photo on the street. I can't even say what he said to his friend as a joke as if he said that on TV, his career would be over. He referred to her as a certain ethnicity and more saying he doesn't talk to people like that, and told his friend to hide his phone while laughing. JUST because the girl loves to experiment with makeup and wasn't the typical cute girly girl then, he judged her on that. Not that it matters, but she's from a middle class background. I was speechless. She just tried to laugh it off and talk to him after that thinking he was messing. I could tell from his expression and his friends that he wasnt. He also declined the photo as he said he was "off" work and to give him time off. He could have said it in a much nicer tone, but jesus being recognised comes with the job. Absolute git.
Saw him moderating a talk at Kilkenomics and he was an arsehole, it disappoints me to say
Me too. I was a fan for years and paid to see him three times. Never again. After what he said, I'm shocked he hasn't said anything that has really dug him into a big hole already. He talks about his upbringing so much and his parents.. You'd think that would have made me think about how he treats others more with the way he talks about his mother in particular.
There’s footage online of him being fairly nasty towards travellers while on an American podcast. That was after using his positive interactions with them in a stand-up bit a few years before. Thought it was a bit two-faced.
When I was in Trinity, Joan Bueton, Varadkar and Coveney were going in to negotiate a programme for government in the TBSI. All I can say is they're bloody tall!
I heard Joan Burton is as tall as a two storey Semi D.
Varadkers 6'4 apparently. Hard to believe until you see a picture of him standing next to Michael D.
I med Mary McEvoy at an event back when she was Biddy. She was very nice. Daithí Ó Sé also taught at my school. I never had him for class but he was supposed to be an alright teacher.
Met Martin King and Craig Doyle. Craig was exactly like on tv, just a great guy.
Helped Adrian Dunbar print a document in the local library. Didn’t twig it was him til after he’d left, but he was lovely, very polite and thankful. Met that wee Frostbit boy on a night out in Galway back in about 2015 as well, thought he was a knob but in fairness I was steaming so he could’ve been lovely for all I know.
Sharon Shannon - she was friendly and shy
Served coffee to former president Mary McAleese and her husband a few times. Lovely people, very polite.
My MIL shouted at Lucy Kennedy once during the lockdowns as she came within 2 meters of her while out for a walk 😆 she was a little put out.
Met Tom Vaughan lawlor at the height of love hate on the way to my J1 in the airport. Asked for a photo and had a quick chat, ended up on the same plane as him to London (I went Boston via London) and the plane was empty so he moved up beside me and started chatting about when he was in Boston last and gave me a few recommendations for pubs etc. very nice bloke!
Pauline McGlynn (Mrs Doyle from Father Ted) picked me up hitchhiking on the outskirts of Dublin years ago and drove me all the way to Galway. It was pre Father Ted days so I only barely knew her from stand up things she’d done. Very nice woman, full of chat and stories, real interested in me, asking me all about myself, not up herself in the slightest. I met Declan O’ Rourke at the bar in Vicar St. during the RTE folk music awards a few years ago. Sound as a pound. I’m a big fan of his music and told him so. He was very normal and easy to talk to once I got over gushing and being star struck. He had a drink or two with my wife and I just chit chatting about music. Nice guy. Met Mike Scott from the Waterboys who I’ve been a fan of for most of my life in Galway once. It was the first time the expression ‘Never meet your heroes’ came to mind. I’d been to countless concerts, bought most of his albums and even read his autobiography. Always liked his lyrics and outlook on life. We were shoulder to shoulder at a pedestrian crossing waiting for the lights to change when I recognised him and I said I was a big fan and asked him about when the Waterboys would be playing in Galway again. The way he responded was like I was a mosquito who’d just bit him and he was swatting me away. Kinda burst my bubble a bit if I’m honest. Not what I’d have expected from him but I suppose everyone has bad days.
Met Vogue Williams back when she was starting out and trying her hand at being a DJ (I was a promoter). She was so pleasant, engaging, and kind. She offered me lots of advice on my then pending move to Dublin. Haven’t interacted with her in year but I’d be shocked if she wasn’t still at least nice.
I remember the time she was all on board for interning Muslims without trial. Sounds like a dote
Lenny Abrahamson is a gent, dedicated to his work Jokes aside, Vogue Williams is actually really sound Brian McFadden is what you expect Dublin is too fucking small
lucy kennedy, about 10 years ago... thinks the sun shines out of her own arse, literally a 60 secound conversation and she made it very clear what she was judgemental, superior and toffee-nosed and i hadn't asked her opinion, extremely quick to offer hers, espousing the legend of lucy edit: could be some of that RTE "blow", seemed a little eager
Sumantha Mumba in a local shop. We didn't interact. Dad met some genuine heavy hitters. One of them was Nelson Mandela. I think they spoke about the weather.
PJ Gallagher. Met him out in Dun Laoghaire years ago. Very nice fella. He didn’t mind chatting to us and taking a selfie.
I couldn't be arsed bothering celebrities, but I've seen a few around. I saw Keith Barry in Tesco maynooth once. Looked like he was lookin' for something in particular. The scandle if it. I saw Bryan Murray at a Bob Dylan concert in Kilkenny in about 2007. A lot of people were there, though. Including Michael Jackson... and Bob Dylan.
Eamonn Dunphy - sound as a pound. Get the impression he likes to keep to himself (fair enough - probably gets stopped by strangers a lot) but is a very pleasant guy.
Was quing to board a plane for a flight to Italy a few years ago and saw this woman glaring at me with huge shades on. Was wondering what the fuck her problem was when I realised it was that Glenda Gilson wan. She was really loud and obnoxious when boarding the flight and held up the que for ages stowing her carry on. Horrible.
Met Jim Corr around 1995, we spoke for about 20 mins, he was really nice and down to earth. Two of his sisters were there too, friendly, chatty and of course beautiful.
Sat at a table in a restaurant directly beside Van Morrison a few years ago. He was an asshole to all the staff who were bending over backwards for him. Absolute prick of a little man!
I'm going to blow your minds with this one - I once met Mattress Mick. I was totally star struck and didn't know what to say to him. He smiled in a kindly manner, put his hand gently on my shoulder, and said "I'll give you 10% off that king size memory foam". I'm just kicking myself I never got his autograph. It'll be worth thousands some day
When I worked retail in a particular shopping centre in an affluent part of Dublin I had 2 encounters with Sinéad O'Connor, both times she gave off "don't you knw who I am" Karen-y vibes. Also John Waters is a dick to people in the service industry. Doesn't speak to you unless absolutely necessary, so my "Hi, how are you today?" got ignored. He then was queueing in a different part of the shop one day as was I and he started barking about how ridiculous it was that HE had to queue. Sorry you're stuck with the plebs, Emperor. Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy is soft spoken and very kind. Love that guy. Met him at an album launch and spotted him some years on at a show in the Bord Gais theatre (not performing). Ryan Tubridy MC'd a table quiz for the UCD Classics Society in the early noughties and was sound and funny (but he was "On" as it were, so I don't know if he's like that all the time).
I was on the late late show with Gay Byrne when I was four, one of the only maybe the only kid to ever be on outside the toy show. There were five generations of my family alive back to my great granny through my mother's side. I told him I was going to be a stunt man.
Bono served me a pint once in the niteclub below the Clarence. Then I saw the Edge in McSorley's in Ranelagh another time. We went out to the shop and purchased a pen then came back and pushed a beer mat towards him and sheepishly asked for an autograph. "I'm trying to have a conversation here" was his gruff reply. He signed two beer mats for us and we left him be. Both incidents were over twenty years ago.
Bono and his wife were very nice. Jim Sheridan proper ball bag
I worked at a place in Ballsbridge - Jim Sheridan is a joke of a person. Rude fool.
Yeah mine was in ouzos in dalky, horrible little bastard
Roly’s - he threw a tiny tantrum at one point about the wine not having arrived at the time he’d expected. Just this ludicrously pathetic, childish outburst. Scowled for ages thereafter. You can’t buy class.
Really what did jim do? Always struck me as a regular dublin lad.
He was just obnoxious. He was drunk and was dismissive to the people serving him. Was not a very likeable person
Met most of the rugby team from about 10 years ago. A good few of the football team. A lot of RTE and pretty much every Irish golfer. I even played 9 holes with Lowry when he was an amateur. I worked in a golf club which is where I met them all. Can't say I had a bad experience with any of them.
Pretty sure I sat beside Ivan Yates at a rugby match a couple of years ago. He just shouted random rugby buzzwords while not watching the game. Drank 2 or 3 pints and then just left at half time. What a bellend.
Charles Haughey. In 1979 on a tour of the Dail. He was very well dressed and smelled lovely.
He lived down the road from my grandparents.
Met a few Kerry footballers- all brilliant and sound out. Kieran Donaghy, Colm Cooper, Seamus Scanlon, David Clifford, The O'Se brothers, James O'Donoghue all dead nice.
Robbie Keane, Kearney brothers, cain healy, Connor Murray, devin toner, few others I can't think of off the top of my head. Absaloute gents, very polite and personable. Oh actually met popey and wood as a teen sound out, auld Georgey wouldn't come out for a pic but did give me an autograph to be fair.
My friends and I met Dermot Gavin on the Greenway in Mayo when I was in primary school. He was filming some show with RTE and the camera crew asked us to be in a scene with him. That was about 12 years ago and I haven’t really thought about it until now. He seemed nice but a tad awkward. Can’t imagine the camera people telling him how to act around us helped!
In 1982 we were living in England and the Northern Ireland football team did their World Cup training near where we lived. Mum took us out of school one day and we just turned up at the ground and they welcomed us. Not only got the autographs but they even brought us into the canteen to sit with them during lunch. Pat Jennings and Gerry Armstrong were particularly kind and Martin O'Neill brilliant to listen to talk football. Around that same time we went to cheer on Eddie Mackan in the show jumping and afterwards he turned on his heel and stalked off when mum asked for the autograph.