Aisling Bea chats to Dave Moore on the upcoming Amazon Prime Video Series LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland.

Irish actor, writer, and comedian Aisling Bea joined Dave Moore this morning to chat about her experience in filming the upcoming Amazon Prime Video comedy series, LOL: Laugh One Laughing Ireland, which is available to stream this Friday. Aisling was joined by a star-studded cast of Irish comedians on the show, with household names like Deirdre O’Kane, Jason Byrne, Tony Cantwell, and more all doing their utmost to try and avoid cracking a smile at each other's jokes. Aisling spoke to Dave about how much fun it was making the show with her hilarious co-stars, the surprisingly global appeal of the show despite its very Irish humour, and getting hammered with her comedy hero Deirdre O’Kane during the filming process. 

On how much she enjoyed her return to Ireland to film LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland, Aisling Bea said:

“Well, I don't pay tax anywhere. I just float around on my yacht! Well do you know what? And this is not me genuinely trying to segue into the reason I'm on the show. Last One Laughing - Ireland, and I've done a million of these comedy shows over the years and my expectations were sort of feeling like, oh, I'm going over to Dublin to record, you know, like a kind of version of Taskmaster. I could not believe how after the two days of recording between one thing and another, I felt like this wash of home, which was humour. I rarely get to do gigs where everyone's Irish. I started comedy in the UK and I couldn't believe what sort of inner secondary school fun me that brought out. I didn't feel like a comedian. I felt like it was a bunch of pals messing on Friday afternoon at school when even the teachers have given up. I've been in the UK, between the UK and America for so long and you forget that you are sort of foreign and when you come home you're not. It's like having a bath in mash!"

On getting jarred with her comedy hero Deirdre O’Kane during the filming, Aisling Bea said:

“Well, I don’t think any of us knew what to expect and I think I sort of thought I did. We were there for eight hours straight, like we would go to the loo and immediately come back and I don’t remember the end. I got so hammered by the end because of Deirdre O Kane! Deirdre came out and was just like ‘Well, will we all just have a wine?’ and I’m like god no but then Deirdre has got a really cool like older girl in secondary school that you want to impress vibe. So well maybe I will just have a small drink, it is after all half-eleven Deirdre. So I don’t totally remember the end of it!”

On the hardest part of recording the show, Aisling Bea said:

“Well, you know that was the hardest bit of the whole thing, was support laughter. Because for the first hour at least, you’re aware you’re being filmed. We all love each other like because there was about three comedians I met and knew the work of but by the end we were pals. As Irish people, we all do that, and comedians do that even more than Irish people, we all immediately make a community, and the comedy community is very closely knit. And the hardest bit was feeling like you’re not supporting one another. Deirdre is one of my heroes and Amy Huberman and Catherine Bohart are both close friends and you would never leave a friend hanging.”

On the show being made for a global audience, Aisling Bea said:

“We kept saying to each other what is the budget on this show? I think Ireland is a creatively ambitious country. We aim our stuff, and I certainly do, to be worldwide and to try and aim big. Why not have our stories on screens in America and around the world? I think the world will love it because it’s aimed specifically at Irish people, because the references are so specific. In a way, that’s really kind of gorgeous and made me so happy to be home.”

Quick Fire Questions with Aisling Bea:

• Current obsession - The show The Traitors and the northern Irish mother on it (Diane)
• Most famous person in your phone – Probably Paul Rudd
• Primary school you went to - Scoil Bhride Naofa Chill Dara
• What was in your lunchbox – Frozen bread roll with ham and cheese

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