At home with: Eleanor Tiernan

It's funny how certain things travel with you from place to place – as long as you’ve got them you feel at home. Especially if, like Eleanor Tiernan, you’ve lived in ten or twelve different places over the last few years. Home these days is a large old Georgian pile, just off the South Circular Road that Eleanor shares with four others.

Like almost everyone renting in Dublin, Eleanor found her home through the property oracle Daft.
“I forgot to tell them about myself before I moved in, probably because I was asking loads of questions. But one of the girls I’d met before through work so I guess she just went ‘Ah yeah, she’s fine'.”
One thing they might have wanted to know is if Ms Tiernan is naturally tidy or not.
“I’d be naturally untidy. But I do try to keep it in my own space!”
There’s no evidence of any major domestic disorder on the day Hot Press calls around for tea, biscuits and a snoop, so to ‘psychologically profile’ the up-and-coming comedienne, we decide to have a look at the bits and bobs Eleanor treasures. First up, the photographs.
“This is my best friend Orla and her sister,” explains Eleanor. “This was taken the morning of Orla’s wedding as we were on the way to the church. It’s nice to have the memory around. We had a lovely day and it was a great wedding.”
So no uncles got pissed and made a holy show of themselves?
“Ah well, of course they did. But that’s a good wedding. You know you've had a good time when that happens.”
One of Eleanor’s favourite memories is captured in a black and white photograph of a gaggle of nuns taking a stroll along a beach.
“This was taken in a place called Ballinskelligs in south Kerry. They walk after mass but they’ve taken a vow of silence, so that’s why they’re all spread out and not talking to each other. I spent every summer on that beach when I was a kid – watching the nuns go swimming! We went down on the Saturday of the August bank holiday weekend every year and spent two weeks down there. We used to have this thing called the Caherciveen Curtain. Caherciveen is the last town before you get to Ballinskelligs, and once we’d passed that in the car we had more freedom than we were allowed on the other side. I would have gone to my first nightclub down there, and hung out with boys, all the things I wasn’t allowed to do during the year. I have a lot of good memories from there.”
Next we decide to have a look at Eleanor’s favourite books.
“I’m a big fan of JP Donleavy. I think he should be up there with the big Irish writers like Beckett and Yeats because he’s very honest with his characters. I think Pat Ingoldsby has great poems. He used to present Pat’s Hat, so he’s a strong memory from my childhood, but I really enjoy his poetry. I think he would be my favourite poet.”
Eleanor’s comedy bible is Zen and the Art of Stand-up Comedy.
“It’s a book I go back to a lot and it’s very good for anyone starting out in stand-up. Some parts won’t make a lot of sense to you, but the more comedy you do and if you go back to it, other stuff starts making sense.”
In addition to performing stand-up and writing plays and acting, Eleanor also plays the violin.
“I played traditional music when I was a kid. Then I decided I’d incorporate it into my stand-up routine. I thought of one joke and I used that for a while thinking I’d have to write some more, but I never did. So I was carrying this violin around with me from gig to gig for one joke. But I don’t use it for work any more; it’s relegated to a hobby now.”
Musically, Eleanor says her music taste hasn’t changed much since she was a teenager.
“I wish I was better keeping up with new music. I really need to make more of an effort.”
“I’ve really gotten into Damien Dempsey. I’ve a cousin Niamh Tiernan and we’ve written plays together and we had a section in our last play about Damien Rice and Damien Dempsey. We put them in as two different archetypes of men and we were comparing how they might be in bed. Damien Rice is kind of the modern man who is all into his emotions and Damien Dempsey is full of passion and causes.”
Any idea how the Damiens felt about this?
“I’ve no idea. I doubt they even heard about it!”
Finally before leaving Hot Press decides to take a peek at Ms Tiernan’s iPod.
“I love Depeche Mode, Guns N’ Roses and The Pixies. I like Badly Drawn Boy, David Bowie and I really like The Cure, Pulp and Prince. But I like cheesy stuff as well, especially musicals such as stuff by Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the music for Sweeney Todd, and Follies. My friend put together a playlist of ‘80s stuff so I’ve loads of artists on here with just one song – Cher, The Communards. Oh dear, I’ve got Def Leppard – to my shame!”

Catch Eleanor Tiernan on the following dates: The International, Dublin (January 15-17); the Woolshed, Dublin (February 2); Sister Sara’s, Letterkenny (5); Drogheda Arts Centre (with Jason Byrne, 19); The Brewery, Monaghan (20).