Culture
09 Jun 09

The Lynch mob cometh

She’s known for her blunt – some might say crude – caricatures. So just how are Katherine Lynch’s cast of comedy characters surviving the recession?

Katherine Lynch is a busy woman – or maybe that should be ‘women’. Between television shows, live gigs, chatty fans and impertinent questions from reporters, Lynch has barely a chance to breathe, let alone eat lunch, but she very graciously lets Hoot Press interrupt her midday meal for a chat.

So how are the Wonder Women and what have they been up to? Has Singing Bernie Walsh moved well into the rarefied circles of the A-list or what?
“The recessions been a bit dodgy for Bernie, she’s had to sell her caravan. She can’t afford the upkeep, but Liz is doing very well now – I might bring her up to Dublin or I might bring her out. We’ll have to see.”
From winning Alternative Miss Ireland, to cavorting on Pat Kenny’s knee (“Ah he’s great. Some people say he’s very straight, but I think he’s as good as gay.”), Lynch has never been one to indulge in the subtler forms of comedy. Wonder Women is broad comedy, in-your-face comedy and that’s just the way she likes it.
While the ratings for Wonder Women remain high and RTÉ have re-commissioned the series, some critics have suggested that Lynch is cruel and unfair to Irish women, that the show plays on racist stereotypes and that the smut factor is the only thing going for it.
“I just tell everyone to fuck off!” she laughs.
Getting more thoughtful, Lynch sees her characters as giving voice to women marginalised by Irish culture.
“I play three very unrepresented women in society. I play a traveller woman and she’s not the stereotype – she’s feisty, she’s ambitious, she’s kind and good-humoured. With Liz it’s great to represent a closeted lesbian woman.”
“Sheila Chic is on the cusp of society as well. She has a different fella every week, but she’s a survivor as well. She’s a sort of an observation on our diminishing traditions because she’s always trying to get into other cultures. She personifies our ignorance. I’m not a sensationalist – I’m an observationist, if that’s a word.”
This observational element was honed partly from growing up in Leitrim, she says.
“Characters are very much part of a small town. There’s not much happening so your observation is huge. You’re driving along and your father says, ‘Oh isn’t yer man a great character?’ I always wondered what a great character was. When you look at it they have different nuances and different grotesques and habits and that’s what makes a character.”
The characters, says Lynch, have multiple uses.
“It’s great to be able to get into a character and do naughty things!” she laughs. “But I prefer the colour and the depth of a character, because you can go to places and have so many different layers. And you can hide behind them too! It takes a particular confidence to stand up and talk about your idea of life for forty-five minutes so I’d rather submerge myself in a character.”
Having honed her chops on the gay scene and in cabaret bars, Lynch still has a huge following in the gay community. Her first break came when, in Victor Victoria fashion, she scooped the Alternative Miss Ireland crown in 1998. How the hell did that happen?
“I was studying acting at the time and Warren [Meyler], my co-writer and co-creator said I should enter and I said I wouldn’t, but he said ‘C’mon pretend to be a man pretending to be a woman, it’ll be hilarious.’ So we did.”
“It was at the Red Box and on the way we passed by The George’s truck and The George had like twenty-five dancers all in black and leather, and an ice coffin and there was us walking cos we couldn’t get a taxi. Very glamorous! What with the props on our backs and me crying ‘I don’t think this is a good idea.’ But once we got there I fell for the glamour of it and we ended up winning.”
After this start her career could have gone a very different way.
“Louis Walsh was a judge that night and he said to me ‘I can make you the new Bette Midler’ and I went, ‘I hate you and I hate Boyzone’ so that didn’t happen for me really!”
After sell-out shows at Vicar Street in late April and early May, Lynch is bringing her cast of crazy ladies back for two more nights in June.
“I always thought that ‘due to popular demand’ was marketing ploy, but it’s actually the truth,” she laughs. “The whole show is very rock ‘n’ roll. We didn’t really tone down for RTÉ, but this show is really risqué. There’s no holds barred. I think we all need a laugh at the moment. Get out there and get your ticket. It’ll be the best €28 you’ll ever spend – it’s far cheaper than valium.”