Dylan Moran: 'For me, priests were never a source of guidance'

In an at times thoughtful, at times hilarious interview in our latest issue, Dylan Moran discusses his own experiences of religion as a young Irishman and his views on the effect the clergy have had on the population as a whole.

“I wasn’t raised with that religious tradition. It wasn’t in my house” says the Navan funnyman. “For me, priests were never a source of guidance, or a receptacle of faith. They were offering answers when I hadn’t started asking my questions yet. That always seemed suspicious”

Moran has never shied away from big issues of faith, reason and copious wine consumption in his internationally acclaimed stand-up show and he relished the opportunity to explore these realms in McDonagh’s pitch-black clerical comedy Calvary.
Moran ultimately thinks Calvary’s greatest strength lays in the fact it steers clear of an explicitly didactic story-telling style “What I love about his writing is that it doesn’t lead you by the nose. It wasn’t prescriptive…he’s like that with an audience, trusts them to come their own conclusions, which is why it works as well as it does.”

The critically acclaimed Calvary goes on general release on April 11.

For more pearls of wisdom from Mr. Moran pick up the latest issue of Hot Press, out now