Patser Murray: Patser Way I Like It

A former boxer, Dublin comic Patser Murray has been building quite a name for himself in stand-up circles in recent times, although one of the most notable moments in his career thus far came with a cameo in Love/Hate.

“My sister plays Janet in the show,” he explains. “She’s Nidge’s other "mot". She runs the brothel. As one fella said very respectfully to me, ‘I see your sister is bangin’ Nidge!’ Her fella said to me that a guy came up to him in work one time and said, ‘Do you mind Nidge is bangin’ your mot?’ He’s going, ‘Is this guy for real?’
“But yeah, myself and my brother had a part in the show. It was the third series and we played a pair of IRA brothers. We kneecapped a guy in the first episode. I do a few jokes about our appearance in the show – I talk about how we’re like Love/Hate’s version of Jedward. Also, you get a lot of people coming up to you talking about the series.
“They nearly think you’re writing and producing the show! They’ll came up to you and go, ‘I’ll tell you what should happen – such and such a character should be abducted by aliens. I’m like,’Yeah, I’ll pass that on!’”
Saying he’s always been the type to make humorous observations on life, Murray credits the accidental discovery of Billy Connolly as a kid with inspiring his love of stand-up.
“I used to watch Looney Tunes on video,” he reflects. “Then one time, I went to take the video out of the cover and instead of the Looney Tunes tape, there was a Billy Connolly one. So I stuck it on, and although I didn’t really properly understand what he was talking about, I still found it hilarious. From then on I’ve always had an interest in stand-up really. I’ve been doing it for five years now and I still have that love of it. I always enjoy watching different stand-ups perform, I like seeing how different people approach it.”
As a boxer, Murray fought semi-professionally. Presumably it’s handy to be able to call on such skills in the topsy-turvy world of rock 'n' roll?
“I’ve never had to use it,” he laughs. “Funnily enough, I was in Australia a few years back, having a few drinks in a bar, and this giant Samoan guy was giving me aggro. He was looking at me going, ‘Mate, I wanna fight you cos you’re Irish'. I’m thinking, ‘I can’t get into anything with this guy, he’s built like a tank, he’ll destroy me'. So I said, ‘Right, listen, I’ll be back in a minute'. I wandered off into a corridor, found the back exit and ran off! So no, I haven’t been using the boxing ability.”
Murray has kept his hand in on the acting front, and has a small role in an upcoming film with Aidan Gillen. Après Forbidden Fruit, he'll be gigging throughout the summer and intends to move to London later in the year to further his comedy career. As it happens, before Christmas he had the opportunity to get up close and personal with one of the major stars of the field.
“I was at a Jimmy Carr gig in the Olympia with a mate of mine,” recalls Murray. “We were up in one of the boxes. He was looking for audience members to participate in this sitcom onstage and my mate shouted down, ‘This guy here is in Love/Hate!’ So the audience started cheering and calling for me to go up and act in this sitcom. I went up and we were chatting away and he asked me who I played in the show. Someone shouted up, ‘He was the cat!’
“I didn’t really want to make a big thing out of me doing stand-up, so I didn’t mention that. But yeah, myself and another woman were acting out this sitcom. Of course, I got lines like ‘I take it up the bum’ and all this kind of stuff. It was a bit of a laugh. And he was a sound guy, so it was a good experience.”

Patser Murray plays Forbidden Fruit on the Sunday