Throwing out the auld with the new

Journalist and author Declan Lynch (whose novel The Rooms has been a major success) and Father Ted/I, Keano writer Arthur Mathews have collaborated on a new tome, The Book of Poor Auld Fellas. It takes a darkly humorous look at the unfortunate lot of the eponymous demographic in contemporary rural Ireland.

As the book relates, one of the great pleasures of elderly gents – enjoying a smoke with their pint in the pub – was taken away with the introduction of Micheal Martin’s smoking ban, whilst auld fella viewing-staple, Live At Three, has long since been replaced by The Afternoon Show, a programme which is not exactly in touch with senescent sensibilities.
“It started out when I was down in Athlone,” explains Declan of the book’s origin. “It was my father’s anniversary, and I was talking to my brother about a poor auld fella that we know. My brother was saying, ‘Jesus, things are very bad for this poor auld fella. He can’t smoke with his pint, he can’t smoke in the betting office, and then he goes home and the fuckin’ Afternoon Show is on!’ And then he said, ‘All he wants to see is Johnny McEvoy’.
“There was just something really funny to me about that. I actually quite like Johnny McEvoy, but strangely enough, I always think that if he said any other name, the book wouldn’t have happened.”
Unlike the majority of “humorous” Irish books, Poor Auld Fellas is a genuinely sharp and funny read, and fits neatly into the Irish tradition of finding comedy in essentially dark situations. The illustrations, by Mathews, are typically whimsical and brilliant. But there is no escaping the harsh reality that the culture of the poor auld fellas, regrettably, is on the way out.
“Throughout the book, there are numerous references to ‘bullshit’,” says Declan. “And almost everything is bullshit. It’s very, very hard to think of anything in this world that isn’t bullshit. For poor auld fellas, it’s just a particularly acute awareness. It is a funny book, but it’s a very odd funny book, in that it is actually funny. Only by being serious can you be funny, you know what I mean?

The Book of Poor Auld Fellas is out now, published by Hodder Headline Ireland