As he retires from stand-up, Kevin McAleer reflects on a career as one of Irish television’s most iconic ramblers. 

The Nighthawks and Derry Girls comedian announced he would retire from stand-up earlier this week. 

Speaking on The Anton Savage Show, he said across his 40-year career, he “never worked very hard”. 

“I’d be a lot richer if I wrote my material faster,” he said. “But even though I never killed myself with hard work, you're still in that zone all the time.” 

Having been in a “half-stage” of comedy for a few years now, Mr McAleer thought it was finally time to pull the plug. 

“I have been keeping my hand in a little bit, what I haven't been doing is writing new material,” he said. 

“It went from not being able to, to not wanting to.” 

Nighthawks and Derry Girls

Despite being a well-spoken man, Mr McAleer first rose to fame for his rambling persona in the RTÉ comedy show Nighthawks, which he said was like “five programmes in one”. 

“It worked so well together in that setup,” he said. “I think it could have kind of spawned a lot of spin-off things, but somehow it wasn’t allowed to develop. 

“I was never on the live set of Nighthawks – all my stuff was just done in back rooms, dressing rooms, wherever you could find a space to do to point a camera at me. 

“It was its own bubble.” 

Exactly 30 years after Nighthawks, Mr McAleer took on another rambling role, this time Uncle Colm in the hit TV show Derry Girls. 

The Tyrone actor is well aware of the similarities between his Nighthawks persona and the slow-speaking Uncle Colm and agrees they’re “certainly related”. 

“Uncle Colm’s obviously distantly related to the old Nighthawks guy,” he said. 

“He could be my own uncle, you know? But [Lisa McGee] wrote every word of mouth and wrote perfectly.” 

The rise of Derry Girls had the same “thrill” as Nighthawks, according to Mr McAleer. 

“I knew the script was wonderful, but you can't predict how it's going to be received,” he said. 

“I think no one could have predicted how hard the whole world, not just in Ireland, would resonate – it's a testament to the power of the writing.” 

You can catch Mr McAleer on stage for the last time on April 11th in Vicar Street. Tickets are available now. 

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