This St. Patrick’s Day, forget the green beer and token episodes about Ireland from It’s Always Sunny or The Simpsons. There are plenty of hilarious homegrown Irish comedies that’ll give you a more authentic (and entertaining) picture of life in Éire.
Of course, considering the gallows humor Ireland is known for, many, many of these entries are dark comedies. But hell, if your country has been colonized, starved by said colonizers, and generally been given the short end of the stick, you have to laugh at the horrors of life. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite things about my adopted home.
Chill out, drink some stout, and put on one of these movies/short films/television series this St. Patrick’s Day:
1. Adam & Paul (2004)
We’re kicking off the list with probably one of the bleakest entries, but Adam & Paul is key to understanding Celtic Tiger-era Dublin, the time from the mid 1990s to the late 2000s when a privileged few were benefiting from a booming economy while most people’s needs were ignored in favor of big business. The film follows the titular pair, played by Mark O’Halloran and Tom Murphy respectively, who are both longtime friends and heroin addicts. Adam and Paul journey around Dublin in an attempt to score some heroin, encountering old pals and acquaintances along the way. With Lenny Abrahamson (Frank, Normal People) directing, the film finds some humor in a crushingly indifferent capitalist setting.
2. Bad Sisters (2022)
And we continue into the darkness for St. Patrick’s Day. Bad Sisters is a black comedy series about the five Garvey sisters, who have been a tight family unit ever since the early deaths of their parents. Sorry—were a tight family unit, until their soft-spoken sister Grace (Anne-Marie Duff) becomes increasingly isolated from her sisters by her abusive husband JP (Claes Bang of The Square fame). The Garveys decide to take matters into their own hands and off JP, but now that he’s out of the picture, there’s a dogged insurance man (Brian Gleeson, yes from that Gleeson family) and his mild-mannered brother (Daryl McCormack) determined to prove there was foul play. The hilarious series takes plenty of twists and turns, plus boasts a killer cast: Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe), Eva Birthistle, Tony Award nominee Sarah Greene, and nepo baby herself Eve Hewson (Bono’s daughter) as the free-spirited Becka.
3. Derry Girls (2018—2022)
Few sitcoms are as genuinely as heartwarming as Derry Girls, which documents the misadventures of teenagers coming of age near the end of The Troubles in Ireland. The series loosely draws from creator Lisa McGee’s adolescence in Derry during the 1990s, and then goes to some goofy and outlandish places (see: accidentally setting fire to a home and then trying to claim it was the IRA’s fault). Derry Girls is truly an ensemble show, benefiting from the talent of Saoirse-Monica Jackson as the insecure yet endearing Erin, Nicola Coughlan as the ever-nervous “wee lesbian” Clare, Louisa Harland as the spacey Orla, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell as the rebellious Michelle, and Dylan Llewellyn as the token guy, James. Be sure to check out our 2022 interview with Jackson about the series’ heartfelt and poignant ending.
4. Father Ted (1995—1998)
Ireland has a long and fraught history with the Catholic Church. Only in 2018 was abortion legalized, and the same year divorce was finally permitted—1995—Father Ted premiered, a sitcom skewering the priesthood. (It’s worth noting that the series was written by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, and the latter has exposed himself as a shitty TERF.) The eponymous Father Ted Crilly (played by Dermot Morgan, who sadly died from a heart attack the day after the series finale was filmed) is a greedy and self-important priest, banished to the desolate Craggy Island after misappropriating church funds. His companions are the dim-witted Father Dougal McGuire (Ardal O’Hanlon, who also appears in Derry Girls), lecherous Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly), pushy housekeeper Mrs. Doyle (Pauline McLynn), and the island’s eccentric residents. The show has given us gems like the fake Eurovision entry “My Lovely Horse” and an early career appearance from Graham Norton as Father Noel Furlong. Father Ted knowledge is a surefire way to win over the hearts of most any Irish person you meet.
5. The Guard (2011)
Okay, ACAB, but The Guard is really funny. National treasure Brendan Gleeson stars as Sergeant Gerry Boyle, a debaucherous guard (Irish policeman) based in the west of Ireland who teams up FBI Agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) as an FBI agent to take down the drug dealer Francis Sheehy-Skeffington (Liam Cunningham of Game of Thrones fame) and his ruthless gang (including Mark Strong, who seems to only ever play villains). The Guard is sure to scratch your action comedy itch.
6. Intermission (2003)
And now we return to the big smoke, Dublin, for intertwining tales about crime and love and all sorts of Irish shenanigans. Intermission, directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn), features a cast of heavy hitters: Colin Farrell as the young troublemaker Lehiff; Colm Meaney as the self-important Garda Detective Jerry Lynch; Kelly Macdonald and Cillian Murphy as a recently separated couple named Deirdre and John; and Shirley Richardson as Deirdre’s sister. John tries to win back Deirdre and teams up with Lehiff, but events quickly spiral out of control. If you take anything away from the film, it’s that you must try brown sauce in tea.
7. An Irish Goodbye (2022)
The 2023 Oscar winner for Best Short Film brings us to a tiny town in County Tyrone, where a pair of brothers, Turlough and Lorcan, are mourning the loss of their late mother. Turlough wants to sell the family farm and sell Lorcan, who has Down syndrome, to live with their aunt. Lorcan’s loathe to leave their home, and convinces Turlough to finish their mother’s bucket list before putting the farm on the market. The result is both funny and heartbreaking.
8. The Snapper (1993)
Most Americans are familiar with The Commitments, the first entry in the Barrytown Trilogy, a set of movies based on Roddy Doyle’s books depicting a fictional north Dublin suburb. However, the second installment, The Snapper, is well worth your time. The Curley family is sent into a tailspin when their eldest daughter, 20-year-old Sharon (Tina Kellegher), becomes pregnant and refuses to tell them who the father is. Her father, Des (Colm Meaney), goes from being angry and embarrassed to becoming Sharon’s biggest supporter. The movie is as much about the family rallying around Sharon as it is about growing up in a close-knit neighborhood where everyone’s nose is in each other’s business.
9. War of the Buttons (1994)
It’s the 1960s in rural Ireland, and two rival gangs of kids—the upper class Carricks and lower income Ballys—are mired in an ongoing feud. If any of the combatants are “captured” by their enemy, their buttons are torn off their clothing—a big deal in these villages where every penny counts. The group leaders, Fergus of the Ballys and Jerome of the Carricks, go to great lengths to one-up each other, until they discover a mutual respect. The movie is an immersive portrayal of childhood imagination and the ties that bind us together. Of course, we have another Liam Cunningham appearance and Colm Meaney as well.
10. Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom (2003)
You come to Ireland, you assume people speak Irish, right? That’s what bored shopkeeper Yu Ming believes, so when he decides to leave China and start a new life in Ireland, he takes the time to learn the Irish language (even doing a great Taxi Driver impersonation as Gaeilge). The short film Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom (Irish for My Name Is Yu Ming) follows Yu Ming as he wanders around Dublin, perplexed as to why he can’t understand anyone. While the film was made 20 years ago, the state of the Irish language in its native country is still fairly dire, with only 2% of the population speaking Irish daily. Don’t worry about Yu Ming, by the way—he finally encounters a fellow Gaeilgeoir and his fortunes change. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to us all!
Clare Martin is a cemetery enthusiast and Paste’s assistant comedy editor. Go harass her on Twitter @theclaremartin.