Irish Comedy Roundup: Derry Girls and This Way Up

Over the past month, I have bingewatched two shows about Irish women. Therefore, it seems only fair to post a review of two shows that will scratch that particular itch you didn’t know you had for prime Irish comedy.

Derry Girls: This show is simply a laugh riot. Created and written by Lisa McGee, it is set in Derry, Northern Ireland, during the Troubles in the 1990s, and tells the story of a group of teen girls who are getting on with their lives in hilarious adolescent fashion. The star of the show is Saoirse-Monica Jackson, who plays Erin, a high-strung and over dramatic young woman who has a face that has already launched a thousand memes. Together with her gang of girlfriends (plus one boy, James, who has arrived from England and is forced to attend the girls’ school because he would be bullied too much at the boys’ school for being English – yes it’s as ridiculously brilliant as you can imagine) they get into all manner of scrapes and farcical situations. 

Erin and her friends are poorer than some of the wealthier girls at the school who can easily pay for a class trip to Paris or buy fancy dresses for school dances without a second thought, so there are the requisite schemes to make money that go awry, or various efforts to subvert the establishment that come crashing down. Siobhan McSweeney, who plays the school principal, Sister Michael, is hands down my favorite character, a world-weary nun who hates every child under her care but will keep plugging away to maintain some semblance of control over these unruly imps. Erin’s family is a fun mix of weirdos, and every episode is a complete surprise as one more oddball comes crawling out of the woodwork. Of course, all this comedy is set against the backdrop of extreme unrest and political division. There is an episode where the army is constantly practicing their drills, and the incessant pounding of drums is getting on everyone’s nerves. As a viewer, you feel their pain, as your temples throb from this relentless noise until the family finally escape to the countryside (albeit with a stowaway who brings a fresh set of troubles). 

The show prominently features the music of The Cranberries, and quite frankly they had me from Episode 1 which opened with "Dreams." It then ended with an insane Detention scene, featuring music from the Dropkick Murphys, that was such an explosion of insanity that there was no way I could stop watching. Then a few episodes later, all the girls, who were bickering about something at a party, immediately stopped because Whigfield’s "Saturday Night" started playing and they HAD to go dance to it. Me too girls, me too. As someone who grew up in the 90's and went to a Catholic school, this show’s soundtrack and setting occupies a sacred place in my heart. But based on the widespread critical acclaim, you don’t have to have anything in common with these characters to acknowledge that this show is a non-stop, giggle-inducing, staggering work of comic genius. Go forth and binge.

This Way Up: Unlike Derry Girls, this is a much quieter show, but still features standout performances from Irish actresses. Aisling Bea stars as Aine (like all Irish names, you’ll need to hear how it’s pronounced), a woman who has just been released from a rehab facility after a mental breakdown, and Sharon Horgan plays her overprotective and extremely worried sister, Shona. Yes, it’s a dark premise to begin with, but in the hands of these two women, you get a great deal of comedy, warmth, and life-affirming loveliness, that is somewhat akin to Fleabag. 

The show has been compared to Fleabag a lot, but you need to assess it on its own merits because it isn’t trying to be quite so over-the-top and is certainly not pushing the fourth wall. Instead, it tells its story traditionally, relying on wonderful acting and impeccable casting. It brilliantly captures what it’s like to be in the throes of a depressive spiral – some days you’re joking around and the life of the party, and then on other days, someone cancels their plans with you, and before you know it, you’re wandering around in a fog and feel like nothing’s going right. And yet throughout, you want to be treated like any other person, not like “the mad woman.” 

There are also the more practical considerations, where Aine struggles to seek help because paying her rent is more of a priority than paying for a therapist. And there’s a great episode where the women meet up with their mother, and Aine has a heart-to-heart with her that reveals a lot of the secrets we keep to ourselves and never share because of the stigma around mental health. Shona is a loving and kind sister, but she also has her limits, and it’s a scary and nerve-wracking thing to care so much for someone with self-destructive tendencies. Ultimately, This Way Up offers up thoughtful storytelling – it deals in serious themes but with such a deft and comic touch that it makes the medicine go down easy and will stay with you for a while. And of course, it wouldn’t be complete with the two sisters singing The Cranberries’ "Zombies" during one of the episodes, in a moment that highlights why this niche category of “Irish female comedy” is rapidly becoming my favorite genre of television.