Mayo funnyman Frank is still sending them home chuckling

Tie askew, cigarette dangling from lips, hair dishevelled, Frank Forde looked every centimetre the wedding intruder from hell.

Burping loudly he swayed into the function room just as the guests were finishing their desserts.

A barman followed apprehensively, imposing close surveillance.

Then as Frank continued his act as a highly intoxicated man, a groomsman, who wasn’t in on the fact that this was a comedy performance, organised by the bride and groom, intervened.

Palms forward he strode out hellbent on halting the ‘invader’s’ haphazard progress.

“Get out. Get out," he shouted. “This is a family wedding. You’re drunk as a skunk.”

Quietly, so as not to give the game away that he was in fact as sober as a judge, Frank leaned towards the groomsman whispering: “I’m the comedian.”

“You’re some f***ing comedian alright. Get to f*** outta here.”

Then the penny dropped for the groomsman that he, like most of the guests, had been duped.

Sheepishly, he sloped back to the top table where the bride and groom were convulsed with laughter.

Posing at weddings as a nuisance interloper is just one of the many roles Frank has played in comedy over the decades.

But that’s not all that’s in the popular Castlebar man’s entertainment portfolio.

Since the 1970s he has mimicked a litany of politicians and personalities including Michael Noonan, Daniel O’Donnell, Eamon Dunphy, Enda Kenny, Michael D. Higgins, P. Flynn himself, Enda Kenny, Dessie O’Malley and GAA commentator Micheal O’Muircheartaigh, to mention but a few examples.

Frank’s career as a funnyman began in St. Patrick’s National School, Castlebar, back in the early 1970s.

He honed his mimicking skills in St. Patrick’s National School impersonating teachers including Padraig Flynn who was later to become a Dáil deputy, government minister and EU Commissioner.

“Did Padraig and the other teachers know you were impersonating them?”

“They probably did. I would be always looking for the funny side of things in class. I wasn’t a born academic."

Frank fondly remembers his role in the Mikado, produced by Mr. Flynn.

“I was Coco, the Lord High Executioner," he said with a laugh.

“Padraig was way ahead of his time. For him it wasn’t just the three Rs, he was thinking outside the box.

“He would have encouraged and mentored pupils who were artistic, pupils like myself who might not have been very academic.

“He gave us all these opportunities.

“There was a great feeling of self satisfaction, a feeling at something you were good at. Padraig could bring that out in people. He gave everybody a chance.

“I would always have seen the lighter side of things in class and I’m sure I was a challenge to any teacher. But if he (Padraig) had to give out to you or whatever that was fine and it was always forgotten afterwards.

“He gave me the opportunity to be on stage. I will always be grateful for that."

Frank, who grew up in Balloor on the outskirts of Castlebar, came from a farming background. He sat the Leaving Certificate at St. Gerald’s College in 1978 before starting work as a trainee nurse in St. Mary’s Psychiatric Hospital.

“I had no real interest in going to college," he recalls. “All I wanted to do was get a job."

After working in St. Mary’s for about eighteen months, Frank took up a new position as a clerical officer with Galway County Council. Later he transferred to a similar position with Mayo County Council.

He retired from his role as an assistant staff officer with the council in 2009.

Frank’s slowly burgeoning stage career took a step forward in the early 1980s when he was asked to play a part in a number of No Name Club and Tops of the Town productions.

Given his acting talent it was perhaps inevitable that Frank would star in pantomime, just like one of his mentors, Padraig Flynn, had done before him.

Padraig and his fellow Mayo politician Enda Kenny were regarded as fair game for Frank and his panto buddy Sean Lyons when they attended shows such as Cinderella in the 1980s.

In one segment of memorable performances, a pigtailed Frank and Sean played roles as the two ugly Cinderella sisters, Bedelia and Beducky.

Recalls Frank: “I even once got Padraig to renounce his boss Charlie Haughey (then Taoiseach) and all his ways. It was all harmless fun, taken in good spirit."

The late Nan Monaghan, regarded as the Queen of Panto in Castlebar, was an inspirational figure for Frank when he first promenaded his stage prowess.

“Nan was panto gold," he recalled fondly, “a fine actress and a lovely singer."

Frank also holds the late Mick Cuffe, a contemporary of his in the local entertainment scene in the 1970s and 1980s, in particularly high esteem.

“As a teller of jokes, Mick ranked right up there with Brendan Grace, perhaps the greatest Irish comedian ever."

Away from comedy, Frank played a leading role in On a Wing and a Prayer – the Musical, the stage adaptation by Tommy Marren and Terry Reilly of Terry’s best-selling book outlining the story of how in hard economic times Monsignor James Horan convinced the Irish government to build an airport in the middle of a disadvantaged, depopulated region.

Wing and a Prayer, which raised large sums of money for the Mayo Roscommon Hospice, enjoyed a long and successful run at the Royal Theatre in Castlebar in 2010.

“It was a wonderful show, one of the finest things I ever involved in,” Frank recalls.

“They came from far and wide to hear in song and words the story of how a west of Ireland priest persuaded the government, at a time of great austerity, in a place derided by one minister as ‘a foggy boggy’ location. Now the airport is thriving and fulfils a tremendous social and cultural need."

Over many decades, Frank has graced stages and community venues telling gags – as he puts it himself – about Cork men, Kerry men, Paddy goes to America, Yanks coming to Ireland.

On a national level his talent has not gone unnoticed. He appeared on the Late Late Show with Gay Byrne and has featured for many years, along with other performers, on the ‘Funny Friday’ segment of the Joe Duffy Liveline radio show.

His career has quietened down dramatically compared to earlier decades but he is still available for bookings.

Has he any advice for anyone starting out in the business.

“Don’t take yourself too seriously. Be yourself. If it’s for you, it’s for you.

“You’ll know.

“Comedy is about exaggeration and imagination. It’s high wire, high risk. You’re on a stage, on your own, with a microphone.

“As a comedian you are marketing your wares, you’re a salesperson.

“If they (the audience) don’t like your act they won’t be giving you second chances.

“On stage is the greatest place in the world to be if you are going well.

“It’s the loneliest, coldest and darkest place in the world if you are not connecting with your audience."

Frank is married to Mary. The couple have two children, now adults, Emer and Fiona.

He chuckled when asked if either of his girls ever had any hankering to follow in his entertainment footsteps.

“Emer always insists one comedian is quite enough in any family."