Tom O’Connor has just had his hair cut. He tells me that the hairdresser suggested he dye it– but he refused. “It’s all part of the act,” he explains in his familiar Liverpool accent.
Familiar on our televisions screens as the one-time host of popular game shows ‘Name That Tune’ and ‘Crosswits’, it’s difficult to believe that the comedian/ TV host/ author worked for many years as a mathematics and music teacher.
The progression from a sensible teaching post to the more adventurous entertainment role began through singing. Tom says that after a while he ended up “being the guy who leaned on a guitar and told jokes and when the audience stopped laughing we sang!”
So how did the transition to the stardom experienced today evolve? “We went where the money was, getting two or three pounds a night– but we soon discovered that the comedians were getting six pounds. Their gags were awful and they were using our equipment, so it meant we had to stay on stage all night. Eventually I thought ‘blow this!’ so we introduced comedy into the act full-time. I used to write comedy parodies, songs that were big hits back then.”
Hughie Greene invited Tom on his ‘Opportunity Knocks’ show and he was away.
Tom O’Connor often spends more time in Ireland than at home in Liverpool. Apart from his family connections here, Ireland is a place that remains close to his heart. “Yes, my ideal audience is here in Ireland. It’s not a place where there’s a deadly hush. By the time I go on stage everyone is each other’s pal because they’ve shared the jokes with the compere and had a few drinks and wandered about and to that extent when I do any television show now we insist on having an audience that I can work to before I start so I’m really doing a live show and the people are feeling it.”
Regular slots and television appearances have all contributed to the successful career of this proud Liverpuddlian. Tom’s fondness for Dublin is well documented. In many ways, he says, it reminds him of his home town. “Dublin reminds me of what I remember about the best of Liverpool. The late sixties and early seventies. People were going forward, they were still excited, people were still happy and going out to be entertained. Liverpool used to be like Dublin but unfortunately it has lost it.”
When you think of Tom O’Connor comedy is not the only thing that springs to mind. His love of golf is well-known. With a schedule as busy as his, it seems that the game has become his secret refuge. “I started the golf back in 1973, I was doing a summer season as a comedian– there’s nothing more boring than a seaside resort, two shows a night, usually twenty five minutes a go so you’re bored, you have a late night, sleep, wake up groggy and then it’s back on stage.”
Enjoy Christmas lunch with Tom O’Connor when he appears in Dublin’s Regency Airport Hotel on Sunday 7th, Monday 8th December, Tuesday 9th December and Wednesday 10th Dec.
The cabaret show will feature music and songs from the 70s and 80s, with great standards performed by Helen Jordan, Gerry Farrelly and Clodagh Long. This show is designed to take you back to those great days of Cabaret.
A super full Christmas Lunch will be served at 12.30 and the show commences at 1.30. For bookings and enquiries please call 01 833 0433, Monday to Friday 11am to 7p.m.