Al Foran is making an impression as he carves out his reputation

Al Foran took to social media to carve out his reputation as a comic. He tells Marjorie Brennan how he sees his Opera House gig as a bit of a homecoming

Al Foran is making an impression as he carves out his reputation

Al Foran took to social media to carve out his reputation as a comic. He tells Marjorie Brennan how he sees his Opera House gig as a bit of a homecoming

Al Foran knew he was on to something when at the tender age of ten, he stood up at the top table at his parents’ wedding and began impersonating family members, to hoots of laughter.

Fast forward 16 years and Foran’s online clips of celebrity impressions have been seen by millions of people around the world. Now he’s taking his impressions on the road with a tour of venues around Ireland.

“It’s been with me since I was a kid,” says Foran. “My family also has a background in performing; my older brother Stuart was an actor, he was in War of the Buttons and Into the West.”

Foran will be performing at Cork Opera House, a venue which has a special significance for him and his family.

“My grandmother [Ellen Mullane] was known as Cork’s leading soprano and she performed in the Opera House, so it’s a huge thing for my mam and her family,” he says.

Family support is important to Foran; his father Charlie is his manager, while his mum Geraldine often appears in his online videos.

“She adds the ‘Irish Mammy’ element. She loves it. She makes out as if she minds but when the camera is in front of her, she lights up.” Foran’s mother was born in Dublin but both her parents were born in Cork.

“There’s a bit of Cork in me, all right,” he says, not that you’d guess it from his strong Dublin accent.

Foran grew up in Portmarnock, Co Dublin, where he honed his skills from an early age.

“I did my first gig when I was 18 years old in my local community centre in Portmarnock, in front of 150 people. I thought, ‘jeez I could be in the Apollo in six months’ but it was nothing like that. That was March 2010, and it has taken a while to get to this point.”

Social media has played a significant role in bringing Foran’s talents to a wider audience.

“The likes of Mario Rosenstock and Oliver Callan would have had the chance to display their talent on radio or TV — I didn’t have that. I started making videos around 2014, doing an impression of Conor McGregor. At that time, social media was on the rise, as was he. I had to capitalise on it, and started to perfect the McGregor impersonation.”

Foran admits to cringing now when he watches his initial efforts.

“I look back on those first ones and I go ‘oh God’,” he laughs. However, they were enough to set the ball rolling and the hits just grew from there. When Foran was invited to an event in London with Floyd Mayweather, ahead of the boxer’s clash with McGregor, he seized the opportunity. He wowed the crowd — and Mayweather — with his impressions of McGregor, actor Robert de Niro and Mike Tyson, among others.

“Mayweather had been told there was a guy who did a Conor McGregor impersonation attending on the night and he said he wanted me up on stage at the end for the Q&A. I was so nervous…It wasn’t just that he is one of the most successful boxers of all time, it was the fact he had an entourage of about 30 with him.”

The clip from the event went viral, clocking up 11 million views on Foran’s Facebook page. He says when other platforms are factored in, it has been shared around 30 million times. Still, Foran’s perfectionist streak shows when he is talking about it.

“I enjoyed doing McGregor but I felt my Trump impression was a bit off on the night. When I watch it, I skip Trump and Joe Pesci. But when I did the Mike Tyson for him and saw him laugh like that, that’s when I thought, yes.”

While Foran acknowledges the importance of social media in building a name for himself, he is conscious of its ad hoc nature and wants to finesse his work further.

“I was born on social media in a sense, and I won’t be leaving that realm any time soon, I really do enjoy it. But in terms of my content, I do want to improve it. Instead of doing the selfie videos, I’d like it to be professionally filmed, maybe set something up where people can view the content on a weekly basis. That would be fantastic. Twitter is probably my favourite platform. Because a lot of my videos have to be done quickly, in terms of a football result or anything that is breaking in the news, I put it up on Twitter and it flies,” he says.

Foran’s impressions of football personalities including José Mourinho, Louis Van Gaal and Wayne Rooney have gone down a storm with soccer fans, featuring on sports channels and websites. However, in his live show, he wants to widen the net to bring in more female characters.

“I do want to shift the focus a bit,” he says.

I want to bring the female audience in. I have found that on social media, women are really receptive, they are constantly liking and sharing content.

He then demonstrates a spot-on impression of the ubiquitous Kim Kardashian, complete with her trademark vocal fry.

“I’d be grand bringing in all the Kardashians, I wouldn’t need to do anything else,” he laughs.

When it comes to perfecting his impressions, Foran says the voice is the first and most important element.

“I’m a perfectionist when I’m filming videos; I could do a take 15 to 20 times before posting. I watch interviews and I try to tonally replicate the voice — I walk around the house just talking to myself, I wouldn’t be doing it in front of a mirror. In the shower is great too. Other people sing in the shower, I impersonate in the shower.”

Performing in large venues in front of a real-life audience must be a daunting prospect compared to uploading a video in the comfort of your own home but Foran says he is relishing the challenges of a live show.

“Yes, it’s very different. I am nervous but nerves are good; there is something wrong with people who don’t get nervous. We did a practice run at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght recently and people responded well. There were a lot of sketches in it, it was an hour and 50 minutes. That’s great because we were able to take out the sketches that weren’t resonating with the audience. We’ve tightened it up a lot since then. I really like the structure of a live show.” Given his huge popularity on social media, Foran has become accustomed to people approaching him asking him to ‘do’ certain celebrities. He is happy to oblige — most of the time.

“When they come up and are in your face with their mobile already recording, that is a bit rude but when they come and ask beforehand, I don’t mind at all. I love putting a smile on someone’s face,” he says.

As for the future, Foran says he would like to branch out into more general comedy and acting. He has his sights set high.

I am a huge fan of Larry David; Curb Your Enthusiasm is one of my favourite shows of all time. He is a genius. Everything about him is so funny, even the way he walks. I’d love to be playing arenas eventually. I don’t want to be doing impressions all my life, I do want to break into acting. I was in a short film last year called Kubrick by Candlelight, directed by David O’Reilly, which has been doing the rounds at film festivals. I absolutely loved it, I caught the bug.

When I mention that a fair few well-known actors started out as impressionists, Foran mentions Jim Carrey. You could be the Irish Jim Carrey, I suggest. “I’m not as hyper but I’ll try,” he laughs.

Meanwhile, for his Opera House gig, I suggest he pays special attention to his Roy Keane impression. He assures me he’s well on top of it. And with that, the switch is flicked, the Dublin accent is gone and I’m in the company of one of Cork’s famous sons. Dowtcha boy.

Al Foran: Impersonate This! is at Cork Opera House on March 30; corkoperahouse.ie. For other tour dates, see ticketmaster.ie

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