Ardal O'Hanlon's The Showing Off Must Go On on Isle of Wight next month

He's...um...excitable...Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted, mild mannered George Sunday in My Hero, irrepresible DI Jack Mooney in Death in Paradise, and embattled Eamon in Derry Girls.

He has decades of stand-up under his belt (Whose Line is It Anyway, Live at the Apollo). More recently, he's faced, head-on, the bizarre challenges of Channel 4's Taskmaster.

So who is the real Ardal, who brings The Showing Off Must Go On to Shanklin Theatre, at 8pm, on November 25?

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For one thing, the County Monaghan-born comic likes architecture and museums. He worked them into a month-long coast-to-coast tour across the United States.

Not long home, and speaking to the County Press from a sunny Emerald Isle, he sighs the sigh of someone confronted with the reality of having to unpack the suitcases, "Ah! It was just great!" 

New York, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Milwaukee all stood out.

"It was everything I hoped it would be. We had the road trip element and I was ticking things off my bucket list.

"We started in San Francisco and worked our way over to New York.

"My wife was able to come with me and we had a really nice time."

What surprised him was the number of Taskmaster fans who turned up because the show doesn't air in America.

"They really had to route it out. Pretty much every night there were people who would come simply because of it. They're really passionate die-hard fans." 

Perhaps it's because they sense the joy of the contestants taking part.

"I would use the word liberating to describe it," said Ardal.

"As a stand-up comedian, you like to be well prepared. You live with the material for a long time. You're constantly mulling over your routines and trying them out. 

"It's not scripted word-for-word, but there's a structure.

"Likewise, when you're acting.

"With Taskmaster, you're totally on your own. You're totally out of your comfort zone. You just have to let yourself go.

"It's the kind of show I possibly would would have shied away from a few years ago, but I think the pandemic changed me. I was just more open to trying new things.

"Taskmaster was the most fun I think I've ever had in a working environment. I just loved every minute of it. It was just joyous, from start to finish.

"As long as you're prepared to make a fool of yourself, and you don't mind being humiliated and bullied by the evil Greg Davis, that's fine, you know!"

Ardal's Taskmaster experience was a 'giddy' return to having a live studio audience. His American tour, a chance to combine work and travel.

"Normally you might get a walk in, for half an hour, and a bowl of soup before the show," but he's really all about making a trip out of life on the road.

"This is one of the reasons why I still do it. It provides these wonderful opportunities and by doing it as a stand up, you've a reason to be there. You're not a 'mere tourist'!"

Ardal O'Hanlon by Mark Nixon. (Image: Ardal O'Hanlon/Mark Nixon.)

His visit to Isle of Wight will be shorter - think of it more as a recce, for a later trip - but it's a chance to pick up where the Covd-19 lockdown left off.

"The intention was always to continue and so I'm finally getting round to some of the places that we didn't quite hit - and the Isle of Wight is one of them.

"I've had a certain history and form with islands. I spent a lot of time on Craggy Island, in the early part of my career. I spent time in the ill-fated Sant Marie. I presume the Isle of Wight's a combination of those? That's what I've been led to believe!"

The Caribbean paradise of Guadeloupe doubles as Death In Paradise murder hot-spot, Saint Marie.

In 2020, after three years, Ardal exited the BBC show - and a gruelling far-flung filming schedule where cast and crew became surrogate family.

Ardal said: "I do kind of miss the camaraderie. But it was very challenging - no one really believes me. I don't expect you believe me either, but you do put in a big, big shift!"

"People say it's a dream role. I always think it's a dream role to play the victim because you just have to lie on the ground - it's a two week holiday! That's like winning the lottery for an actor!"

At Shanklin Theatre, expect a wide range of subjects, a snapshot of Ardal's life and a nod to pet obsessions and bug bears.

"I'm talking a lot about a big tech, relationships and raising teenagers."

"The show's title is The Showing Off Must Go On. There's a conflict within me.

"Stand-up is showing off. Where I come from, small town Ireland, which I am sure is not unlike the Isle of Wight, people hate show-offs.

"There's contradiction. I still want to do it. I love it more than ever and yet I can't get away from this idea that you're being a big show off."

To come to see Ardal O'Hanlon at Shanklin Theatre next month will be to escape and have a laugh.

"I'm old school. For me it's really all about making people people smile. You want people to think and you want to provoke...but I try to get to the punchline as quick as possible!"