Since my first son was born in 2015, I have been trying to understand my new role in the absence of my own father, Dermot Morgan, who today will be dead 20 years.

Twenty years on from his death, Dermot Morgan’s place in Ireland’s public consciousness shows no sign of fading.

Father Ted star Dermot Morgan told of how he was looking forward to getting out of the dog collar and possibly returning to the comedy circuit, in an interview given just days before his death yesterday.

The back bar of The Clarence, Dublin’s most fashionable hotel, is a symphony of muted pastel colours and stark furniture. A fire burns cheerily in the grate, despite the May sunlight streaming through the window. There’s nobody here but me at 1.30 on a Friday lunchtime, which is a little alarming for the management (the place is owned by U2) but may be just a symptom of the new Irish Renaissance, in which no cool Dubliner would be so old-fashioned as to go for lunch in a pub. Among the myriad incarnations of the Renaissance (the Shamrock Economy, Boyzone, Mary Robinson, Riverdance, Angela’s Ashes, Irish theme pubs, Ballykissangel, Neil Jordan, The Leenane Trilogy on Broadway) one of the most striking has been the success of Father Ted, the Bafta-winning sitcom whose run came to an abrupt stop after three series.

Late July 1978

Dermot Morgan’s new stage show, a nervous coalition of bitingly witty political satire and iffy observational humour, is a curious beast indeed.

Dermot performed “Getting Morganised” (standup?) as part of the ContemporEire festival in Dublin.

Released on DVD and CD under the name “Dermot Morgan Live”

An evening of standup raising funds for Amnesty International. Dermot opens the performance.

Going by the sources below, there appear to have been two separate iterations of this show, in 1994 and 1995.

At this time, Dermot was making “regular contributions” to RTÉ radio programme Studio 10.

Every weekday on 98FM.

Aired on 98FM.

Apperance on “The Ian Dempsey Christmas Show” on 2FM.