Standup's David Nihill Zones in On What the Irish Do Best – Storytelling

When Dublin-born David Nihill first traveled out of Ireland at the age of 22, he was infected with the travel virus. Since then he has worked in twelve countries and visited some 70 or so. Then somewhere along the way, he realized he was funny and good at the Irish national pastime – storytelling, which he has turned into a successful stand-up act, as well as a productive career as a public speaking coach. He also is the author of the successful best-seller, "Do You Talk Funny?" And his social media posts and videos have made him something of an Internet meme, proving that storytelling is infectious when delivered with a Gallic lilt.

He is presently at the start of new stand-up tour that is in Washington DC on March 7, New York City on March 8, and Boston on March 9, with 21 dates to follow that take him to the West Coast and America's heartland. A prolific reader, David uses his new show, named "Shelf Help," to cite many of the books that have contributed to his world; as well as tell funny stories of his travels around the world.

EDGE spoke to the charming Nihill recently about where his storytelling abilities come from, his love of all things Irish, and what he thinks of America today.

EDGE: So you have the big tour, and it must be an awesome task in a way, right, bringing it together?

David Nihill: This one has gone through a lot of iterations, because the show is based upon the books that I've read over my lifetime and trying to make sense of what madness and random adventures or misadventures I have been up to the last few years. So I guess in getting your train of thought together and matching it to 25 books more or less that I reference into a show that makes some semblance of sense. And it is really just me talking about things I have lived through in my life and relating them to other things. I get to tell a few crazy stories.

EDGE: I remember you said that you won't do a routine, but you feel you share ideas. Can you talk about that?

David Nihill: Yeah, I don't know if it's a routine in that there is much story-telling. And storytelling is very linear, and is very much the hero's journey in which everything builds to one point. Irish people are famous for going off in 6 million tangents at the same time and somehow magically interweaving and connecting them by the end of it. Or they may never not, which is the risk, Our culture is really built around storytelling. As is all the comedy I've ever done, I'm just sharing stories about all the wacky things to happen me while I'm bouncing around the world, or things that struck me as unusual as I tried to learn something new. So there isn't really, there's never a moment where I'm sitting down asking, 'how do I make this funny?' These are the funny things that happened to me. But my challenge is to share them with people in ways that they see themselves within that story too.

EDGE: You've traveled an extensive a lot, right? When did you realize you love the travel bug?

David Nihill: I think when I landed in Spain and my parents were like, there's no way that fella can survive. He can't even cook. And they were very correct. I was microwaving hot dogs until they exploded. That's how I knew they were done. I think I found some Spanish cuisine that they took a liking for. It was a some of the, you know, the fried potatoes they have, Patatas bravas. And it's just something that spoke to my heart as an Irish person, sadly and stereotypically, because it was a potato, but done in a whole new way. And then you go to another country, they have a slightly different way of doing something that you like a bit. And I guess every step you take around the world is another experience to share. I don't think, until I went to Montreal, that I'd ever been in a restaurant apart from McDonald's and one Chinese restaurant we had in Ireland growing up, because there weren't all that many dining options. So I was dating this French Canadian girl, and she takes me to a restaurant and at first I'm not comfortable in this environment. I don't recognize any of these words, what's going on? But over repeated exposure, over time, you really get to like it. And then you start to share those experiences with other people, and you like it more. And I guess that's that's the beauty of the world we live in. Culturally, there's all these little aspects that you don't know, and then you learn them, like them, and adapt to them, They become yours, and you share them with other people. And that became very, very addictive, very quickly.

EDGE: Is there a place that you're more fond of than others?

David Nihill: Ireland. Oh, yeah. There's a couple places like Ireland in the world where the people are just that happy to talk to you, and are happy to interact with strangers, and tell a story. And it's just a few places where you can strike up a stranger conversation with a stranger in like an ATM queue and it feels terribly normal. If that happened to me somewhere else, I assume they're trying to rob me or check out my pin number. But it kind of freaks me out when I go back to Ireland and people just start talking to me. I'm like, 'What are you doing? This is not a moment for interaction.' I think the beauty of Ireland is every situation is a moment of interaction from a stranger. Every time you pass someone, they say, hello. And I just, yeah, I miss that. You find it in certain countries, but it is often one that has a very heavy Irish influence such as Jamaica, which is like going to the warm Ireland, because there is a very high, heavy Irish influence there. People are real and chatty for no apparent reason. And it turns out 40% of Jamaicans have some level of Irish heritage. So it's kind of funny, for such a little nation the influence we've had on the world.

EDGE: Well, you talk about that in your TED talk. I think about how Irish people are everywhere, right?

David Nihill: Yeah. I think, like per capita, we are the largest Global Diaspora in the world, so this small country has had a huge impact in turning up in people's family trees. And I think people always suspected that. But we have DNA testing, and there are wonderful moments where you've all these Latinos going, 'What, I am 9% Irish? Or wondering why do I have red hair? All of a sudden, people are diving down these rabbit holes to find out what it means to be Irish.

EDGE: So storytelling is the Irish national pastime – where does it come from?

David Nihill: It's something very much ingrained in Irish society that goes way back to Celtic times, and even predates that, and it's something that they're very protective of. And I think we've literally based a whole culture around it. Twitter is not our way of living. We just can't say anything meaningful in one line unless you're Oscar Wilde or James Joyce and the whole world celebrates you for it. But like I to think there's a value in the human connection of telling a story that's very relatable and yet always hilarious. I think if you had to pick a funniest human country in the world, it would probably be Ireland. Like, the Irish are the most naturally entertaining group of individuals you can find. So it's just an unusual thing, it's a magic thing. Of course, everyone in the world has stories, but I think Ireland has just a richer and longer history of telling them, and building a our society around them.

EDGE: You have been spending quite a bit of time in the United States. What do you think of it?

David Nihill: It's a love hate relationship, because there's lots of things that are fascinating to me, and there's lots of opportunities and optimism, like anything is possible. But there's a lot of there's a lot of underlying disgruntlement that we don't really have in Ireland. You know, Ireland is a pretty stable, pretty normal place where everybody is singing from more or less the same hymn sheet and moving in the right direction. We are fairly stable most of the time, not doing anything nutty. I mean, we have more Nobel Prizes than China. Half of them are for writing and half of them for making peace. We're kind of like this impartial little island, despite being statistically outnumbered slightly by China. So I'm always viewing America through the lens of what it's like to be Irish, and it just seems like a more fragmented place, with all immigrant issues, even though we're all immigrants at the end of the day, especially Irish people.

EDGE: But why is Ireland such a progressive country?

David Nihill: I think we have no choice. Take immigration. We progressed very fast on that issue because of our economy. We really had to open up the doors to everybody. I think we have a large element of common sense and people that just value doing the right thing over everything else. And of course, that's being pushed a little bit at the moment as we have a big housing crisis with our government is kind pushing the line where we have to take as many as humanly possible, so it is pushing us to a breaking point a little bit.

EDGE: How did you overcome your fear of public speaking?

David Nihill: I never did, but I guess through repeated exposure. I think it's nearly a false idea that you can overcome a fear of public speaking. I think the real message is you can manage it, and through sheer repetition and just having habits around it, and knowing that in the moment, you realize, 'this will be okay. I have done enough preparation.' You realize that it won't be horrendous. I know what to do. I know there will be little moments that can go wrong, but I know how to manage them. So I think if you do it for a significant period of time, it doesn't seem scary anymore. But the fear is still there, it just becomes very manageable.

EDGE: But every stand-up comic admits to having moments when they don't connect with the audience. What happens for you in those moments?

David Nihill: In those moments I acknowledges the obvious. That it is not going over. And I think those experience help me in the long run because I have learned to navigate those moments a little bit. But the difference with me and other stand-up comics is that I tell stories, so I don't have that many moments. It's not as if I am out to shock them with a one-liner. That's when a comic takes a bigger risk and can alienate an audience. But it's just not my style of comedy. So for me, I don't have as many of those moments because I tell stories that I involve the audience in. Stories that you can see yourself in. I think if you're not going to be funny, at least be interesting, And if people have paid money to sit and listen to you, they probably will, without getting too emotionally worked up. And I think storytelling doesn't seem to rouse people in the way some other sort of comedy might.

EDGE: Can anyone learn to be funny?

David Nihill: I don't think so. People can learn to be funnier in time, but to be naturally funny, that's a gift that coms from seeing life in a certain way. Still I think people can use certain techniques to refine their delivery to appear funnier. It might not make you funnier in life, but people can certainly refine this technique when they speak that in time. So I think you can get slightly funnier.

EDGE: do you think of the cultural divide in the country right now?

David Nihill: I think it's interesting. But I think if everyone just got a bit more informed, there wouldn't be a such a division.I always say to people, if you're on the fence about a social economic issue or a potentially divisive issue, ask yourself, 'what are the Irish people doing about it, and follow their lead, Because we think we have a pretty good track record with what it means just to navigate the world in kind of a common sense manner, being decent to other humans and being nice to each other. So it's an interesting time to live here, because you do feel that palatable void. I think the Irish do a very good job of of navigating these divisive issues that appear to be reaching a breaking point here.

EDGE: last question, when did you realize you were funny?

David Nihill: I don't know. I think I probably always thought I was a bit of a smart person some level. But I don't think there's a particular moment when I realized I was funny. I remember my dad always being funny, so I remember thinking, Well, I must have some of that in me somewhere. And then when you just start telling the stories that have been shared with you or your parents or friends, or tell your adventures, and you see a happy response on everybody's face. That confirms that there might be a little bit of funny in there somewhere. But I never thought I could get paid to do it professionally – just go around sharing my stories with people. And America is the kind of place where those kind of dreams come true. So that is, that is the value of being here. Ultimately, there might be a bit of division, and there might be a bit anger about certain things sometimes, but at the end of the day, it keeps rolling and it keeps making dreams happen for people in the most unusual manners. And I think that's why everybody is still drawn to the United States no matter what's going up.

David Nihill is currently on his "Shelf Help" tour that brings him to Boston's Wilbur Theater on Sunday, March 9. For more details about this date, follow this link.

For more details about David Nihill, his tour and his comedy, visit his website.