{"id":5248,"date":"2025-08-17T16:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T16:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/5248\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T16:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T16:01:12","slug":"i-was-sitting-having-a-whiskey-with-tommy-tiernan-going-yeah-this-is-my-life-what-a-gift-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/5248\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was sitting having a whiskey with Tommy Tiernan, going, yeah, this is my life. What a gift\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took Kyla Cobbler<\/a> a while to accept that she was a fully fledged comedian. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven just adding it to my Instagram bio was tough,\u201d she says, smiling. \u201cI guess it\u2019s because my career has been really short. I only started when I was 31, and it\u2019s gone so well, and I\u2019m so grateful for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was, like, once I started calling myself a comic, the universe was, like, \u2018Okay, here we go. Now I\u2019ll give you a hand,\u2019 whereas before I was fighting it. I think being from Ireland and calling yourself an artist is weird. You don\u2019t want to come across as having notions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notions or not, Cobbler, who is from Cork<\/a>, has become one of the hottest properties in Irish comedy in the past year or so. When we speak, she is fresh off the back of two dates at Live at the Marquee in her hometown (where she was the special guest of Tommy Tiernan<\/a>, the headliner, having appeared on his RT\u00c9 TV chatshow earlier this year), as well as an industry showcase in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last four days have been probably the most pressure I\u2019ve been under in my career,\u201d she says. \u201cI remember going from clubs of 60 to doing 1,000-seat rooms, and that difference was massive. And I knew going into the Marquee, with 4,000 people in a tent meant for music, it was going to be a bit crunchy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She grimaces. \u201cI\u2019ve never had tension running through my muscles like that. It was mental, but it was amazing. The other times I toured with him, he\u2019d never stay after the show, but this time we hung out. I was sitting having a whiskey with Tommy Tiernan, going, \u2018Yeah, this is my life.\u2019 What a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cobbler\u2019s rise has been swift, but she took a circuitous route into comedy. The 34-year-old, who grew up in Ballincollig \u2013 she left when she 18 \u2013 is now based in Barcelona. She lived and worked in Italy for several years, and it was in Milan that she inadvertently picked up her stage name (her real name is Mikayla O\u2019Connor) and began uploading funny clips to her Instagram stories.<\/p>\n

An old post from 2019 shows her gleefully celebrating 5,000 followers; less than six years later, almost 500,000 followers tune into her amusing reels about relatable everyday occurrences. <\/p>\n

The relatability factor has a lot to do with her success, she reckons. After our interview, she grumbles, she has an appointment to tame her trademark curls, piled atop her head, before a live TV appearance this evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much of these \u2018Get ready with me!\u2019 videos and morning routines\u201d on social media, she says, rolling her eyes. \u201cIt\u2019s psychotic. And it\u2019s unreachable for busy women. Putting eye cream on every day? If I drink enough water, like, I win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humour was initially a defence mechanism for Cobbler, whose dyslexia was not diagnosed until she was 18. Her school years were difficult, she says, adding that she regards the late diagnosis as \u201calmost to my detriment, because I now know, as a professional comedian and a grown-up, that you have to be smart to be funny.<\/p>\n

My teachers saw that I was quick-witted, and they were, like, \u2018Well, you\u2019re just not trying, then.\u2019 So school was just a massive nightmare.\u201d She pauses. \u201cBut my mom always fought my corner. I wouldn\u2019t have had a tap of confidence leaving home if it wasn\u2019t for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny: you go through your life being angry at your parents when you\u2019re in your 20s, and then you get to a certain point where you\u2019re, like, \u2018Okay, I need to take responsibility for my own life.\u2019 And now, at 34, knowing my mom had three kids and a mortgage and a husband at my age \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, last week, I was using kitchen roll instead of toilet paper because I just kept forgetting to buy it for four days.\u201d She shrugs. \u201cWho am I to be angry at my parents?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KylaKyla Cobbler: ‘I know my toxic trait as a Cork woman is looking at a troll’s profile and going, I could take you’ <\/p>\n

The key to unlocking her love of comedy and performing lay in social media. She remembers the first \u201cfunny\u201d post she uploaded. \u201cI was working in the fashion district in Milan at the time, and one of the filters was an underwater one, with fish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI posted myself dancing \u2018under the sea\u2019. I left it up for, like, an hour, and then my sister was, like, \u2018Ehh \u2026 What are you doing?\u2019 And I thought, \u2018You\u2019re right. What am I doing?\u2019 and I took it down,\u201d she says laughing. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut then I just started doing daily stories and building it slowly. I remember the feelings of insecurity about doing them [at first], whereas now I could not care less. I\u2019m, like, \u2018There you go. Feed the monster.\u2019<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The funny thing about Irish comedy: Why it doesn\u2019t hurt to be rich if you want to be a stand-upOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Her willingness to feed the monster and speak her mind has also led to some interesting reactions online. One quip about how Donald Trump supporters stuck to their guns after the assassination attempt on the US president led to death threats.<\/p>\n

She is immune to trolling by now. \u201cI know my toxic trait as a Cork woman is looking at their profile and going, \u2018I could take you,\u2019\u201d she says with deadpan sincerity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done this for so long now I have a thick skin about it. And [the internet] is just such nonsense. It\u2019s not real. It\u2019s always funny when I always get trolled about my looks; they always call me a man, or say, \u2018You look like this guy.\u2019 But they\u2019re always really handsome men, so I\u2019m, like, \u2018I\u2019ll take that. He\u2019s gorgeous.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Cobbler has always been open about her own life, too. Her South African fiance, Simon, a master builder whom she calls her \u201coak tree\u201d, features regularly on both her social-media posts and occasionally at her live shows.<\/p>\n

She has comedy to thank for their relationship, after first crossing paths with him at a comedy club she was appearing at. The transition from an online comic to stand-up in May 2021 was daunting initially, but now she adores performing live, she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done. When I look back on it now, I just can\u2019t believe that this is my career. It was just never on the cards, because I come from a \u2018shush\u2019 family. Like, if you\u2019re talking, my dad will be, like, \u2018Shush, shush, shush\u2019,\u201d she says, laughing again. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo being told you\u2019ve got seven minutes to fill, I was sitting there shaking \u2013 \u2018They don\u2019t want to hear this stuff.\u2019 And also because of the online thing, I feel there\u2019s definitely this begrudgement [of people thinking], \u2018Oh, well, that\u2019s the internet. That\u2019s what got you your following.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s hard to do, and it just didn\u2019t get easy for a really long time. It took a year. I would book myself into open mics and then cancel, because I wouldn\u2019t sleep. I remember cracking up about doing my first 15 minutes in a nightclub in Barcelona. And now,\u201d she says, grinning, \u201cI can\u2019t shut up.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Stand-up comedy: I never knew that five minutes could feel like a lifetimeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Cobbler\u2019s plan for world domination doesn\u2019t end with live stand-up; she would love to explore comedic acting, perhaps in a mockumentary-style show like The Office. Given the way she has risen to every challenge over the past three years, stranger things have happened.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, her new show, Not My Lemons, explores more personal topics \u2013 an advancement from her debut show, Gone Rogue, which saw her praised for her \u201cblunt storytelling\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very different, for sure, because now I\u2019m in a relationship, so it goes into personal things like my family dynamic, and different stories from growing up and being in school,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of it. And it\u2019s a cool name, too \u2013 you\u2019ll get it if you come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cobbler recently signed with Off the Kerb, the agency that represents some of the biggest names in British and Irish comedy. It will inevitably lead to more touring and British dates in the future \u2013 her seven-show run this weekend at Edinburgh Festival Fringe sold out some time ago \u2013 and she might try to squeeze in her wedding this year, too. <\/p>\n

\u201cThings are selling really well in Ireland, and a lot of the new tour is sold out,\u201d she says, noting that venue sizes across the country have steadily increased for her Not My Lemons tour, in early 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Ireland is amazing, but I just want to take over the world. Why not? I just want to do it everywhere. And I can do it. I\u2019m having just the best craic, especially when people come to my own show, because I\u2019m not proving myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a lot of them are women, and we\u2019ll be cackling away \u2026 Oh, it\u2019s just class,\u201d she says with a giddy chuckle. \u201cI don\u2019t have a bucket-list vibe. If I can just keep doing this for the rest of my life, I\u2019ll take it. I\u2019ll keep showing up as long as they let me in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyla Cobbler<\/a>\u2019s Not My Lemons tour begins at the Mac, Belfast, on February 5th, 2026, and ends at the 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, on April 12th, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took Kyla Cobbler a while to accept that she was a fully fledged comedian. \u201cEven just adding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[1877,18,117,19,17,5492,5493],"class_list":{"0":"post-5248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-cork","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-kyla-cobbler","14":"tag-tommy-tiernan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}