Simon Hennessy: 'If I spend too much time on my phone, I tell myself it’s my job'

An internet comedy sensation is bringing his solo show, Notice Box, to the Cork Arts Theatre as part of a tour that includes the London Irish Cultural Centre.

Dubliner Simon Hennessy’s show, which was a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe last year with “eight or nine sold-out shows out of 12,” explores the online world we carry in our pockets.

From dating apps to social media, Simon, 29, reckons that if we’re honest, we spend “most of our lives” tethered to our smartphones.

Notice Box combines songs, sketches and stand-up. For an hour, Simon will blend “farcical and sharp humour with honest introspection on the allure and anxieties of the digital world”.

There will be music and multimedia elements in the show, all contributing to an experience that is very much of the zeitgeist.

Bored during lockdown, Simon turned to posting amusing clips on the internet, very much for his own entertainment and that of friends.

He became prominent via satirical social media sketches and viral characters such as Remy and Adam. Simon amassed 396,000 followers and more than 300 million views.

That’s quite an achievement for someone who didn’t set out to be a big hit.

The Adam character had a filter called ‘handsome’ applied to him. And handsome he is, but also, very egotistical.

“Most of my characters are egotistical,” says Simon. “I don’t know what that says about me. What came out of my mouth was a sort of northern Irish ‘himbo’ who knows that he’s good-looking. That’s really all he can talk about.

“Any place or topic that he brings up, Adam will find a way to tie it back to ultimately the most important topic, his stunning good looks.”

Remy is a French character, also egotistical, but in a different way.

“He has my own face,” says Simon. “I couldn’t in all conscience go down the same route as Adam.

“Remy is a French university student who has appalling English but has total self-confidence and self-assurance. He thinks he has brilliant English and is the smartest person in the room.

“He is sort of based on someone I went to college with. The person didn’t have the best English, but that didn’t stop him interrupting every lecture and sharing every thought that came into his head.

“The first Remy video was four years ago. Since then, he has become increasingly more ridiculous. He’s an eccentric.”

Why did the two characters go viral?

“That’s a question I’ve asked myself and, to this day, I’m not entirely sure,” replies Simon.

“The best reason I can think of is that maybe we all knew a Remy. Maybe in every lecture hall across the world, there’s someone who is not necessarily French, but is cockier than they should be.

“Maybe I’m over-complicating it; it might just be that people like hearing broken English.”

Simon studied political science at Trinity College Dublin. “It had absolutely nothing to do with comedy,”he says, “although some of our politicians are real comedians in their own way.”

What did Simon learn from the political science lectures at Trinity?

“I guess it teaches you that people are very interested in power, how to get it, keep it, and how best to utilise it.

“But really, if there’s one thing political science taught me, it’s that I have absolutely no interest in working in politics. The course was something similar to what my brother studied. He found it interesting. That’s why I went for it.

“I didn’t have any idea about what I wanted to do with my life when I was coming out of school.”

Based in his native Dublin, Simon worked the comedy circuit in London for a while.

“I loved doing stand-up in London. It’s a fun place but not somewhere I’d want to be for too long.”

His Irish accent has helped win audiences. “The Irish accent is the best,” says Simon.

“If you get up in front of a crowd, anywhere outside of Ireland, and they hear your Irish accent, the audience is going to be automatically on your side.

“I only have to be half as funny over there and still get laughs.

“I did the Comedy Club a few times and I performed my show, Afters, in London.”

Notice Box is a show that is told through the perspective of “a chronically online comedian,” explains Simon, adding: “Basically, it’s the one thing I’m properly qualified to talk about.

“There’s a small bit of sincerity in the show when I talk about how weird my life has become as a result of being an internet comedian. But for the most part, the show is a lot of fun.”

Asked whether he prefers being an online comedian or performing live, Simon says: “I like both. But there’s nothing like performing live. I probably prefer that.

“Building up the internet stuff meant I started to get a bit of attention. The one thing I wanted to do when lockdown ended was to get out and perform live and do my own show, which I’m lucky enough to do.

“But all the opportunities I got were to do with posting videos on the internet. I’m grateful for that.”

Digital obsession is good material for observational comedy, says Simon.

“It’s crazy; it’s such a huge part of our lives.

“If we’re honest, we may not like to look at how much time we’re on our screens.

“It’s an entirely other world that we live in and it all happened so fast.

“If I spend too much time on my phone, I tell myself it’s my job. But when you’re doom-scrolling for hours on end, you can hardly call that a professional pursuit!”

Notice Box is at the Cork Arts Theatre on May 7.