Patrick Shortt (born 12 December 1967) is an Irish actor, comedian, writer, and entertainer. His role in the 2007 film ''

Garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicl ...

'' led to him receiving the IFTA for Best Actor. He is most notably remembered for his role as Tom in the television series ''

Father Ted ''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews (writer), Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for British television channel Channel 4. It aired over three seri ...

''.

Career

Shortt toured alongside

Jon Kenny Jonathan Kenny (28 September 1957 – 15 November 2024) was an Irish comedian and actor, best known as one half of the Irish comic duo D'Unbelievables with Pat Shortt. They were a successful duo until 2000, releasing ''One Hell of a Video, D'U ...

as the comedy duo

D'Unbelievables D'Unbelievables were an Irish comedy duo from Limerick formed in the late 1980s by Pat Shortt and Jon Kenny. Together they created characters which could be seen on every street corner and pub in Ireland. They toured extensively all over Irelan ...

. They released "One Hell of a Video", "D'Unbelievables", "D'Video" (a live random sketch show), "D'Telly" (featuring Shortt and Kenny playing various characters – primarily two brothers who run a shop together), "D'Mother" (in which Kenny's character oversaw the running of a public house alongside his "mother" – who was later revealed to be his father, in a role played by Shortt) and "D'collection". One character played by Shortt was Dan Clancy, known for telling "his stories". The pair were highly successful in Ireland, selling out the

Vicar Street Vicar Street is a concert, performing arts centre and events venue in Dublin, Ireland. Located at Thomas Street, Dublin 8, Vicar Street has capacity for 1,050 people for seated performances and 1,500 people for standing gigs. The venue is ow ...

venue for 14 weeks. The duo stopped touring in 2000 after Kenny was diagnosed with

Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the lymph nodes. The condition was named a ...

.D'unbeaten Jon is back
''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'', 20 September 2002My cancer battle by comic Jon
''

'', 30 November 2000 Shortt played the role of Tom, a crazy man, in the comedy series ''

''. His character maintained a

unibrow A unibrow (or jacco brow or monobrow; called synophrys in medicine) is a single eyebrow created when the two eyebrows meet in the middle above the bridge of the nose. The hair above the bridge of the nose is of the same color and thickness as the e ...

and wore a tee shirt with the slogan " I shot JR". In 2003,

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

approached Shortt to create a comedy series, ''

Killinascully ''Killinaskully'' is an Irish television comedy series which details the bizarre goings-on in a fictitious Irish village called Killinaskully located in the hills of Ireland. It was actually filmed on location in the villages of Killoscully an ...

''. Shortt elaborated on his work with D'Unbelievables, again playing Dan Clancy and a number of other characters. The programme ran for five seasons, with six Christmas specials. In 2009, Shortt created and starred in a comedy, ''Mattie'', for RTÉ, set in a

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace") is the national police and security service of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards". The service is headed by the Garda Commissio ...

station. The series was retitled and reworked in 2011. The cast included Sue Collins. He starred in the 2007 Cannes award-winning film ''

'', directed by

Lenny Abrahamson Leonard Ian Abrahamson (born 30 November 1966) is an Irish film and television director. He is best known for directing independent films ''Adam & Paul'' (2004), ''Garage (film), Garage'' (2007), ''What Richard Did'' (2012), ''Frank (film), Fra ...

. Shortt won the Best Actor award at the 2008 IFTAs for his performance in this film. In 2008,

An Post (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of Mail, postal services in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provide ...

issued a postage stamp featuring Pat Shortt, as Josie, in the film ''Garage''. In 2014 Shortt appeared in Episode 3, Season 2 of the

Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

programme ''

Moone Boy ''Moone Boy'' is an Irish sitcom created, co-written by and co-starring Chris O'Dowd for British broadcaster Sky One. The series is co-written by Nick Murphy (writer), Nick Vincent Murphy and is produced by Baby Cow Productions, Sprout Pictures ...

''. In the episode, the main character Martin Moone and his friend Padraig float down the

River Boyle The Boyle River is a river in Ireland. Forming part of the Shannon River Basin, it flows from Lough Gara on the Sligo/Roscommon county border and thence through the town of Boyle to Lough Key. From there is continues eastwards through the vil ...

on a raft. They land on an island in

Lough Key Lough Key () is a lake in Ireland. It is in the northwest of County Roscommon, northeast of the town of Boyle. The lough is believed to be named after a mythical figure named Cé. Name The name ''Lough Key'' comes from the Irish ''Loch Cé''. ...

where Shortt's character, the caretaker, entertains them and helps them to return to the mainland.

Personal life

Shortt was born in

Thurles Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles. The cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Arch ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

, one of 11 children of Mary (née Scully) and Christy Shortt. He studied at the Limerick School of Art and Design, and began his stand-up career shortly after graduating. Shortt and his wife Caroline have two children. In 2020, he and his daughter Faye, an actress who trained at the

Gaiety School of Acting The Gaiety School of Acting (GSA) is a drama school located on Essex Street West in Temple Bar, Dublin, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by theatre director Joe Dowling in 1986. Patrick Sutton, theatre director, was director of the ...

, began creating sketches for social media. Faye Shortt subsequently co-wrote and performed in a sketch for ''

RTÉ Does Comic Relief ''RTÉ Does Comic Relief'' was an Irish telethon event that took place on 26 June 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) hosted the four-hour telethon "RTÉ does Telethon" in aid of the Community Foundatio ...

''. Between 2020 and 2021, Pat and Faye Shortt co-wrote and performed two live-stream shows, before going on tour with their live comedy show, "Well".

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
''Pat Shortt in 'Musicians, Singers, Comedians, etc.' file at Limerick City Library, Ireland''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shortt, Pat 1967 births 20th-century Irish comedians 21st-century Irish comedians Living people Irish comedy musicians Irish male film actors Irish impressionists (entertainers) Irish male comedians Irish male stage actors Irish male television actors Irish television producers People from Thurles Alumni of the Limerick School of Art and Design Irish sketch comedians Actors from County Tipperary 1980s in Irish comedy 1990s in Irish comedy 2000s in Irish comedy 2010s in Irish comedy 2020s in Irish comedy