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The One Where I Get All Enthusiastic About My Kids, My Past, The Theater, And A Man Eating Plant

This weekend, daughter Tessa’s high school put on their Spring musical, “Little Shop Of Horrors” which *might* be my favorite musical of all time. There are a few others that can give it a run for its money, but “Little Shop” is one I can always return to and be lost in. The stage play differs quite a bit from the movie musical (which I also love), and significantly from the original 1960s non-musical original movie, which is barely watchable but does feature a young Jack Nicholson and is a Roger Corman production so I have some healthy respect for it too. Anyway, “Little Shop” is a really fun show that also happens to be tragically beautiful amidst all the murderous mayhem, hungry plants, situational comedy, and certified showtune bangers.

It is also very special to me because this show gave me my first sizeable role in a production, back when we performed it at my high school in (gulp) 1988. I’d had a few walk-ons before, but playing Mr. Mushnik was my first big part. In some ways, everything I’ve done since, from Children’s Theater in college through stand-up comedy in the1990s, and even making music in various bands can be traced in some way back to that production. I owe a lot to “Little Shop”, and even more to our director Bob Fowler for seeing something in me and giving me a shot. Thanks, Bob, if you’re reading this!

So it is with this background that I went to see this current production. Tessa wasn’t onstage this time-though she very well could have been. She’d have made a great urchin! Instead, she used her years of dance experience to choreograph the show. You see, the Assistant Director bailed out-I think due to a contract situation but I’m not too sure on the story-and that left a big hole to be filled. So, since Tessa was already “Dance Captain” for the show, her director asked if she knew anything about choreography. Now, she just so happened to choreograph a few songs for a Summer Theater camp last year, and since she has been a dancer for years (and is a member of a dance company here in town), the answer was yes. Follow up question: would she like to be in charge of choreography for a few songs? Sure. Okay, great, how about the WHOLE SHOW?

So she did. Every song that had a dance number, it all came from her noggin. There were even a few that didn’t really need choreo, but over achiever that she is, she got it in there anyway. And it was awesome! I know I’m biased, but I heard other audience members talking about the dance numbers too, so it wasn’t just me. It’s a credit to her that she took on a large chunk of responsibility, quite unexpectedly at that, saw it through, and nailed it.

I’m not sure how I could be more proud. Strangely, though, my sense of pride didn’t stop with just her. Perhaps it’s because I love the show so much, or because I’m a grown-up Theater Kid, or I’m just becoming a sentimental old fart, but I was proud of all of these kids-most of whom I don’t even know. Some I’ve met briefly, or heard Tessa talk about, but I don’t actually know them.

Yet, I kind of do. I know what they went through to get to this weekend. I know all the hours spent at school in rehearsal. I know about spending your free time in the evenings running your lines by yourself or with family. I know how it feels to be a teenager, feeling simultaneously sure that you can do anything and that there’s no way you can do any of this. To be fair, that’s a lot of adulthood too, but I digress. I know the frustrations of putting on a show, the panic that sets in about two weeks before, the elation when things go right and the heartbreak when even the tiniest thing goes wrong. I’ve been there. That’s why I’m so proud of them that they not only did it-but did it well.

These kids stepped it up. Apart from Tessa’s choreo thing, not having an assistant director meant that the student stage manager had to do a lot more work with the actors and the crew to get this show running. Also, this production was very fortunate in that the props head is also a legitimate puppeteer-and she made the Audrey II plants used in the show. ALL OF THEM, from the littlest pod to the giant man-eating plant we see in Act Two. They were excellent. This is what happens when passionate people are allowed to follow their hearts, use their own creativity and unique skill sets, and make their ideas a reality. It’s a joy to see.

That’s what amateur theater is. Especially High School Theater. It is joyful. It is pure. It is theater in its truest form. The same can be said for community theater groups as well, but High School theater can be really special.

Was the show perfect? Honestly, no. However, it was very, very good. I mean, we’re not talking about a professional touring production here. There are going to be a few glitches here and there, but it’s easy to overlook and forgive. In any amateur production, the cast and crew are shooting well over their heads for the stars, and when it all goes right-even if just for a moment-they can by God touch ’em.

I was able to attend three of the four productions this weekend. I watched the show progress from the opening night jitters to the assuredness of the final show. This is what I love about High School theater. The drama/theater department is a home to these kids. It gives the misfit, the loner, the shy kid, the weirdos, the misunderstood, and all those who are searching a place to belong. There is a spot for everyone in troupe who wishes to be there. Sure, there’s the actors onstage, but there are just as many people, usually more, running sound, lights, publicity, props, costumes, make-up, ticket sales and concessions, you name it. There’s a job for everyone, and they are all important to a successful show. Often, people wind up doing tasks they never thought they could do. By the end of the process, everyone has grown and can enjoy a job well done.

My heart has been filled this week. guys, I think I might have missed my calling. I should have been a high school theater teacher!

Both my daughters have been in productions over the last few years, and I have been proud of them both, and thoroughly enjoyed them all. I’ve had fun running lines, giving opinions and encouragement, and watching the success of their shows. I have been content to watch with pride as my kids get experiences in the arts, and take away lessons for a lifetime. I would wax nostalgic on my theater days, but leave it at that. For some reason, though, this weekend I have (finally) realized just how much I miss live theater. I miss the camaraderie and the competition. I miss the creativity and the challenge, the frustrations and the celebration.

I miss my stand-up days a little bit, but not much. I still play music for fun, and am very slowly working on a new project, but it’s not all consuming. This weekend’s shows has moved me more than I thought it would.

This is the part where you’re expecting me to announce that I am going to make a triumphant return to the stage. Well, I don’t know. I’ve avoided doing much performing for a long time, since the rehearsal time and all the work needed would take me away from my family for a good chunk of the week. I’ve felt it would be irresponsible of me as a father to do all that.

But-

The kids are older now, they get what it’s all about. I’ve been saying that I need something new in my life-but maybe I need to bring back something old and make it new.

I’m promising nothing. But I am beginning to think about it, or as Mushnik would say, “mull it over.” It’s a daunting idea. But an intriguing one. Never say never.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff. See you next time.

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Daytripper? Yeah!

Two weeks ago, the kids (and my wife, who is a teacher-have I told you that? She is.) were on Spring Break. So I took a little time off, too, and we had a few days of family fun. While we weren’t able to make a week long trip work this time around, we decided to do a day trip to our neighboring state of Illinois and visit Springfield to “do all the Lincoln stuff.”

In an effort to make things a little more special, we opted to take the Amtrak train instead of driving. It didn’t save time or anything, but it was kind of fun and different, and it gave the kids a new experience. I hadn’t been on the train since I was a boy, so it was fun for me too. For some reason, people don’t take trains very often around these parts, or at least you don’t hear about it much. Sure, some major cities have trains that you can ride around the city, like St. Louis’s MetroLink or the elevated train in Chicago, but as an option of travel from one city to another it falls well behind driving or flying. I get the impression that train travel is much more widespread in Europe, but what do I know?

Anyway, the Amtrak experience was, um, interesting. Not unpleasant, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t quite what I expected. For one thing, security doesn’t seem to be a big priority. Now, I believe that security at airports can be a little too strict, but I don’t think there was much security at all. Our car was more secure in the parking lot than we were as travelers.

There were no metal detectors for one thing. Bring whatever you want on board, guys, it’s all good. Also, nobody checked our tickets at the St. Louis station. I’d like to think it was just a mistake made for our group, like a miscommunication between conductors maybe, and everyone else got checked. I don’t know that for sure, though. I do know that we didn’t need to bring all that ID that the website said would be required because nobody checked that either. That’s not a big deal either, but in an age where most people/businesses are overly cautious about everything, it just felt weird. Some would call it liberating, but I don’t know. It seems like there should be a middle ground between the TSA and pretty much nothing. There are signs posted inside the trains that read “If you see something, say something.” Well, the conductor didn’t see my ticket and I say that’s a little off putting. For the record though, the Spring field station did check tickets (not ID though), so there’s that.

I don’t want to dump on Amtrak too much, though, because I did enjoy the ride. I spent most of the trip staring out of the window, watching the countryside roll by, and spent very little time on my phone. That was kind of nice. It was also nice not to be in charge of the driving for once. I mean, I actually like long drives for road trips, but every once in a while, it’s nice to let that responsibility go. The ride was pleasant, the employees were all quite nice (even when having to break the news to large groups that they couldn’t sit together), and while we didn’t get anything from the dining car, others around us did and it smell pretty good!

Okay, so on to Springfield, Illinois. Springfield is the state’s capital and is pretty much Abraham Lincoln’s adopted home. He moved to Illinois with his family at the age of twenty one, and spent many years in Springfield before being elected to the White House. The city has embraced and capitalized on this fact. I mean, honestly, the Lincoln thing is really all they have, so they’ve run with it, but they do it well. As daughter Tessa said when asked what she thought of the trip, “That’s a lot of Lincoln.” True, but interesting and kind of cool. You know, in a history geek kind of way.

Springfield’s main draw is, of course, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. While we did not visit the library (which would have been interesting, I think), we did see the museum, and it is well worth the trip and price of admission. The exhibits are mostly divided into Lincoln’s early years (in the log cabin section) and his presidential years. Roughly one-half of the museum is devoted to each. The tour is a self guided, move at your own pace type of thing. Pro tip: try to go when schools are not in session, as the roaming groups of pre-teens on field trips made sticking to your own pace somewhat difficult. There were a lot of them!

Also, be sure to see the special multi-media shows if you ever go. The one entitled “Ghosts Of The Library” is particularly good. The gift shop is also excellent for those who care about such things. Lots of high-quality knick-knackery on display for the discerning souvenir shopper. That may be my favorite sentence I have ever typed.

Another Lincoln based attraction is the Lincoln house and neighborhood, which stands just as it was at the time (lovingly maintained of course. It’s not just a bunch of old neglected buildings, what kind of tourist attraction is that?) and is an interesting walk back in time. Pro tip #2: Get there early, as tours of the Lincoln house sell out quickly. We got to the Lincoln house around 11:30-and it was sold out for the rest of the day. So, go earlier than that, I guess. We didn’t tour the house, but we got to look at it and take a photo or two, so that’s all right.

Downtown Springfield is very walkable, though strangely empty. Perhaps Wednesdays in March aren’t exactly high season, but it felt a little ghost town-ish. There were lots of buildings and a theater, city parks, and some restaurants, so signs of life abounded. We just didn’t see much life. We did, however find a cool used book store that I forgot the name of, but it was a just barely organized, shambolic place that smelled of old paper and housed an old out of tune piano for no discernable reason. I love out of tune pianos, even when they have books all over them.

Lunchtime. We found an awesome spot called Obed And Isaac’s Microbrewery and Eatery, with the slogan “Eat well and drink better beer.” My kind of thinking! People who don’t go to breweries often don’t realize that the food is usually pretty phenomenal. Sure, microbrews can be an eye-opening and pleasurable experience for the beer drinker, but don’t sleep on the food, man. Obed & Isaac’s is all ages during the day (as most microbreweries are), so we got a table and got tucked into some eats. The kids had burgers made to order, which they raved about, and my wife had a brisket burger which she assumed would be a beef brisket sandwich, and the burger part was in name only. Nope. this was beef brisket on top of a patty. I had a bite and it was excellent!

My meal of choice was a “pony shoe” sandwich, which is a miniature version of the horseshoe, a Springfield staple. For those unfamiliar, a horseshoe is an open faced sandwich with thick sliced toasted bread, meat (usually beef or pork, but ham or corned beef versions are not unheard of) covered in cheese sauce and topped with french fries. Look, I said the food was good, not good for you, okay? I also had a “Fuzzy Slipper” milk stout beer made with chocolate and vanilla beans. Oh, and it was 9.75% alcohol, which they will only serve in 10 oz. pours due to its strength. It was actually way too sweet for my tastes, but it’s worth trying. In retrospect, I should have had the red ale. Anyway, we very much enjoyed the meal. A little bit on the expensive side (with five people, what’s not), but really good.

Before returning, we also toured the state capital building. It’s a beautiful building, though honestly, if I was an Illinois taxpayer, I’d be a little annoyed by the opulence of the place and the money it surely requires for upkeep. Remind me not to visit the Missouri capital building. Still, it was interesting to see. Also interesting were the many statues and portraits of Illinois governors. Illinois has quite famously had its fair share of questionable elected officials in that particular role over the years. This is not a political blog, so I’m not about to comment, but they’re all there on display if you ever want to see them.

Well, that’s about it for our trip. After about six hours of walking the city, we were quite ready to board the train, relax a little, and head for home. While I wouldn’t make a full vacation out of it, Springfield is a fun day trip for those who would like to take in a little bit of history and explore not only the life and times of one of our most famous and influential presidents, but also get a slice of small town Midwestern life.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, take care of yourself, and be good to everyone else. See you next time, MonDavers!

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RIP Joe

Hey, all. Special edition of the blog tonight. Normally I publish on Mondays (duh), but as I was preparing a new blog last night I saw a post come across my Twitter (I refuse to call it X) feed that stopped me in my tracks. I knew I needed to write about it, but since the date was April 1st, I decided to put everything on hold and make sure there wasn’t just another hoax going around.

Sadly, this was true. Joe Flaherty has died. Another hero gone.

This name may not be immediately familiar to everyone-at least not in America. In Canada, he’s considered comedy royalty. In this country Flaherty is well known, but perhaps not as much as he should be. You’ve seen him though, and you have laughed.

Perhaps you know him from Freaks And Geeks, the 90’s show that was too good to survive more than one season. He played the dad, Mr. Weir. He was the ultimate dad: caring, funny and sarcastic.

If you were a kid in the 1990s you may remember Maniac Mansion from The Family Channel. Yep. The wacky Dad again, only this time he’s a scientist.

But maybe you’re a movie person. Remember the guy who delivers Marty McFly the letter in Back To The Future II? How about the Serbian border guard in Stripes? Or, maybe you know him best as the spectator who heckles Happy Gilmore. Better yet, how about his role as the blubbering bad guy Sid in Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird? One of my favorites, for sure.

Joe Flaherty had a habit of popping up lots of places, from television shows to movies to Saturday morning cartoons. He was never short of brilliant in anything. In fact, he often made an average scene ten times better just by showing up. Check out his Wikipedia page and do a deep dive. You’ll find lots of laughs along the way.

Now, apart from all that, what Flaherty may be best known for (at least as far as comedy nerds are concerned) is his genius run at the Canadian/American television show SCTV. It’s a cult classic certainly, but one that is a touchstone for generations of comedy. This show served as a big break for-you ready for this list?-Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin, Harold Ramis, Dave Thomas, and, of course, Joe Flaherty. Just think about all the talent that sprung forth from that pool. Joe may not be the biggest name in the bunch, but he was arguably the funniest-and he was often the glue that held it all together both on screen and off.

For those unfamiliar, SCTV was a show that centered around the broadcast day of a fictional television station. Not only did the viewer see the shows being “broadcast”, but also got a glimpse behind the scenes at the people who ran the station and starred in the shows. This was the genius of SCTV. Not only were the actors able to create their own characters, but they could do parodies of popular movies and TV, and impersonate the real life stars.

Back in the day (early 1980s this would have been), the cast was known mostly for their impersonations, which could be mercilessly accurate, though I believe mostly came from a good place. Watching this stuff nowadays, the parodies and impersonations take a back seat to the original characters and conceptual pieces. It doesn’t always age well (I sometimes don’t even know what or who the jokes are about), and some of it is very hit-and-miss, but SCTV is still a classic. Mostly because you are pretty much required to love these people, and I do.

Joe Flaherty is my favorite cast member. Many of the others have gone on to do bigger and better things, but in the context of the show at least, he was the absolute best. Want proof?

Count Floyd.

Yep, that’s Joe. The Count Floyd sketches are a masterclass in hapless comedy. These sketches are a parody of the “horror hosts” of the 1960s-70s who would present old, bad movies while dressed up in ghoulish attire. Count Floyd was colossally bad at his job. Not only did he get the worst movies-but he couldn’t preview them before air time, so he had to roll with whatever was available and try to convince all the kids watching that the film would “scare the pants right off of you!” Floyd was also under the impression that vampires howled at the moon. Class stuff!

Other great Flaherty characters included station owner Guy Caballero, who used a wheelchair “for respect”, and was smarmy, but also a soft touch and a decent guy underneath. Another favorite was small time criminal/businessman Vic Hedges who could rob you blind, but he’d “save your life in a minute.” I always loved watching the Farm Film Report (later Celebrity Farm Film Blow Up) with Big Jim McBob. Flaherty’s cheesy, old school show-biz talk show host Sammy Maudlin was always good for some laughs as well. When it comes to impressions, Flaherty did a great Bing Crosby, a hysterically over the top Kirk Douglas, and a bizarrely wonderful Gavin McCloud. If you know who that last guy is, then this show is for you.

SCTV is comfort food for me. When I was in grade school, the 90 minute version aired for two years on NBC, occupying the same time slot as SNL did, only one night earlier. I would stay up watching it with my dad until I fell asleep in front of the screen, both of us laughing at these crazy people and wild ideas, though I suspect we may have been laughing at different things. As a youngster, I don’t know that I truly appreciated what Joe Flaherty brought to the show, but now he’s my favorite thing about it. I watch through the (edited but still indispensable) DVDs once a year.

All Joe Flaherty has to do is be on screen and it makes me smile. Let him go on a tirade and forget it, it’s over, I’m laughing my head off. He was so prolific in big roles and small that he could and would just show up in any production that needed a little comic relief, or any comedy that needed a little extra class. It makes me sad to know that he won’t be doing that anymore.

Joe Flaherty had a good run, he was 82 when he passed. So he was a little older than his co-stars on SCTV. He’d done work with The Second City comedy troupe (of course), and appeared on at least one album and a few stage shows with The National Lampoon in the 1970s. I’ve been watching his work to different degrees for around 40 years now, so he’s been a comedic presence and influence in my life for almost all of it! The man had a long career, so you can’t really say that this is a case of someone being gone too soon. Yet, it does feel that way. Doesn’t it always?

I’ve been watching some of my favorite clips today-it’s amazing how one can be laughing so hard and feeling so sad. If you’re a fan then you get it. If you’re only just discovering Joe, get ready to laugh long and hard.

RIP Joe Flaherty. Thanks for all of it.

Thanks to you for dropping by, MonDavers. Come back next time for some happier stuff. And go watch some Joe! Plenty of SCTV clips are available on YouTube…as is a bizarre sketch called Abraham Lincoln and His Time Machine (not the animated one) which stars actors from SCTV, SNL and The Kids In The Hall, premiered on a “Toonces The Driving Cat” TV special in the ’90’s and concerns Abe Lincoln trying to prevent his own death…it’s dark, a little twisted, and a personal favorite.

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Daddy/Daughter Movie Review. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Hey there MonDavers, it’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, but people seem to dig it when we do. There haven’t been too many movies recently that have had appeal to multiple family members, so the pickings have been slim as far as dual reviews go. However, Tessa and I were both excited to see this one, so here we are with our official review of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

For those who may have somehow missed the media hype on this film, it picks up where Ghostbusters: Afterlife left off, with the Spengler family now living in New York and officially acting as the Ghostbusters. The OG Busters come in to lend a hand as a new villain enters the scene who uses fear itself as a weapon as it tries to freeze out NYC and eventually the world. Along the way, the gang once again gets in trouble with city officials, Phoebe Spengler befriends a ghost, and chaos ensues.

Tessa, you’re up first. What did you think?

T: Hi MonDaves gang!! I really liked this movie, I liked the last one a lot so I’m glad enough people enjoyed it that it got a sequel. I think it kept a lot of the good elements of Afterlife one, like the humor, family dynamics, interesting plot, etc. I liked that they focused more on Phoebe, she’s one of my favorite characters and she deserved more development. I think her arc about proving herself to her family and the world was really cool, and the development of the whole Spengler family was well done. Gary’s arc about trying to fit in as more of a father figure than just the mom’s boyfriend was also nice to see. The mom barely did anything though, which sucks because he was such a good character in the first movie. She literally did nothing, I don’t even remember her name that’s how little she did. At the start of the movie, it seemed like Trevor would have a plotline similar to Pheobe’s about proving that he can do things as an adult now, but that kind of went away after the first 30 minutes. The most he did was bring back Slimer, of whom I don’t care about. Trevor was my favorite character from the first one, so it makes me kind of sad to see all the potential they had with his character go to waste.

But my favorite character in this movie was Melody (shoutout to my sister!!!). She was this ghost girl that Phoebe meets and they become good friends. Phoebe says that Melody is the only one to understand her, and Melody opens up about her past to Phoebe. Even though things did not always stay good between them, I really liked their friendship. I think Melody as a character had so much more potential that the writers didn’t go into. Even though she helped defeat the villain at the end, they barely wrapped up her arc by the end of the movie, which was probably due to them putting way too much stuff in this movie.

I liked the other new character, Nadeem, who also ended up being important to defeating the bad guy, but I still feel like all of his lore was too much. There were so many characters that some of the old characters had like no development, like Podcast and Lucky. I really liked both of them in the first movie, but they didn’t have lot to do in this movie. They both work for different members of the old Ghostbusters now, which is cool, but that’s kinda it. No development on their relationships with the Spenglers or how they’re figuring out how to fight ghosts themselves or anything.

It was also super hard to follow the lore with the new villain, and there were so many references to the original movies that I either didn’t understand or didn’t care about. But it was still really good, somehow. It’s one of those movie where the flaws are very evident, but you don’t really care and you can still enjoy watching. The visuals were really good, it was acted really well, the only real issues were with the writing. And even then, it was well written for how much it tried to shove into the movie. I’m sure a lot of my complaints about development for older characters were originally there and got scrapped because of time. I really liked it and I would definitely go see it again!!

D: Some good points there. You’re gonna get some heat from Gen X for that Slimer comment, though.

T: DOOOONT CAAAARE.

D: Okay then. Moving on.

I agree that the filmmakers put a lot of stuff into this movie, but I didn’t think it was hard to follow. The film does require you to pay a little more attention than you would expect going into it, so that does throw people for a bit of a loop who just want a fun, light comedy. That’s not what this is.

Frozen Empire is heavy on plot, and attempts to make their villain more threatening and scary than ever before. This is a good thing, as it helps keep the stakes high and interest level up. As Tess mentioned there are several references to the original two films, which are nice to see, but some of them feel tacked on and unnecessary.

The only complaint I really have is with the pacing of the film. There is so much plot and exposition in the film that the first third of the movie drags a bit. All the extra stuff in the film makes it feel like the ending is a little bit rushed. It also does leave little room for character development apart from Phoebe and, oddly, the relationship between Ray and Winston.

I suppose the only question remaining is, “Is it funny?”. Well, it’s fun, and humorous, but not so big on the belly laughs. More of a smile and snicker type film than a laugh out loud one. I’d actually like to see it again too, just to maybe pick up on some jokes or references I may have missed the first time through.

Still, for as overstuffed as it is, I also enjoyed it. It’s really good, but it’s maybe one rewrite away from being great. Still, I love the franchise and I love this cast, so Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a win for me.

So let’s rate this thing. Scale of 1-5, one being the lowest. Go.

T: I would say a solid four.

D: Me too. 3.5 feels low, but it’s no 5. So we agree.

T: Yay!!

There you have it folks. Thanks for checking in. See you next time for more MonDaves!

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St. Patrick’s Day Post 2024-Random Irish Stuff

St. Patrick’s Day is fast approaching. This is one of my favorite holidays. I’ve got some Irish blood in me, and I adore Irish culture, art, and music year round. Keep in mind, St. Patrick’s Day is a religious holiday observed in the Catholic church. It’s also a day reserved to celebrate Irish heritage and pride. It has become a “party day” for many (even for those with no Irish ancestry at all), but hopefully we can all remember and celebrate that there’s more to this day than dressing in green, wearing a big floppy hat or shamrock glasses, and drinking beer. By the way, if you’re going to drink a beer with some color, make sure it’s either a dark brown Guinness or maybe a nice Irish red, like Killian’s. Stay away from the green stuff-it’s inauthentic and gross. Don’t be that person.

Anyway, since the Emerald Isle will be front and center on everyone’s mind over the next week or so, I thought it might be fun to talk about some of the myths many people believe about Ireland, and perhaps set the record straight a bit. This will give you some interesting things to talk about at your St. Patrick’s day shindig. Provided, of course, you are in any shape to talk. Let’s dive in.

*St. Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland
Well, no, not technically. Ireland is inhabitable to snakes, and there’s little or no evidence to suggest that there ever were any snakes to begin with. This story is more of an allegory about St. Patrick bringing Christianity to Ireland. Trouble is, it’s not actually that cut and dried.
As near as anybody can figure, St. Patrick was born in Britain or Wales around 390 CE (common, or current, era.) His name was Maewyn, and he was captured in an Irish raid while a teenager. He spent six years in Irish imprisonment (or possibly slavery) before he escaped. Later in life he became a man of the cloth, and went back to Ireland as a missionary because he knew the language and customs and he loved the people.
So that’s where we get the story-St. Patrick drove out the “snakes”, which in this case would be the Pagans. Except he didn’t. Paganism lasted well beyond St. Patrick’s time, and is still practiced today, in Ireland and around the world. Sure, Ireland is predominately Christian now, but it took a long time for the religion to take hold.
St. Patrick may or may not have been the first Christian in Ireland, and he may or may not have used the Shamrock to explain the trinity, as the story goes. None of his writings mention this as far as I can tell. It’s possible that this idea was merely attributed to him over the years, as the stories and myths about the man grew large enough to blend with and, perhaps, overtake the truth.
Still, the patron saint of Ireland is remembered and revered for good reason in the church and beyond.

*Green is the National Color of Ireland
Nope. Ireland has no official color, but many would argue for blue, which was the first color to be used in association with St. Patrick’s Day. Blue is used on the Coat of Arms of Ireland, and the Presidential Standard, a flag flown at the presidential residence.

*The Shamrock is the national symbol of Ireland
Nope again. It’s the harp. The harp is proudly displayed on both the National Coat of Arms, and on the Guinness label. How much more official can you get?

*Ireland is full of redheads
Gonna have to burst your bubble here, but this is a stereotype. The number of redheads in Ireland is probably closer to 10% of the population than the majority that most people in other countries assume. That’s still a lot of people, but far from a majority.

*All Irish people are drunkards.
Really? Okay, so, yeah, alcohol is a large part of the culture, and many social events center around drink. That’s true of most countries, including the USA. Also, there are just, like, a lot of Irish folk songs about alcohol too. Irish pubs are widely renowned, and nearly every major city around the world has an Irish-style pub. So maybe there’s a little truth here, but it’s still a stereotype. As of 2020, studies showed that roughly 20% of the Irish population didn’t drink alcohol at all, and certainly not all who drink do so irresponsibly.

*It is illegal be drunk or swear on a Sunday in Ireland
Actually, yeah. This law was enacted in 1661, prohibiting “drunkenness, cursing, swearing, and profaning of the Lord’s Day.” Shows you how far St. Patrick’s influence got. This law was finally taken off the books in 2015, but something tells me it wasn’t taken very seriously by most people.

Well, there you go, some interesting Irish info for you. I could go on, but I need to save some stuff for next year. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, MonDavers! See you next week.