Dancing With The Stars is in full swing and former semi-finalist actor and comedian Kevin McGahern has some words of wisdom for those who are taking part — learn how to meditate!
Kevin, who is now starring in Virgin Media One’s new comedy horror Video Nasty, says as he rose through the show, the psychological element of it almost became harder than the dancing itself.
‘I found it easy enough at the start. I mean, it’s difficult physically and it’s difficult remembering all your steps but as the series went on and it got harder and harder to stay in, I found it very nerve-wracking and I wish I had done more mindfulness techniques,’ he said.
Kevin continued: ‘I found it very stressful, I was getting heart palpitations as it is live TV and if you miss a step you are destroyed. If I was advising someone doing the show now I would say learn mindfulness techniques, get some techniques on meditation. That’s what I would do if I was doing it again.’
Despite taking part and doing very well, Kevin hasn’t been dancing since. ‘I was fully sure that I was going to — I said “I’m going to keep this up and I’m going to go to a dancing class but I haven’t danced a single step since. It’s like doing the Irish oral as soon as it’s finished you never go back to it again. I couldn’t do a step for you now it is all deleted from the memory bank.’
Like his co-stars in his new show, Kevin was born after 1985 when Video Nasty is set but unlike them, he remembers the era of the video. The story of Video Nasty is that two teenage horror fans Billy and Con, 17, played by Justin Daniels Anene and Cal O’Driscoll, have managed to collect 71 of the 72 films on the banned list of video nasties.
But when word gets out that they ‘borrowed’ money from the school graduation dance fund to pay for the tapes, they have to travel to England to get the final tape in order to pay the money back. But when they get to their destination, there are some terrifying situations awaiting them.
In the show Kevin plays TJ, the video shop owner. It’s a clever series that is both scary and a lot of fun and no doubt will garner more fans when it begins on Virgin Media One this Monday night at 9pm.
‘The genius of having comedy with horror is that it catches you off guard,’ says Kevin. Sometimes with horror films you can kind of see where the scares are coming down the line but with a comedy horror you nearly forget you are in a horror film so you are enjoying the laughs and when the scares come they hit you twice as hard.’
The era of the video shop loomed large in Kevin’s own life. ‘I loved the script straight away, which was written by Hugh Travers, and I have worked with the production company Deadpan on a few projects before so I know they are a dream to work with and I love the era.
'I grew up going to video shops when my mam was going shopping and looking through every single tape especially the horror section as well, at one point in my flat me and my flatmate had 700 videotapes a whole wall of them so I love that world and I was over the moon to be offered the part.'
Video Nasty was shot in Monaghan while Kevin grew up in Cavan but it was Granard in Longford where he went to school that himself and his mates searched for films. ‘There was a dodgy video shop there which had video nasties but you had to ask for them.’ he says. ‘I wouldn’t have been allowed rent them in my house but I used to go to my friend’s and his mam let him rent anything so I was like.
‘Right we’re getting Reservoir Dogs, The Exorcist, Cannibal Holocaust’ — all the things I wasn’t allowed to watch at home I watching in his house. It was exciting. It’s hard to convey to people born after 1999 what it was like to find a video or even just the excitement of your dad bringing home a video.’
Filming the show with his three co-stars who weren’t even born when the millennium hit, the older cast members had a bit of explaining to do.’ ‘You do feel like a very old man,’ says Kevin. ‘We were filling them in on what it was like.’
Video Nasty is on Virgin Media One at 9pm on Monday and Virgin Play.
