Chris O'Dowd and Dawn O'Porter in 2012.RollingNews.ie
There’s nothing like bringing your other half home to Ireland and by the sounds of it, Dawn O’Porter had a crash course when she ended up at Mass during a visit!
Her husband Chris O’Dowd, who was at the IFI in Dublin on Thursday for the premiere of his new show "Small Town, Big Story" but is based in the UK after years living in LA, told EVOKE how he tries to keep touches of Ireland in their home with their two boys Art, 10, and Valentine, eight.
As well as teaching their two sons about great Irish musicians, Chris reminisced about how he once let Dawn make quite the faux pas at Mass because he was enjoying the funny moment so much.
When asked if Dawn was surprised by anything in Ireland, Chris launched into a funny tale from one trip and said: "She was quite surprised by Mass, we went to Mass and I think the mother might have had a say in it.
"People were shaking hands and on my life, Dawn shook everybody’s hand and thought she could hear what they were saying, and was going around to everybody going 'pleased to meet you.'
"There wasn't a bit of peace given. But she loves it.’
You might be wondering if he’d clocked what was happening, why didn’t Chris jump in and correct Dawn? Well, it's a simple reason and Chris told us with a laugh: "I thought it was funny!"
Clearly, Dawn is a good sport and he continued to sing her praises, adding: "She’s from a small town, really, as well. Guernsey is not dissimilar in loads of ways, she loves all that."
As for how their two sons are being taught about Irish legends, Chris said he’s recently introduced them to the music of Christy Moore.
"I've been playing them a lot of Christy Moore lately, which has been terrific," he explained.
"The ten-year-old is learning the guitar a bit and I'm playing the ukulele a bit so we've been doing Welcome to the Cabaret, which is one of the songs that he sings on the live album.
"That bit where he goes, dee dee lay la pa dee da dee da da, in the middle of it, they f*****g love that."
Chris was joined at the Irish premiere of "Small Town, Big Story" by his co-star Christina Hendricks who loves Ireland and really enjoyed her time based near the Forty Foot while they were shooting the show.
That said, she told Geek Ireland that she was taken aback by how everyone carries on working even when the rain is lashing and the weather awful in Ireland.
"There was a lot of shooting and storms and rain and mud that I couldn't understand why we wouldn't reschedule, or maybe relocate the scene, but we just did it anyway," Christina said on the red carpet.
Chris and Christina will be spending Valentine’s Day evening together on Friday as they’re on the promo tour for their show, but fear now Chris has arranged for flowers to be sent to his wife.
"I’ll be on the Late Late with Christina Hendricks [on Valentine’s Day] and Dawn will be at home with the kids," Chris said.
"I’m taking her to a hotel next week, the flowers are on the way and it's all grand."
"Small Town, Big Story" will premiere on Thursday 27 February on Sky Atlantic and NOW.
*This article was originally published on Evoke.ie.