Anyone who has ever set about tracing their Irish ancestry knows it isn’t always easy. Decades of immigration, names in two different languages, and the 1922 fire that destroyed Ireland’s Public Records Office all complicate the search.

Late night host Conan O’Brien and actress Lisa Kudrow both understand this, as they recently commiserated on his show about how difficult finding your Irish roots can be.

Kudrow is the executive producer for the genealogy TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?”. O’Brien explains that he was approached by the show’s team about appearing on an episode, and is wondering why they haven’t gotten back to him with information on his family after he gave them basic info and a DNA sample.

“…You’re tough!” she says and bursts out laughing. “It’s tough, Irish ancestry is really tough.”

They go on to joke about how Irish genealogy is hard because everyone had the same names and everyone was drinking, which we take some issue with, but Kudrow does make some good points about using parish records, prison records and poor house (not whore house, Conan) records as valuable resources.

Have you have a hard time tracing your Irish ancestry? Were there any resources that helped? Share your experience in the comment section, below.