What Emma Doran did as she was emptying the dishwasher... while simultaneously rescuing the clothes from the line before yet another June downpour... is probably why EVERY Irish mammy the world over can't get enough of her!

Published: 13:59, 30 June 2026 | Updated: 14:01, 30 June 2026 If you’ve spent any time on Instagram over the past few years — especially if you’re female in your 30s and beyond, and addled with life’s mundanities — chances are you’ve found yourself disappearing down an Emma Doran-shaped rabbit hole, emerging in tears of laughter after one reel becomes 10. Whether it’s relationships, motherhood, family WhatsApp groups or simply a uniquely Irish take on it all, Emma has built a loyal following by saying the things the rest of us are thinking. She started her comedy career aged 29, first in open-mic comedy clubs before capturing public attention with sketches on RTÉ’s Republic Of Telly. When I speak to her, it’s a bit like greeting an old pal — there’s an immediate sense of relational depth, right down to the scrunchie on her arm (I have one too). ‘Where else would you have them though?’ she grins, a twinkle in her eye, before telling me she was about to put her hair up but got distracted by stacking the dishwasher and trying to rescue the clothes on the line before another June downpour. Emma Doran started her comedy career aged 29, first in open-mic comedy clubs before capturing public attention with sketches on RTÉ’s Republic Of Telly Yes, this is why we love Emma, because despite the online success (almost 400,000 followers), multiple TV appearances, podcast fame and sell-out shows (her Irish and UK Emmaculate tour has been extended for another year, such is the demand), this mother-of-three is as gloriously normal as you’d expect. But while she’s made a career out of spotting the comedy hidden inside everyday life, there are many layers to this funny girl.  Tomorrow, viewers of Museum Of Me — the RTÉ series with Dermot Whelan which invites well-known Irish figures to tell their life stories through treasured objects — will see how Emma leans into her emotional side, as she shares some personal artefacts of her past. ‘I actually love getting a bit emotional,’ she tells me. ‘I think with stand-up, and definitely online, I’ve kind of made a decision that my page is there to cheer people up and to be funny. If I’m going to do something a bit more serious, I might do it on a podcast or in a book.’ Her biography Mad, Isn’t It? was published in August 2025 and is a deep dive into how she navigated teen pregnancy, young motherhood and her segue into stand-up comedy, which, she tells me, has been her favourite job so far.  You can expect plenty of emotive material on the programme tonight too, especially in the form of a stuffed toy which gets a makeover. Tomorrow, viewers of Museum Of Me — the RTÉ series with Dermot Whelan which invites well-known Irish figures to tell their life stories through treasured objects — will see how Emma leans into her emotional side, as she shares some personal artefacts of her past ‘Ah Barton,’ she says of the beloved toy she used to play with in her granny’s house as a child.  ‘That was a really powerful moment,’ she says of his restoration on the show. ‘I was transported back to being a kid and playing with my cousin in the box room in my granny’s. Like it was such a simple, precious time.’ Barton was the only thing she wanted from her grandmother’s house following her death. ‘I thought though, I’m rocking up with these bits and bobs that mean nothing to anyone else, but I suppose that’s the thing about memories, right?  'They are so personal,’ she says of what she decided to share on the show.  ‘Anything to do with family, your babies, stuff from your childhood, people who have died — I mean, the tears are just there, ready to pop.’ Then there’s the diary. Like many 11-year-olds, Emma documented her thoughts, observations and crushes.  Unlike most 11-year-olds, her sketches and observations wouldn’t look entirely out of place in a stand-up routine.  In fact, in one hilarious entry, Emma slates an anonymous classmate for being a teacher’s pet. Three words, ‘Lick, lick, lick’ are written in large caps — eerily similar to her ‘Signs you’re a lick’ reel which has gone viral of late.  ‘That’s embarrassing as I’ve basically been doing the same material for the last 30 years,’ she jokes. ‘But in a way, it’s reassuring too as it shows I’ve always been the same person. I hadn’t looked at it in ages so it was actually lovely.’ Though her first crush possibly didn’t fare too well from a drawing perspective, complete as he was with spectacularly oversized eyes.  ‘They weren’t true to size,’ she confirms. ‘Sure I didn’t really know him. But he came to one of my gigs recently with his wife and it was basically, “so what have you been up to for the last 30 years?”’ The trip down memory lane did bring her back to another time that changed the direction of her life, and it’s timely that we are speaking while students around the country are finishing up their Leaving Certificate.  Emma recalls her sixth-year experience, finding out she was pregnant with her first child, Ella. As a student at an all-girls convent school, Emma was terrified. ‘It was the worst thing you could do at the time as a girl, to become pregnant,’ she says. She wrote her mum a letter telling her as she couldn’t face it in person. But Emma had the best of support from her parents Bridie and Jimmy, who proudly feature in tomorrow’s show too. ‘I had a great family and my mam was really like a coach,’ she says. ‘She just focused on all the positives, like how my body would bounce back and then I just went straight into, like, a very open adult relationship with them.’ After giving birth to Ella, Emma completed her Leaving Certificate and went on to study business and arts management in college while her parents helped care for the baby.  The experience shaped her in ways that actually primed her for the career she has now. Emma's biography Mad, Isn’t It? was published in August 2025 and is a deep dive into how she navigated teen pregnancy, young motherhood and her segue into stand-up comedy ‘I think becoming a mother so young probably made me lose a lot of inhibitions,’ she says, although sometimes she adds that while classmates complained about being tired from hangovers, she had to bite her tongue. ‘They’d come in and say they were exhausted and I’d be thinking, you have no idea. ‘But I think I developed a lack of filter. Comedy has that, because when you go out with normal people you might be saying stuff and you’re like, oh God, there’s too much information, we haven’t even had our first drink yet. But I just found it so much easier to say what I was thinking. ‘Of course there was negatives, I felt isolated. I felt the guilt. I thought at the time that it was because I was a young mother, and I was a single mother, but now I know it doesn’t matter if you have a baby at 18 or 45 — you’re always bizarrely going to have mum guilt.’ Emma also has sons Joe, 13, and Tommy, 11, with long-term partner Dan. Was motherhood easier second time around? ‘There’s friends of mine who have started families in their late 30s and I feel there is so much to keep going, because at that stage, you’ve had so much freedom, you’ve acquired a particular kind of lifestyle, you have a mortgage,’ says Emma. ‘Like I didn’t have the pressure of a mortgage or a relationship with my first pregnancy. Not having a relationship to keep going is actually huge. ‘I’d just love if mothers had more support, no matter whether they’re at home or even working from home, which sounds great on paper but then you’re dealing with childcare, getting a shop in.’ She says she has a good system going with her painter and decorator partner Dan, who she has been with for ‘18,19?’ years. So will she be celebrating 20 years with a trip down the aisle perhaps? ‘Marriage is never something that I’ve been bothered about, even in my little diary as a kid when I’m drawing the pictures of me, my house, my kids. I don’t pursue the man, even though I’ve always been mad about fellas,’ she jokes. ‘We both have a lot of same interests and would watch a lot of comedy, but we have separate lives. I probably realised when I was younger that your happiness within a partnership is separate to your own happiness.  'I was probably a bit more manic, looking for validation or reassurance in a relationship. I get that from Instagram now,’ she jokes. ‘But no, I’d say I’m now more confident as a person, and as an individual.  'I view my relationship as, I’m so lucky to have it and it adds to my life in ways I probably still can’t even measure,’ she says. ‘We’re just two people that got together that really like each other and have the occasional ride,’ she grins cheekily. ‘Don’t get me wrong, sometimes he absolutely wrecks my head too. He’s not here at the moment, so I can say that.’ These days, life is busy for the Dorans — it’s summer holidays for the kids, 23-year-old Ella is completing a PhD in Cork and Emma is about to spend a month at the Edinburgh Fringe for her debut at the comedy festival. Somewhere in between all that she still finds time for the gym — and not just for the reasons you might think. ‘Well, I have to keep fit for all the gigs but I also just go to classes to get a bit of gossip, have a little nosy and do a bit of earwigging,’ she says. ‘I’m naturally not a social media person, like I’m the person that goes on the night out and has two blurry photos.  'But once I figured out how to make videos on my phone, I just started making them,’ she adds, on the Covid pivot that actually helped her career skyrocket. I mention how women comedians like herself, Kyla Cobbler and Joanne McNally are taking over the Irish comedy scene. ‘I think female comedy is resonating so much right now because women can connect so deeply with it,’ she says. ‘For so long there was no path for us. ‘Comedians love detail and comedy, gossip and scandal. We were saying we must set up a WhatsApp group, so that we can all share information like where you’re getting your hair done, what you’re doing to your face, who’s doing your eyebrows...  'There’s no group that I know of yet and if there is and I’m not in it I’ll be offended.’ She gets plenty of husbands and partners coming to her shows too. ‘I have got messages from people going, “I’m coming with my husband. Will he be OK?”’ she laughs. ‘I’m like, well, I haven’t assaulted a man at a gig yet and I’m unlikely to tonight. ‘No, if I see a man in the audience, I think... well, that man is after buying a ticket to my show, he’s got great taste.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.