{"id":580613,"date":"2026-08-02T18:06:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T18:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/580613\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T18:06:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T18:06:26","slug":"faye-shortt-how-the-comedian-found-her-voice-beyond-pat-shortts-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/580613\/","title":{"rendered":"Faye Shortt: How the comedian found her voice beyond Pat Shortt\u2019s spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faye Shortt has stepped out of her father, Pat Shortt<\/a>‘s spotlight, and is making a name for herself in her own right.<\/p>\n

Comedy wasn’t originally on the cards for the Limerick woman, but after taking a chance in drama school, she landed on her feet.<\/p>\n

And she has big aspirations; Faye wants to do more presenting gigs, radio hosting, and TV appearances in the near future. She also envisions herself writing a one-woman comedy show.<\/p>\n

Faye sat down with EVOKE<\/a> to chat about her career to date. Have a read.<\/p>\n

How did you first discover your passion for comedy?<\/p>\n

\"FayeFaye Shortt and Pat Shortt pictured at the IFTA Awards 2025 at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre. Pic: Brian McEvoy<\/p>\n

I went to drama college, and I very much leaned against doing comedy because Dad did comedy. I even felt a little bit weird going into drama school because it was in a similar realm of Dad’s job.<\/p>\n

I was a bit awkward about the whole thing, because I didn’t want to be seen to be following in his footsteps for the sake of it.<\/p>\n

I was very much cautious about being compared. It was a very big thing in my head; it wasn’t put in my head by anyone else. I was never compared to him, but I kind of felt, “Oh God, if I do follow that way, I will be”.<\/p>\n

So I veered differently, away from comedy, but then I did so much serious acting in drama school that I remember during a one-on-one, one of my lecturers was like, “Will you just do something fun and lighthearted, just for the sake of it?”<\/p>\n

\"Pic:Pic: Faye Shortt\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Because I was always playing scenes or someone whose child had just died, or their spouse had just died. Something really dramatic.<\/p>\n

I was like, “Grand, I’ll try it out”. And I absolutely loved it. I had such a laugh. Drama school is such a small environment, and the classes are so small that you get to confidently try out stuff and make mistakes, whatever.<\/p>\n

In drama school, for sure, the comedy was definitely tested out, and I absolutely loved it.<\/p>\n

Then I started working with Dad during COVID, and that’s when we started creating sketches together, and that’s really when the comedy took off. Later, we started to talk about social media, and I started doing my own stuff from there. I just really got hooked on the comedy buzz.<\/p>\n

What was your parents’ reaction like when you came home one day and said, “Dad, I think I’m going to follow in your footsteps?”<\/p>\n

\"LifeFaye Shortt and Pat Shortt. Pic: Faye Shortt\/Instagram<\/p>\n

It kind of happened so organically, to be perfectly honest, because COVID was that weird medium when we weren’t working, but we were doing sketches at home for the sake of it as a bit of craic.<\/p>\n

We weren’t getting paid to do them or anything like that, so it was very organic in a sense.<\/p>\n

Then he was like, “Do you want to come gigging with me and do some live comedy shows?” That was the moment when I was like, “Yeah, definitely”.<\/p>\n

So because he asked me to do a few gigs with him, I feel like it just all came together quite organically, which was lovely.<\/p>\n

How did you find your feet in the industry?<\/p>\n

\"PatPat Shortt and Faye Shortt. Pic: Faye Shortt \/Instagram <\/p>\n

Thankfully, working with Dad had given me so much confidence to be myself. He’s one of those people who builds you up, and he’s taught me so much on resilience and hard work, and just being myself.<\/p>\n

He’s definitely always pushed that, and it just helped with confidence. In terms of my career, I think taking to online definitely helped that, creating sketches online and doing other pieces of work alone; it solidifies that you’re your own person.<\/p>\n

It’s funny because I’ve done so much work now by myself that I always love going back and getting to work with him, because it’s such a pleasure.<\/p>\n

We recently did a project together, and that was so nice, because I actually haven’t worked with him in so long because we haven’t been gigging over the summer.<\/p>\n

Who’s the bigger creative head?<\/p>\n

We bounce off each other for sure. With the shows, it’s definitely a complete collaboration. We’ll write the content together for the shows, and that’s definitely a joint process.<\/p>\n

You mentioned that your dad has fostered a lot of confidence in you. Was that from a young age?<\/p>\n

\"Pic:Pic: Faye Shortt\/Instagram<\/p>\n

I think a mix of both. Both my parents have instilled so much confidence in us from such a young age, but then I feel like it definitely gets tested to a certain degree when you put yourself out there.<\/p>\n

It’s definitely tested once you put yourself out there on social media or TV or radio or whatever. That’s when it’s going to be put to the test.<\/p>\n

But without having the confidence, I grew up in such an outgoing environment; my parents were always bringing me out with their friends. I was definitely never one of these kids that was shooed into a corner and told to play with their toys.<\/p>\n

I was always involved in the conversations at the dinner table with my parents’ friends, which I think really helped me be confident.<\/p>\n

And you can have as much confidence in the world, and you can still maybe see a comment or two online which eats away at you a little bit.<\/p>\n

How do you deal with the negativity? It’s a tricky thing to navigate<\/p>\n

\"LifePic: Faye Shortt\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Yeah, it’s very difficult. I feel like no one is indestructible, and I think it does take its toll for sure.<\/p>\n

It’s about trying to combat it. What I do is I delete the comments, and I know some people say, “Don’t go to the effort”, but I just don’t like having them sit on my page because it pisses me off.<\/p>\n

So I delete the comments, or, if someone texts me directly, I’ll just delete it. I don’t want to have it sitting there in my mailbox for me to scroll past.<\/p>\n

I obviously don’t get to them all, but I like to delete them.<\/p>\n

It’s not great, but you do have to try and find a place for it, and look, not everyone’s going to like you or not everyone’s going to have something positive to say, but I do feel like I make such a point about, when someone does give me a nice comment, I’m like, “oh my God, thank you so much”. You appreciate it even more.<\/p>\n

It can be quite hard to find your feet in the industry. Do you recall a time when you’ve faced a setback that made you question whether you wanted to continue?<\/p>\n

\"LifeFaye Shortt. Pic: Faye Shortt\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Oh, that’s such a good question.<\/p>\n

I feel like there’s definitely been phases when I first started gigging with Dad, where things on stage might not have worked well, or it might not have been successful.<\/p>\n

You know, the jokes might not have landed, or you’re still trying out material, and you’re testing it out or whatever.<\/p>\n

I feel like it was so much more difficult to do that on a stage where people are coming to see Pat, and people at that stage would not have been coming to see me because they didn’t really know who I was. I was only starting out.<\/p>\n

They didn’t understand why I was gigging with Dad, you know what I mean? So, to be honest, a lot of people were- I remember at the start, people would be like, “Jesus, I thought she was the one selling tickets to the door. She’s actually in the show and things like that.”<\/p>\n

\"LifeFaye Shortt. Pic: Faye Shortt\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Which I completely get, don’t get me wrong. Obviously, I know that I went to drama school and I studied, and I practised for years and all this kind of stuff, but like to them they don’t, they don’t know that.<\/p>\n

So like they’re thinking in their heads, “Why is he bringing his daughter?” That for sure would have been tough at the start, just having people not understanding the idea that we had.<\/p>\n

But now it’s definitely moved on from that, thank God.<\/p>\n

I think in general, there’s definitely been times in drama school as well, where I have found things difficult, just finding my confidence in general.<\/p>\n

It’s a whole process, finding your confidence to be able to get up in front of people. I started drama school at 18; I’m so not the same person as what I was when I was 18.<\/p>\n

\"Pic:Faye Shortt. Pic: Faye Shortt\/Instagram<\/p>\n

I was a shell of myself in comparison to what I am now, you know, trying to figure out so much stuff.<\/p>\n

It’s sink or swim, but you have to try and keep swimming to survive because it’s a slow process in this industry. It’s not like one day you’re going to magically feel, “Oh my God, I’ve made it”.<\/p>\n

I don’t even know if anyone ever feels like that. You have to just keep grinding it out. I always say to my friends at the moment, I’m in my grinding out era. I’m taking all the cover work I can get for TV, for radio; I’m doing as much as I can that I know will be good for my career. I’m just trying to build.<\/p>\n

On that point, do you ever feel like your opportunities might be limited in Ireland and have you ever considered a move abroad?<\/p>\n

\"FayeFaye Shortt pictured celebrating at the 150 years of Bauer Media at the Mansion House, Dublin. Pic: Brian McEvoy<\/p>\n

I’d love to maybe try out London, but at the moment I’ve no urge to at all. I absolutely love Ireland, and I love my family. I’m so close to them, and I just love Irish people. I absolutely love Irish people.<\/p>\n

So, I don’t know if I would. I don’t know if I would enjoy living abroad as much. Irish humour is so specific as well, but I definitely would love to try out the UK for sure.<\/p>\n

We loved watching you on Six. How was it, how did it come up?<\/p>\n

\"Pic:Pic: Faye Shortt\/Instagram<\/p>\n

It was so, so much fun. I absolutely loved it.<\/p>\n

I did the week. I wasn’t that nervous, to be honest; I was weirdly surprised. I know a lot of them in there from, like, going in there for interviews and stuff like that.<\/p>\n

I’ve worked with Brian [Dowling] before in Bauer Media and radio. He’s just such a gem, and I’ve been interviewed by him and Katja [Mia] so many times.<\/p>\n

So, it was just such a lovely transition. It just felt so organic as well, from being interviewed on there so many times, then doing the interviewing.<\/p>\n

It was so lovely. I’d love to get more TV experience. That’s definitely on the bucket list.<\/p>\n

Do you think that’s been your biggest ‘pinch-me’ moment so far, or does something else stand out in mind?<\/p>\n

\"FayeBrian Dowling and Faye Shortt on The Six O’Clock Show. Pic: Faye Shortt\/Instagram<\/p>\n

No, I think that’s definitely been my biggest pinch-me moment so far, yeah!<\/p>\n

Speak to me in a five-year timeline. What would be your ideal career path? What do you want to do?<\/p>\n

I’d love to do more acting, like more TV shows in Ireland.<\/p>\n

I’d love to write my own one-woman show as well. I’d love to write my own one-woman comedy show and tour with that at some point.<\/p>\n

And then I’d love to do, yeah, film, TV, presenting. I have such a love for presenting as well. I love chatting to people.<\/p>\n

So, in the next couple of years, getting a full-time slot on a presenting show, I 100 per cent would love.<\/p>\n

Who in the comedy space do you look up to?<\/p>\n

\"FayeFaye Shortt with her boyfriend, Barry. Pic: Faye Shortt\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Oh my God, there are so many people doing such great things at the moment. That is such a tough one.<\/p>\n

I recently did something with Aoife Dunne, and she’s just absolutely brilliant. I absolutely love her.<\/p>\n

So, I would say her; she’s also just such a lovely person, and she’s like killing it in the comedy scene, and she has her own one-woman show, and I feel like that definitely was just such a breath of fresh air working with her.<\/p>\n

So yeah, I’d say her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Faye Shortt has stepped out of her father, Pat Shortt‘s spotlight, and is making a name for herself…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-580613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}