David McSavage first came to people's attention as a comedian who stood out on street corners of Dublin, essentially making passersby the butt of his jokes. He almost became an urban myth around the streets of Dublin - the fella with the guitar who could bring you down with one line. You could be innocently walking down Grafton Street for lunch, and suddenly have fifty people staring and laughing at you. He called my mate and me hippies as we walked by once years ago. Everybody laughed - we're still not over it. But as hippies, we have learned to forgive.
No doubt that all seems a long time ago now though to the comedian, who is just finishing up filming his fourth series of popular TV show The Savage Eye, as well as acting alongside Brendan Gleeson in upcoming Irish movie Calvary.
When it comes to comedy in Ireland, The Savage Eye is about as risky as it gets, with characters including a child-snatching priest, as well as the most popular one in Dave's opinion, the Bull Mick.
David told us of some new characters joining the show this series too: "There's Daniel Day Lewis, he's a new character. And then there's Angry Emer, she's a news reader." With Daniel he said he will be 'making fun of how he infuses himself in characters, and playing around with that idea'. David McSavage embodying Daniel Day Lewis, embodying Lincoln? It's almost too much to get your head around, but fair to say he will probably nail it.
His performances on The Savage Eye also brought him to the attention of director John McDonagh, who gave him a part in upcoming movie Calvary, which stars Brendan Gleeson, Chris O' Dowd, Aidan Gillen and Killian Scott (Tommy from Love/Hate!)
It's not all fun and games though, as the actor has quite a serious part in the film. He plays the part of a priest, acting mainly alongside Gleeson. He said: "It was a dream to work with Brendan Gleeson. I mean it was the first film I was ever in, so it was fantastic...When you are doing it, you are so into it, you don't have time to think Christ, that is Brendan Gleeson."
He went on to say: "It was an absolutely fantastic experience, and he was such a gentleman as well' So would the comedian like to go more down the acting route?: "I'd love to, to get a really good role, and to work on something like that, would just be a dream [....] when I was about 17 I went to acting classes, and then I stopped, it seemed too unrealistic and unattainable, but yeah it's something I've always wanted to do".
Don't worry though, David hasn't given up the live scene yet. He will be in Wategate Theatre in Kilkenny this coming Saturday with his 'He's Alive Inside' show. His comedy material this Saturday he told us is porn. Don't laugh yet though, the show has a serious undertone which David feels very strongly about; "I'm very anti-pornography at the moment. It's bad for young people to be exposing themselves to those images, and what it does to their brain, and how it affects their attitude towards women in how sex is portrayed in pornography....Obviously I'm doing it in a way that... well, it's not like a f*cking Ted talk, you know what I mean."
For David, it seems, it's not all about hammering out jokes that will garner huge laughs, although that's what he manages to do in fairness. It's actually about getting something of value across to us while he is doing it.
"I'm very grateful that I do standup, it's a form of therapy really. You can stand up there on stage, and you can vent, and you can voice your thoughts, and it does have an audience and they absorb it. When it works, it's a good forum."
You can see his new film Calvary shortly at the Jameson Dublin Film Festival while the new series of The Savage Eye will be on our TV's in February.