Malachy McCourt Comes to SOPAC on March 9

Throughout his rollicking life, Malachy McCourt has held a multitude of careers, from dishwasher, longshoreman, and pub keeper to actor, writer, radio and TV host, and candidate for governor!  

He’s done everything he’s ever wanted to do in his life and encourages others to do the same. McCourt will share his experiences through poetry, song and outrageously hilarious stories in his one-man show Loving Life and Laughing at Death at the (SOPAC) on Friday, March 9.

McCourt was born in Brooklyn and from the age of three was raised in Limerick, Ireland. A very undistinguished academic career, plus the need to eat, led him to leave school at the age of 13 to begin work in Ireland and England as a laborer.

He returned to the land of his birth at the age of 20 and again worked at the manual tasks such as longshoreman, truck loader and dishwasher, until he became an actor. That career took him to Broadway and Off-Broadway and regional theaters in plays, such as Mass Appeal, Da, The Hostage, Inherit the Wind, Carousel and Translations. Soap operas, such as Ryan's Hope, Search for Tomorrow, One Life to Live and All My Children, were also a good source of work and sustenance, as were the movies Molly Maguires, She's the One, The Devil's Own, Green Card, and TV movies such as You Can't Go Home Again and The Dain Curse.

As well as being the co-author of the play A Couple of Blaguards with his brother Frank, Malachy has written his own New York Times bestselling memoir, A Monk Swimming, an account of his adventures as a young immigrant in the United States in the 1960s. A second memoir, Singing My Him Song, followed.  Malachy’s other books, include Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad, The Claddagh Ring, Voices of Ireland, and Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland.

In other ventures, Malachy ran as the Green Party's candidate for governor of New York in 2006.

He is happily married to his wife Diana, has five grown children, and is grandfather to four.

See Malachy McCourt at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) on Friday, March 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 and $45. For tickets, visit SOPACnow.org or contact the SOPAC Box Office at 973-313-2787.