No stopping the ‘Big Fat Filthy Disgusting Liar’ from Dunboyne

A DREAM is coming closer to reality for a Dunboyne actor whose one man show is being considered for adaption into a mega Netflix style TV series.

‘Tom Moran is a Big Fat Filthy Disgusting Liar’ is an award-winning, critically acclaimed solo show that has seen huge success since premiering at Dublin’s Fringe Festival in 2022.

The production not only had a run in the iconic Abbey Theatre in Dublin but also delighted audiences in the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

It was at the famous Scottish comedy festival that Richard Gadd first showcased Baby Reindeer, the one man show that would go on to be a Netflix phenomenon something that is a tangible possibility for Dunboyne actor and writer, Tom Moran.

"The show is being optioned by a company called Deadpan Pictures,” said Tom.

“It is being supported by Screen Ireland so far and they have given us money to write a pilot episode of the script and now that has gone out into the big bad world to be read by broadcasters,’ he added.

”You never know how it going to go with these kinds of things, is a slow process and I’m learning so much about how it all works.

It is definitely an exciting prospect to think that the show could have another life on a different platform, we will see what happens!”

If that wasn’t enough to get his teeth into, the Dunboyne writer and actor will be bringing the show to the Sydney Fringe Festival in September.

Tom Moran is a Big Fat Filthy Disgusting Liar has been captivating audiences throughout the UK and Ireland and focus around a lie he told as a child that had a knock on affect in his life.

"The trick of it is that it is actually a very honest show it so happens to be about lying,’ said Tom.

"It is about this crazy lie that I told as a child that spiralled totally out of control that led to some pretty terrible consequences,’ he added

"It's a story of a boy who lies growing into a man who eventually wants to stop lying."

Many of us have tried to pull the wool over our parent's eyes at some stage faking illness to get day off school. However, Tom's efforts backfired on him in a spectacular way as he explains: "I was a real goodie two shoes at school and kind of like a chubby kid.

“I really wanted to make my parents proud," said the Dunboyne actor.

"This one particular day I hadn't done my homework and I was afraid of my teacher so I faked being sick to get the day off school but I faked it so well my mam brought me to a doctor to see if I was sick," he added.

"The doctor said that the place where my fake pain was was actually symptoms of appendicitis so I was brought from the doctors to the hospital to to see if it was.

"I was like ok look will I come clean or double down but I thought well this scan is going to show that I'm grand but because I was quite a chubby kid, I was so fat that the ultrasound wasn't able to determine whether it was appendicitis so rather than taking the risk that my appendix would burst they ended up removing my appendix.

"I committed to unnecessary keyhole surgery rather than admitting that I lied!” Moran admits.

"I just presumed that the ultra sound was going to reveal that there was nothing wrong, that there must have been some kind of misunderstanding that it was just a tummy bug."

Tom added that hearing medical professionals speak about his body for the first time was difficult.

"I was just dealing with all of this shame of being told I was fat for the very first time," remembers Tom.

"It was this perfect storm of shame and guilt and things I didn't like about myself, it actually felt like the easier thing to go through unnecessary keyhole surgery than tell the truth," he added.

"The show explores that central lie, what kind of a child tells a lie like that and how does a kid like that grow into an adult and does lying evolve in terms of people pleasing and relationships.

"The show is very open and kind of has like this exorcism of shame and it's that thing of if you tell the truth, shame and guilt can't live in the dark.

The show tries to be very honest to empower the audience to that in their own lives."

There was something "very healing "about telling the story and seeing how an audience connected with it according to Tom who said:

"My mission statement is to bring joy to people and to make people feel less alone. The show presents itself as a stand up comedy show and there are loads of laughs when it's really dark or sad but equally I think people find it very cathartic.

"It's that thing of you hear someone say something and you think 'oh my god I relate to that' and you can share because now there has been kind of a communal thing that has been established."