Brendan Shine looks back on tv series ‘Nice n’ Easy’ 45 years on
By David Flynn
Athlone singer Brendan Shine still remembers the excitement of Nice n’ Easy, his RTÉ 2 television series that first appeared on Irish screens 45 years ago this month.
The programme was a hugely successful show, bringing together music, well-known performers and a live audience in a format that Brendan believes would be difficult to find on television today.
“It was great, and it was wonderful,” Brendan recalled to the Westmeath Independent. “Even to this day, I have people come up to me and say how they enjoyed it, because it was entertainment for all the family. It was light entertainment at the best, which you don't find much of it on television nowadays.”
Before Nice n’ Easy, Brendan had a music career going back to the early days of his father’s dancehall in Kielty, Drum, and put counties Westmeath, Roscommon and Longford on the music map, with his hit song, ‘Where the Three Counties Meet’ in 1973.
That was ten years after he first went professional as a musician, when he was just 16 years old, playing with Kieran Kelly’s band. Brendan’s first solo No. 1 was ‘O’Brien Has Nowhere to Go’ in 1971, but his biggest hit was probably, ‘Do You Want Your Auld Lobby Washed Down?’, which was a No. 1 in 1979, and coincided with the opening of RTE Radio 2 (2FM), and was the new pop station’s most requested song that summer.
Nice n’ Easy had all the ingredients of a traditional variety show, and ran for two seasons, beginning in October 1981. Brendan was joined by a resident band, Two’s Company (featuring singers Eamon McRory and Mary Darcy), and familiar faces from the Irish entertainment scene.
Among those appearing were household names such as Joe Dolan, T.R. Dallas and Foster and Allen. Brendan was also keen that the programme should provide opportunities for performers who were not yet established names.
“We tried to bring on as many of the artists that would be household names, and also tried to bring on the new ones,” he said
Among the music families that appeared on the series were the Morrisseys and the Duskeys. Songwriters - people who, in Brendan’s words, might “never get a chance of getting on television”, were also featured on Nice n’ Easy. Among them was John Duggan, the Garda who wrote the song, The Rose of Castlerea, ‘I’ll go back to Glenamaddy’ and ‘The Races of Killadoon’, which were sung by Brendan on the show, and Michael Cummins from Mayo, who had written ‘Three Pubs in Bohola’.
Tom Moore from St. Paul’s Terrace, Athlone was a local legend in songwriting, satire and a had a history of being a stage comedian in the parochial hall (before it became the Dean Crowe Hall) going back to the days of World War 2.
Brendan recalled him as “a great, great songwriter,”
“He wrote humorous songs that I recorded including ‘Carrots from Clonown’ and ‘I’m a Savage for Bacon and Cabbage’, as well as a number of parodies. What a great man he was on the programme. He was wonderful.”
Brendan’s young daughters, Emily and Philippa, featured on the programme when they were only around six or seven years old. Today, 45 years later, Emily is musical director in Brendan’s band.
“I wanted it to be a family show, and it was nice and easy,” he said.
The format was partly inspired by the hugely popular BBC programmes presented by Val Doonican, whose relaxed style and family-friendly entertainment had made him a television favourite on both sides of the water.
However Nice n’ Easy quickly established an identity of its own - and for Brendan, it proved to be a significant turning point.
“It was a huge success,” he said. “I’ll never forget it. RTE put me on the road, and it gave me a great starting point.”
The success of Nice n’ Easy led to constant television appearances for Brendan in Ireland and Britain and 45 years later, it remains one of the programmes most closely associated with his career.
There is a simplicity in the title that Brendan still feels perfectly captured what the programme was about.
“Nice and easy,” he said. “It was exactly what it was and is.”