Comedian Bernard O'Shea has opened up about taking a break from stand-up and leaving Dublin for “a quiet life” in Limerick.
The former 2FM Breakfast Republic host moved to Limerick with his wife Lorna and their three kids - Olivia, Tadhg and Sean.
Bernard revealed he is a stay-at-home dad now after stepping back from radio and TV.
READ MORE: Comedian Bernard O'Shea rules out a return to breakfast radio and replacing Eoghan McDermott
He said: “I think there would be a lot of eyes going up to heaven if I said that I raise my kids. I am, I’m there. I pick them up and sometimes I drop them off, cook their dinners sometimes.”
“I could live anywhere, I live in my own head,” Bernard said. “I could be in the middle of Tokyo and go, ‘I think I’m going to live a quiet life now’,” he said on the podcast - ‘Jen & Lottie do… Parenting’.
He opened up about their decision to move to his wife’s home county, saying: “We had three kids in Castleknock and we loved it there.
“We loved it there and it was great, but Covid hit and the same way that everyone was - we were ringing home.
“All this was building up and we said, ‘Look, if we are going to move, we’re going to have to do it now because we’re putting our middle child into school. That’s two in school and we’re not moving two.’
“We went to look to buy a house in Laois first. We were waiting on other things to happen that didn’t happen. Then I got up one morning and went, ‘Will we move to Limerick?’”
He added: “It was kind of my idea.”
Bernard shared that his family don’t have any plans to return to Dublin.
“It’s not like it was years ago. It’s two hours on the motorway. Everybody keeps asking me this and my answer is so boring,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter where I live. I could live anywhere.”
Bernard spoke about his daily routine now that he isn’t presenting on the radio every day.
Lottie stated: “You’re at home with the kids, she [his wife] definitely appreciates that.”
“There’s a level of what I do…” Bernard laughed, before adding: “I might be downplaying the role.
“They’re in school, but as we all know the problem is that between the hours of 9AM and before you pick them up from school or creche, and they have nana’s day, those three hours go very quickly.”
He joked: “I go for a swim and go for a walk. I’m always saying, ‘I’ll work today now’. I’ll write an article once a week.
“I still write for telly. I’m kind of painting a weird picture because a year ago I was working full-time, six months before that I was working more-or-less full-time as well, but I was doing it at home.”
Jennifer said it was weird hearing about his daily life now because she was used to the “crazy busy about to have a heart attack any minute” Bernard.
He responded: “I was on a bit of autopilot, nothing major. I remember talking to PJ Gallagher, the comedian, about this and we both had the same issue.
“I did that because it was like ‘take it all now because it might not be there tomorrow’, rather than sitting back which is what we probably should have done and go, ‘Let’s just plan this out’ rather than doing seven hundred things now.”
Bernard explained that he’s glad to be less busy now so he can see his children grow up.
“In one way, it’s really good because you get to see the micro, tiny, little differences as their personalities grow.”
But Bernard revealed he will go back to stand up later this year as he has three gigs.
He has also signed up for the Sleeping Beauty panto at University Concert Hall, Limerick.
