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00:00:06,850 --> 00:00:08,691
Growing up as a kid in Ireland,

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we had pretty much
zero percent immigration.

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I was the brownest person for miles.

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(Laughter)

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Just a hint of a tan.

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They were like:
"Look at him ... suspicious."

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00:00:20,439 --> 00:00:21,929
(Laughter)

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And now, we have 17 percent immigration,

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and we are one of the only
countries in the whole world

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that doesn't have a single political party
in parliament opposing immigration.

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One of the only ones.

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We can't because we have shagged our way
into all your family trees.

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(Laughter)

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Many of you don't even know it ...

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(Laughter)

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until that day you get
your DNA test results.

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You're like: "Look at that!
I'm like 23 percent Irish!"

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(Laughter)

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This whole time,
I thought I was a Filipino.

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(Laughter)

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Three years ago, we became
the first country in the whole world,

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by popular vote,

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to legalize gay marriage.

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One of the most
steeped-in-Catholicism countries ever

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put it to the people and went,
"Gay marriage, what do you think?"

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And collectively we went,
"Yeah,feck it, why not, go on there."

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(Laughter)

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To put that into perspective,

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in 1993, homosexuality
was actually illegal in Ireland.

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And then the year before last,

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we found a guy who is half-Indian,
and gay, and made him Prime Minister.

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(Laughter)

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You go to places like America,
where I live at the moment,

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and still they're debating
having their first female president.

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In Ireland, we've had
21 years of female presidents.

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We were the first country
in the whole world

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to have back-to-back female presidents.

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We've moved on to gay, half-Indian people.

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(Laughter)

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We're woke as feck over there.

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(Laughter)

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We don't even have Chinatown in Ireland.

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We let them live with us.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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All these things have happened
in a fraction of my lifetime.

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Like our lives are full of
huge changes, big huge changes,

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all the time, all around us.

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But for some reason,
when it comes to one particular thing,

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one particular feeling,

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we assume it can't really be changed.

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Fear.

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So, I did a bit of
an experiment a while ago.

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It was to do the thing I feared the most
... every single day ... for a year.

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It was a horrendous plan.

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Especially because
when I went to university,

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my nickname was Shakin' Stevens,

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after the musical icon, I suppose,
if you liked it, at the time.

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And it wasn't for the musical ability.

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I don't know if you've ever had it,

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when you stand in front
of a group of people,

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and you have to speak,

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or you're holding a bit of paper,
and you're speaking,

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and you are like: "Why is
that piece of paper moving?

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Why am I shaking while I'm speaking?"

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That happened for me every time,
and it was even worse.

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It kind of went through my body.

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So, the shaking went into my shoulders,

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down through my hips,

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and I was just involuntarily ...

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(Laughter)

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becoming a kind of Irish salsa dancer.

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But -
(Laughter)

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And it was so bad
that people would come to see it.

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(Laughter)

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That's a pretty Irish thing,
where they're like:

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"Look at him, going to pieces.
We'd better see that."

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(Laughter)

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I should have known,
I should've remembered,

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that it was possible to change this,

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but for some reason,
I think for a lot of us,

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when it comes to fear,

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we forget that we have the power
to somehow change that.

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Sometimes you just need
that catalyst to drive change.

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For me, unfortunately,
it came in the worst possible way.

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A friend of mine, Arash,

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who was the most outdoorsy
and athletic person I've ever met,

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within the space of 96 hours

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went from hiking
the John Muir Trail in California

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to lying in the John Muir hospital

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surrounded by doctors telling him
he'd never walk again,

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after suffering
a severe spinal cord injury.

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He didn't want to accept that prognosis.

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None of his friends wanted
to accept that prognosis,

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so they all rallied to do
fundraisers on his behalf

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to get him to his goal
of getting back on his feet again.

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And it kind of rubbed off on me.

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And I was like: "Well maybe
I could do something to help."

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So I organized -

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I just happen to know a comedian
who lived next door to me,

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and I was like: "If I did a comedy show,
charity show, would you do it?"

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And he said yes.

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So to Arash, I was like: "Let's do
this comedy show to raise some funds."

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And he's like: "That's a great idea man.
You're going to host it?"

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I was like: "Oh no."

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He didn't know about
the whole Shakin' Stevens thing.

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(Laughter)

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Up to that moment, I would have described
public speaking as my biggest fear,

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and as a crippling fear.

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But when you're stood there,

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and your friend is sat there
in a wheelchair, looking at you,

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that is not the term you ever
feel right about using again ...

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(Laughter)

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for a fear.

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It just made it seem
a little bit ridiculous.

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And I was like, especially like,
Irish people en masse,

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fair to say, we hate public speaking.

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But Irish people en masse,
we love speaking.

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(Laughter)

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We love it.

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You'll be like:
"Do you ever speak to people?"

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"Oh yeah, all the time."

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"In public?"
- "Oh, absolutely, yeah."

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"Public speaking?"
- "Oh no, no, no.

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(Laughter)

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Not doing that."

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All of a sudden, it just felt nonsensical.

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So it was kind of time to at least
try and get over this nonsensical fear.

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But who do you ask for help?

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Or like, who were the masters
of this topic, or where do you go to?

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And for me, I was a big fan of the theory
popularized by Malcolm Gladwell,

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that it takes 10,000 hours doing something
to make someone a master.

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So I was like: "Who are the masters
of this public speaking stuff?"

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And the answer seemed
unconventional ... but obvious.

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It's like, surely stand-up comedians
are doing this more than anybody else.

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Surely they know a lot about it.

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It turns out the average stand-up comedian
on the way to making an income

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from doing stand-up comedy,

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if they're good,

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it takes them on average about seven years
to make an income from stand-up comedy.

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The ones who are dedicated, they estimate
to spend about four hours a day

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in some way, shape, or form,
working on their craft.

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Four hours a day, by those seven years,
is roughly those 10,000 hours.

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And they do it in the worst
conditions possible.

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Like, imagine, I live in America.

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They're having a tough day and they're:

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"I'm having an emotional day today.
I feel a lot of anxiety.

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I went to the supermarket.
They'd no avocados.

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It was horrendous.
(Laughter)

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I went to Bikram yoga,
and a guy flatulated.

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It was just no, no,
it's just too much for me.

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I put four photos on Instagram.
Nobody liked them, not even my mother ...

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Now I'm going to go to this comedy club,

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make it better, add alcohol,
sit there, fold my arms,

155
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stare at a person and go:
'Make me laugh.'"

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(Laughter)

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It just sounds like the worst possible
environment to do this.

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So my plan was getting
considerably worse as I went along.

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Not only was I going to try and do
this public speaking for a year,

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I was going to do
stand-up comedy for a year.

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And for this terrible plan,
I blame Americans.

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They're just a lot more positive
than Irish people ...

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unnecessarily sometimes.

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Like, they will support you with anything.

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You could be like: "I'm quitting my job.

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It's a good job, and I'm going to sell
inflatable penguins on the Internet."

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And they're like:
"God that's a great plan man.

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(Laughter)

169
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You should try that. Bring it in."

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High five.

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(Laughter).

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Sometimes you dismiss Irish people
to be like: "Cop on to yourself.

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Get those penguins down off the Internet:
you're bringing shame to the family."

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(Laughter)

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I got reminded of this,
a bit of a social media thing:

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I posted a little video of myself
kite-surfing under the Golden Gate Bridge.

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I thought, "This will get the likes."

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Posted this, and the American
comments come in:

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"Dude that looks awesome. You go."

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Next comment:

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00:08:26,605 --> 00:08:28,899
"Oh my God. Looks like
you had the perfect day.

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Hope you had a great time."

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Irish comment:

184
00:08:32,222 --> 00:08:34,611
"I hope a shark bites your balls off."

185
00:08:34,666 --> 00:08:36,775
(Laughter)

186
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And that was my mother.

187
00:08:40,384 --> 00:08:42,469
(Laughter)

188
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So, safe to say,

189
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I wasn't really ready to tell Irish people
about the plan that I was having.

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00:08:48,513 --> 00:08:50,937
I needed a way to hide it from them.

191
00:08:50,937 --> 00:08:54,106
And it turns out it's quite hard
to clock up the stage time needed

192
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to get some experience as a comedian
if you don't have any experience.

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00:08:57,569 --> 00:09:01,171
So, I had to make it look like
I'd been around for a while doing comedy.

194
00:09:01,439 --> 00:09:03,775
Americans couldn't really
pronounce my last name,

195
00:09:03,775 --> 00:09:06,475
a little bit strange
even by Irish standards: Nihill.

196
00:09:06,475 --> 00:09:08,380
So they kept calling me Irish Dave.

197
00:09:08,966 --> 00:09:10,236
So, I was like:

198
00:09:10,236 --> 00:09:13,160
"Well, there's a stage name
that sounds pretty horrendous."

199
00:09:13,220 --> 00:09:16,274
The idea was that I was already good
at doing comedy in Ireland,

200
00:09:16,274 --> 00:09:18,611
and I just happened to be
in America for a while.

201
00:09:18,611 --> 00:09:20,898
It needed to look like
he'd been around a while.

202
00:09:20,898 --> 00:09:23,018
So, alright, Irish Dave,
let's go with that,

203
00:09:23,025 --> 00:09:25,575
made him a website,
made him look pretty good online.

204
00:09:25,575 --> 00:09:26,741
Facebook page,

205
00:09:26,741 --> 00:09:29,594
Facebook fans, which mildly
controversially at the time,

206
00:09:29,594 --> 00:09:31,662
you could just buy on the Internet.

207
00:09:31,781 --> 00:09:32,858
(Laughter)

208
00:09:33,059 --> 00:09:35,093
So I was pretty big there for a while ...

209
00:09:35,125 --> 00:09:37,167
(Laughter)

210
00:09:37,299 --> 00:09:38,891
especially in India.

211
00:09:38,935 --> 00:09:40,531
(Laughter)

212
00:09:40,545 --> 00:09:44,033
The first booked show I did
was five ladies and I.

213
00:09:44,033 --> 00:09:48,033
That comedy show was called
"Oestrogen entrée, with a side of balls."

214
00:09:49,333 --> 00:09:51,077
I was that side of balls.

215
00:09:51,110 --> 00:09:52,110
(Laughter)

216
00:09:52,232 --> 00:09:54,397
A very proud moment as you can imagine.

217
00:09:54,494 --> 00:09:56,538
But thankfully, it went up from there,

218
00:09:56,538 --> 00:09:59,864
and I started doing all these comedy clubs
and shows and festivals.

219
00:09:59,864 --> 00:10:04,853
At the end of that year, I found myself
on stage in front of 1400 people

220
00:10:04,853 --> 00:10:07,669
in America's largest
storytelling competition.

221
00:10:07,669 --> 00:10:10,293
And I'm about to lay an egg.

222
00:10:10,293 --> 00:10:11,922
Because, after your story,

223
00:10:11,922 --> 00:10:14,723
they judge you in front of
all the other people.

224
00:10:14,856 --> 00:10:16,573
So it's like diving in the Olympics.

225
00:10:16,573 --> 00:10:21,016
They actually hold up a scorecard
from 0 to 10 about how you just did.

226
00:10:21,016 --> 00:10:22,808
That sounds horrendous.

227
00:10:23,076 --> 00:10:24,902
That's like you losing your virginity,

228
00:10:24,902 --> 00:10:27,548
and someone just popping up
at the end of your bed ...

229
00:10:27,652 --> 00:10:29,026
I mean like: 2

230
00:10:29,131 --> 00:10:31,294
(Laughter)

231
00:10:31,459 --> 00:10:32,881
Room for improvement.

232
00:10:32,912 --> 00:10:34,361
(Laughter)

233
00:10:35,030 --> 00:10:37,330
The funny thing is
that by the end of this time,

234
00:10:37,330 --> 00:10:40,351
I was learning a lot that comedians
were learning the hard way.

235
00:10:40,351 --> 00:10:42,222
We'd done the charity event for Arash.

236
00:10:42,222 --> 00:10:43,560
It went really, really well.

237
00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:45,639
Nobody would have noticed Shakin' Stevens.

238
00:10:45,639 --> 00:10:47,457
What I was learning, over time,

239
00:10:47,457 --> 00:10:50,467
and through repetition
and knowledge from this group of people,

240
00:10:50,467 --> 00:10:52,677
was not how to overcome a fear,

241
00:10:52,677 --> 00:10:56,733
but how to manage a fear,
and, in my case, how to hide a fear.

242
00:10:57,330 --> 00:10:59,692
And I think we're sold that
quite a lot in life.

243
00:10:59,692 --> 00:11:01,802
"Here's the easy way
to overcome your fear."

244
00:11:01,809 --> 00:11:03,373
You might never overcome it,

245
00:11:03,379 --> 00:11:05,793
but just at least tell me
how to manage it,

246
00:11:05,793 --> 00:11:07,579
like stop the Shakin' Stevens bit.

247
00:11:07,878 --> 00:11:10,701
And a key part of it was just
telling yourself in your head

248
00:11:10,701 --> 00:11:11,934
that you are not nervous.

249
00:11:11,934 --> 00:11:13,178
Of course you are.

250
00:11:13,178 --> 00:11:14,377
The sweating is coming,

251
00:11:14,377 --> 00:11:16,569
and I'm like the salsa dancing
is coming back,

252
00:11:16,569 --> 00:11:19,297
but people are like:
"Just tell yourself you're excited."

253
00:11:19,297 --> 00:11:21,409
Look at how it were like
2,000 of you today:

254
00:11:21,409 --> 00:11:23,968
I was like: "Ah, I'm so excited."

255
00:11:24,037 --> 00:11:26,069
(Laughter)

256
00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:29,137
So, I literally found myself on stage,

257
00:11:29,137 --> 00:11:30,400
1400 people,

258
00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:34,785
and there's three comedians out of ten
in this competition of storytelling.

259
00:11:34,785 --> 00:11:38,516
So, of course, my theory is they're
the true masters going to come 1, 2 and 3.

260
00:11:38,516 --> 00:11:42,482
And Arash has got wind that I'm in this
under the sneaky name Irish Dave,

261
00:11:42,500 --> 00:11:45,010
and he's come, so they're
all there in the audience.

262
00:11:45,010 --> 00:11:46,210
I am laying an egg.

263
00:11:46,210 --> 00:11:49,146
I don't have butterflies
in my chest; I have pigeons.

264
00:11:49,213 --> 00:11:51,417
If you'd touch my hand
before I went on stage,

265
00:11:51,417 --> 00:11:53,564
it felt like a mackerel
just went like that.

266
00:11:53,564 --> 00:11:54,564
(Laughter)

267
00:11:54,570 --> 00:11:56,381
If you'd hugged me, same as today,

268
00:11:56,381 --> 00:11:59,098
you'd feel like you'd hugged
someone got out of a shower.

269
00:11:59,098 --> 00:12:00,806
You're like: What's going on there?

270
00:12:00,806 --> 00:12:02,507
But it was just hiding them, right?

271
00:12:02,509 --> 00:12:04,250
So we're doing this competition,

272
00:12:04,276 --> 00:12:08,493
and at this stage I had written a book 
I'd self-published about my experience,

273
00:12:08,493 --> 00:12:10,223
and I'd just sold it to a publisher,

274
00:12:10,223 --> 00:12:13,291
and they were like: "We're going
to need a new ending on this."

275
00:12:13,295 --> 00:12:16,689
So I'm like: "Winning this competition,
that could be a good ending."

276
00:12:16,689 --> 00:12:18,603
So towards the end of this competition -

277
00:12:18,603 --> 00:12:21,526
1, 2 and 3, as I anticipated,
are the comedians -

278
00:12:21,526 --> 00:12:24,247
and I'm winning, and there's
only one person left.

279
00:12:24,247 --> 00:12:25,455
And this lady goes -

280
00:12:25,455 --> 00:12:27,140
no comedic background or training -

281
00:12:27,140 --> 00:12:29,663
gets on stage and is amazing and kills it.

282
00:12:29,663 --> 00:12:31,718
And they're in bits
laughing at everything,

283
00:12:31,718 --> 00:12:32,980
and she wins.

284
00:12:32,987 --> 00:12:37,210
I was like: "Oh well,
there goes me ending here."

285
00:12:37,632 --> 00:12:40,746
And I was like: "How did you do that?

286
00:12:40,752 --> 00:12:41,952
I was fascinated.

287
00:12:41,952 --> 00:12:45,159
I've studied this for ages,
but you wiped the floor with everybody.

288
00:12:45,159 --> 00:12:47,276
She's: "I've been studying
comedians a lot.

289
00:12:47,276 --> 00:12:49,166
I've been reading a lot about it."

290
00:12:49,166 --> 00:12:51,101
I was like: "What did you read? Tell me.

291
00:12:51,101 --> 00:12:53,733
Anything super helpful?
I'm publishing a book on this."

292
00:12:53,738 --> 00:12:55,050
And she's like: "This one."

293
00:12:55,055 --> 00:12:58,015
Pulling up her notes, she says,
"This book was really helpful.

294
00:12:58,015 --> 00:13:00,870
'Do You Talk Funny?'
by a guy called David Nihill."

295
00:13:01,561 --> 00:13:04,503
(Laughter)

296
00:13:05,125 --> 00:13:07,438
I say, "You beat me with my own book."

297
00:13:07,465 --> 00:13:09,771
(Laughter)

298
00:13:10,763 --> 00:13:13,612
Oh! And I thought, right,
that's the end of that.

299
00:13:13,685 --> 00:13:17,473
Told the story, and sure enough,
a week or so after, this guy contacts me.

300
00:13:17,473 --> 00:13:19,663
"Would you be interested
in doing a TED talk?

301
00:13:19,663 --> 00:13:21,959
I liked your story.
Would you like to share it?"

302
00:13:21,959 --> 00:13:24,399
And I said, "Ooh,
now this would be a good ending."

303
00:13:24,399 --> 00:13:25,653
And then: "Wait a minute.

304
00:13:25,653 --> 00:13:27,046
I have a friend called Arash,

305
00:13:27,046 --> 00:13:30,206
and he's the reason I got into
all this mess in the first place,

306
00:13:30,206 --> 00:13:31,819
and all this lunacy started.

307
00:13:31,819 --> 00:13:35,408
His story's more powerful and better
than anyone's I think I've ever heard.

308
00:13:35,408 --> 00:13:37,278
Could I send you a little video of him?

309
00:13:37,278 --> 00:13:40,482
He did a practice run with an audience
using comedians' techniques.

310
00:13:40,482 --> 00:13:43,200
Could I send you that?
Maybe you'd consider booking him?"

311
00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:44,699
And he booked him in my place.

312
00:13:44,699 --> 00:13:46,465
And I was there backstage watching

313
00:13:46,465 --> 00:13:49,576
when Arash got
a 51-second standing ovation

314
00:13:49,576 --> 00:13:52,970
as he told everybody
how he trained for one whole year,

315
00:13:52,970 --> 00:13:54,031
keeping it a secret,

316
00:13:54,031 --> 00:13:56,708
with the sole goal of standing again
on his own two feet

317
00:13:56,708 --> 00:13:59,590
so he could propose to his beautiful
girlfriend, eye to eye.

318
00:13:59,743 --> 00:14:01,843
He didn't want to do it
from his wheelchair.

319
00:14:01,843 --> 00:14:03,240
And, of course, she said yes.

320
00:14:03,359 --> 00:14:06,280
So, at the end, he stood up
from his wheelchair, on stage,

321
00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:08,760
doing something doctors told me
he'd never do again.

322
00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:12,470
She came out and joined them,
and the whole place just lost their mind.

323
00:14:12,558 --> 00:14:14,948
And I get hairs in the back
of my neck standing up

324
00:14:14,948 --> 00:14:16,564
just telling you guys about it.

325
00:14:17,229 --> 00:14:18,563
The comedy event we did

326
00:14:18,563 --> 00:14:21,425
became a recurring event
called "Comedy for a Spinal Cause".

327
00:14:21,425 --> 00:14:24,379
Today, we've raised for people
with spinal cord injuries

328
00:14:24,379 --> 00:14:26,490
just over $45,000.

329
00:14:26,876 --> 00:14:28,276
Arash wrote a book -

330
00:14:28,441 --> 00:14:31,440
(Applause)

331
00:14:35,531 --> 00:14:37,526
Arash wrote a book about his experiences.

332
00:14:37,526 --> 00:14:39,377
He started a non-profit.

333
00:14:39,377 --> 00:14:41,278
He continues his recovery,

334
00:14:41,278 --> 00:14:43,912
and continues to be
an inspiration around him.

335
00:14:44,307 --> 00:14:47,362
Six weeks from today,
in this very hall in Manchester,

336
00:14:47,362 --> 00:14:49,375
there's going to be a musical act planned.

337
00:14:49,375 --> 00:14:52,030
Ironically, his name is Shakin' Stevens.

338
00:14:52,030 --> 00:14:53,497
(Laughter)

339
00:14:53,604 --> 00:14:54,863
What are the chances!?

340
00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:57,712
If you take nothing away
from all this lunacy,

341
00:14:57,712 --> 00:15:00,097
it's our lives are full of change,

342
00:15:00,101 --> 00:15:01,382
and, a lot of the time,

343
00:15:01,382 --> 00:15:04,079
we can drive and control
that change more than we think,

344
00:15:04,079 --> 00:15:07,080
whether it's just some
involuntary dancing moves,

345
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,051
a feeling that you have,
or a whole country.

346
00:15:10,426 --> 00:15:12,102
You might not overcome a fear,

347
00:15:12,102 --> 00:15:15,655
but with help from the right people,
I believe you can learn to manage it.

348
00:15:15,912 --> 00:15:19,017
Public speaking, ultimately,
if it's one of your biggest fears,

349
00:15:19,017 --> 00:15:21,811
like it's mine and so many
other people's out there,

350
00:15:21,811 --> 00:15:24,089
try and tell yourself you're excited,

351
00:15:24,089 --> 00:15:26,249
no matter how many people
are looking at you.

352
00:15:26,249 --> 00:15:29,611
Remember, at the end of the day,
it's just you sharing your story.

353
00:15:29,611 --> 00:15:31,520
You know it better than anyone else,

354
00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:34,003
and you never know
what'll happen when you tell it.

355
00:15:34,003 --> 00:15:36,445
And if you need help
along the way, ask a comedian.

356
00:15:36,469 --> 00:15:38,519
I believe they're
the world's true masters.

357
00:15:38,519 --> 00:15:39,519
Thank you very much.

358
00:15:39,519 --> 00:15:41,633
(Applause)