When Tyrone’s Johnny Cash met Sean Lock

AN award-winning Johnny Cash tribute act from Tyrone has recalled how the late comedian, Sean Lock, enjoyed one of his performances.

JP McCauley was blending in with the crowd of punters queued eagerly outside the doors of the hall where he was about to perform at Harvey’s Point in Donegal.

JP thought that he was the only stealthy star lurking among the crowd, until his eye was caught by a side profile he thought he recognised.

“That boy looks wile like Sean Lock,” exclaimed JP, a comedy fan himself.

He continued, “Completely out of character, I just started shouting at him. ‘Sean… Sean… Sean!’”

After the fourth roar, his voice found Lock’s ear, prompting the arena-filling comedian to peer around, searching for the source of what must have sounded like a peculiar noise. Lock, who died on Wednesday, quickly spotted the excited Strabane man.

“Casual as you like, he turned around and said, ‘Alright mate’,” explained JP.

The newly aquatinted pair got chatting just long enough so that Lock could impress upon JP that he was a massive Johnny Cash fan and was looking forward to the show.

So JP took to the stage, reduced to that sweaty state brought about by the abject feeling of not wanting to let someone down.

“The whole gig, all I could think was – ‘Jesus Christ’, Sean Lock’s in the audience,” laughed JP.

But the gig went well, and as JP was packing up, Sean materialised beside him, thanked him, and chatted for another while.

“He was a wealth of knowledge about music and he told me he knew the guy who wrote ‘The Beast in Me’ – a song that perfectly captures Cash’s struggle to keep his dark side in check.”

But it was Lock’s humble ‘everyman’ quality that struck JP more than anything.

“There was no trace of airs or graces – he was over fishing with an elderly uncle and decided to go to Johnny Cash tribute show. Does it get more down-to-earth?”

By Emmet McElhatton

e.mcelhatton@ulsterherald.com