Joe Rooney is best known from his roles in Killinaskully & Fr Ted. After a nationwide tour with Pat Shortt in 2004, Joe Rooney embarked on his own tour culminating in a sell out show in Vicar St. He has recently appeared in the hit RTE comedy series, "Killinaskully" as the character "Timmy Higgins" and also featured in the recent stand up show "The Liffey Laugh" on RTE 2. He is currently taking time out to write a new show and spend some quality time with his pet freak, "Maggot Boy" who he keeps locked in the hen house.
Joe is probably best known for his role as Father Damo in the "Father Ted" series. He started his comedy career as half of The Quacksquad, a comedy duo that went on to write and perform on "Nighthawks", "The Late Late Show" (with his personal interpretation of Riverdance) and RTE's first sitcom, "Flatheads".
I'm still laughing at the thought of Fr. Damien (Damo) Lennon, the gurrier curate who lead Fr. Dougal astray…He was an inspired invention and was brilliantly played by Joe Rooney
John Boland, Sunday Independent

Other television credits include RTE's "The Lounge" and "Don't Feed The Gondolas", The BBC's "Empire Laughs Back", TV3's comedy travelogue "Messers Tylac & Rooney" and in various guises on "The Sporting Pressgang". Joe has also acted alongside Ardal O Hanlon in the BBC film "Flying Saucers, Rock 'n Roll" and appeared in two other short films on RTE , "Swag" and "Solomon I".

Live or on TV, Joe has proven to be a talented and dynamic performer. His 1999 Edinburgh Fringe debut, "Further Ted" (with Patrick McDonnell - alias Eoin McLove from the "Father Ted" series), was a huge success with an almost total sell-out season and rave reviews...

If they don't get their own television show by the time the Fringe is over, then there is something deeply wrong in this world
**** The Scotsman


Rooney is very funny, but it is with his guitar in his hands that he becomes unmissable…his impressions of seventies rockers singing nursery rhymes brings tears to the eyes
The Stage

What makes Further Ted the absolute must see that it undoubtedly is must be their new double act - The Pound Shop Boys, an enlightening take on techno acts from the midlands. Welcome to the pantheon of the Big Comedy Gods, chaps!
dSIDE

Joe has since performed all over Ireland, the UK and Europe. The latter part of 2000 was spent touring Ireland with the "Further Ted" show as well as continuing his solo work headlining on the UK and Irish comedy circuits. His character "Fergus Scully" on TG4's Ri Ra has been garnering rave reviews of late.
The highlight has to be chat show king Scully brought to life by the perennially under used Joe Rooney
The Irish Times

He has written for RTE Radio's "Stand Up Sketches" and is currently working on a romantic comedy musical set during the famine. He is also recognised as one of Ireland's top improvisers working regularly with Dublin's Comedy Improv team and performed with them in their recent RTE radio show. He his currently on a nationwide tour with Pat Shortt.

"Very physical, totally unorthodox, and with a style so bizarre… Rooney is a refreshing change."
- Brian Boyd, The Sunday Times