Laois comedy TikTok star advising Dial Before You Dig at the ploughing

Rathdowney native and online comedy star Mary-Claire Fitzpatrick, aka MCluvs2laugh, is leading a campaign to drive awareness of underground pipes, by Gas Networks Ireland at the National Ploughing Championships.

She told the Leinster Express / Laois Live why she got involved.

“I grew up on a farm, a lot of my content online is rural experiences. I think through humour and my comedy style I think it was a good way to get the message across in a way that was relatable.

“We got chatting to people it was good craic. Doing vox pop videos, the campaign is a way to drive awareness, Dial Before You Dig, it’s a free service available to landowners, farmers and contractors around Ireland.

“The Ploughing Championships is the Christmas for farmers, so if there’s ever a time for an awareness campaign it would be this time of year.

“I didn’t fully know the extent of it, and it is so important to avoid any accidents, it can be dangerous.

“It was great craic, we were chatting, getting photos. I wasn’t frightening people away asking them their PPS number or anything, just ‘what’s your favourite thing about the ploughing’.

“All the young people were loving the merch and free pens and others are loving the machinery and demonstrations.

“I’d great craic with a man I met called Michael with the finest moustache I’d seen this side of Tullamore. I asked him did he actually model it off the horns of a bull, turns out he didn’t.”

Safety campaigns are important but it’s important too to inject a bit of fun and humour.

I would always go to the ploughing. It was in Ballacolla years ago I think I was only about seven years of age. I was mesmerised by it all but I forgot to bring my wellies. I remember sitting in the boot of the car eating our ham sandwiches before we went in and I was trying to put plastic bags inside my shoes, that was a standout memory.”

She is handing out temporary tattoos with the Dial Before You Dig message.

“My first and possibly my last tattoo unless I decide to get a John Deere on my calf,” she jokes.

Mary-Claire grew up on the family dairy and beef farm in Rathdowney.

“I was the youngest of four, I got off easy. I didn’t take the brunt of the responsibilities, but I was a gap stander, the arms out. I’d go round with dad with the water trough and stuff like that.

I’m married now to a man who comes from an egg farm in Monaghan so together we make one tier of the food pyramid,” Mary-Claire said.

They couple are now city folk.

“We are based in Dublin, I’m a city girl now, I’m here since college but we do try to get home to Laois or Monaghan at the weekend. I love going home and any time I do I’m wrangled to do a job. That’s what inspired a large amount of content.

“A few years ago my dad asked me to stand in a gap, as soon as he was halfway down the field he started shouting at me, I don’t know what he was saying, I think he expected me to read his lips from across the field, I was panicking, do I move, do I not.

“That inspired my very first video, dad doing essentially an interpretative dance halfway down the field. It went from there, it got a great response and it made me realise we all have such similar upbringings.”

Mary-Claire has been a familiar face on an RTÉ children’s television show, and also does radio work. She actually began with a degree in law, then a Masters in multimedia, working as multimedia editor and designer for many years.

Her parents are Matt and Claire Fitzpatrick.

“He’s half a finger and can’t text, he can just pretty much answer a phone call but can’t use the internet. He gets a good chuckle out of it, my mam shows him the videos. I tell people my dad should be giving me a fee for the good PR I do censoring him, if I used the actual language he used going up and down the field I don’t think I’d get very far.

“My parents are extremely supportive and always have been. My mother encouraged me to do something more creative and fun. When the kids tv stuff started they were very proud. All the mad stuff I’ve done since, I’m very lucky. It’s a trope that parents want you to do a stable career, they are the exact opposite, they really encouraged me to follow and find what I wanted to do, to make me happy,” Mary-Claire said.

Her comedic social media platform as MCLuvs2Laugh, even with a following of over 350,000 fans, is not her sole job.

“I do that on the side, I’m reluctant to do it full time, having a bit of stable work has been engrained in me since I was young. I’ve always make sure I have many fingers in many pies. In the creative world we are now, obviously with the rise of AI and the changing media landscape, you’re never sure what tomorrow will bring so I take the opportunities as they come.

She is now gigging as a standup comedian, having taken part in the Paddy Power comedy festival in Dublin, with plans for more gigs, also drawing on her farming past.

She hopes to do a comedy gig in the near future in Laois.

“Absolutely. The Dunamaise Arts Centre have been very good to me and said if I ever put on a show let them know. Watch this space, social media comedy and stand-up are very different.

“I want to make sure when I put on my show, it’s the best it can be. So the last couple of years I’ve been gigging around Dublin, honing my craft so whenever I do put on my show it’s worth coming to see. Hopefully please god next year.”

Mary-Claire will be reporting from the ploughing for the final day on Thursday morning, to Doireann Garrihy on 2FM.

Find Mary-Claire at MCluvs2laugh on Instagram and TikTok.

Gas Networks Ireland's Dial Before You Dig service provides information, advice and maps on the gas pipeline network. If you’re planning or undertaking any excavation work, it is essential to check for the location of gas pipes by calling 1800 42 77 47, emailing [email protected] or registering for a Dial Before You Dig Online account.