John Nee

Nee moved to London in 1977 where he worked on building sites, while living in squats in Islington and Stoke Newington.[5] It was during this period that he developed one of his first performance personas, the punk beat poet, The Zen Mc Gonagal, performing guest spots at the Dalston Junction Alternative Cabaret.[5] Nee returned to Dublin in 1982 where he continued performing The Zen Mc Gonagal as a street performer on Dublin’s Grafton Street.[1] This evolved into a performance as Charlie Chaplin, Nee becoming one of Grafton Street’s most iconic characters during the mid-eighties.[1] Four years later Nee relocated to Barna in Galway where he joined Macnas, the well-known street performance group,[1] and began performing with Anet Moore as the Barna Boot Co.[6] Nee also worked with the Grapevine Arts Touring Co. and the Pooka Children’s Theatre, writing a series of children’s plays in the early nineties such as The Ballygroovy Ave.[6]

Nee was given his stage name by his father who was a Little Richard fan. He founded the first punk band in County Donegal in 1976. They were known as Joe Petrol and the Petrol Bombs. He also spent some time as a labourer on the building sites in London where he began performing at Dalston Junction Alternative Cabaret at The Crown&Castle.

Nee later moved to Dublin and began performing Charlie Chaplin on Grafton Street.[7] He was involved in performances with the Grapevine Touring Theatre.[7] He then became a member of Galway's newly formed Macnas.[7] In 1986 he took up position in a caravan in Barna.[8]

His first one-man show, The Derry Boat, was about migrant labourers and had him perform as multiple characters.[3] The Earagail Arts Festival commissioned this in 1988.[7] Nee was nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for his performance in The Derry Boat.[7] During the early-1990s, Nee did work in children's theatre (writing directing and performing).[7]

Galway Arts Festival performances include The Ballad of Jah Kettle (2000), Donde Esta Jesus Fahy (2001) and Country and Irish (2002).[7] The Scottish Touring Theatre Consortium and Cumbernauld Theatre commissioned Salt O The Earth in 2003.[7] Earagail Arts Festival commissioned Rural Electric in 2004.[7] Axis Theatre Ballymun commissioned The Mental in 2005; this featured a character called Joe Boyle who ended up in St Conal's Hospital and referenced Seosamh Mac Grianna who spent three decades there.[3][7] In 2005, Nee also toured with Star of Stage, Screen, and Street Corners.[7] In August 2007, Nee announced his obsession with the ukulele while on RTÉ Radio 1 presenter Dave Fanning's show, Drivetime with Dave. He played a tune which he recorded with his band while in Letterkenny.[9] In 2010, in a Barabbas Theatre production called "The Singing Irish Clown", Nee portrayed Johnny Patterson, the 19th-century clown discovered by Pablo Fanque, the British circus proprietor referenced in The Beatles song "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"[10]

His 2020 Tilt of the Sky tour was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic; instead of performing at the Earagail Arts Festival, he did a mini-tour of County Donegal, performing outside An Grianán Theatre, as well as in Ramelton, Rathmullan, Raphoe, Dunfanaghy, Gortahork, Malin and Culdaff.[3]

Nee has made appearances in films such as the Neil Jordan-directed 1988 fantasy comedy film High Spirits.[7] He played the part of Toupee Man in the 2000 Barry Levinson-directed comedy film An Everlasting Piece.[11]

In the mid-2000s, Nee played the silent comedy character of Postie in TG4 television series Fear an Phoist.[3][11][12]