Watch John C. Reilly sing ‘The Wild Rover’ at an Irish Pub
While he is often overlooked, John C. Reilly is one of the finest actors of his generation. Despite often being lauded as purely a comic, Reilly is so much more than that, with his dramatic propensity stretching much further than many of his most prominent peers. His list of film credits is a varied one, but his CV is brimming with impressive performances and titles.
For those of a certain age, Reilly is fondly remembered as the hapless Dr. Steve Brule from the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! in the late 2000s, with many believing that this was where his career started. However, long before that comedic masterclass, Reilly had already hit heights that all budding actors dream of.
Reilly secured his feature film debut in 1989’s Casualties of War before gaining further exposure in the early 1990s with successes such as Days of Thunder, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and alongside Kevin Bacon as a pair of violent criminals threatening a family in 1994’s The River Wild.
Reilly then became a household name when he starred in a trio of Paul Thomas Anderson movies towards the end of the decade that confirmed him as one of the most dextrous actors of the modern era. Balancing comedy and drama, Reilly successfully channelled the great entertainers of old with his roles in Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
Other notable titles he has starred in include Terrence Malick’s ensemble war drama The Thin Red Line and the overblown musical Chicago. He also worked with the great Martin Scorsese on his pair of movies, Gangs of New York and the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, with his dramatic skill there for all to see.
Outside of these more serious titles, Reilly then established himself as one of the most adept comedy actors in titles such as Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers and Stan and Ollie.
It’s not just on camera that C. Reilly is a legend, either. He’s one of the most pleasant Hollywood talents in the business, as unsuspecting drinkers found out during a session at Gus O’ Connor’s Pub in Doolin, Ireland, in August 2015. Famously of Irish descent, as his surname displays, in the footage, we see the actor channel his ancestor’s energy as he sits on a chair surrounded by a room full of people, belting out the words to the traditional Irish song ‘The Wild Rover’. A glorious image of one of the most treasured Hollywood actors, this is what C. Reilly is all about.
No information exists on why exactly he was there in the pub, apart from the fact that he loves Ireland, as he frequents the country on holiday, and who can blame him?
