Persuaders is a largely fictional, partial comedy about violent authority, sectarian murder, sex abuse and the exploitation of workers. How could that not be funny?
This the kind of fiction which is almost entirely true.
In late 1998, Tommy and Jody, two Painter and Decorators in their late twenties, arrive back in Ireland after an ill-fated work trip to Kazakhstan which prompts Jody to reassess the last decade of his life and figure out what and who has been responsible for where he now finds himself.
From his earliest days, Jody was confronted with authority but his antagonism was not born of a difficult homelife or teenage angst, he had the extra challenge of dealing with an ongoing, low level war which permeated every aspect of his life and threw him up against Police, Army and Paramilitaries of both a friendly and murderous hue.
There is little respite for Jody in his parochially minded community, limited education, indoctrinated religion or the desolate building sites which provide his employment so he makes of it what he can and ignores much of the bigotry, violence, abuse, murder and racism which swamps him on a daily basis. Jody's greatest battle with narrow minded attitudes turns out to be with himself.
What's funny about that? Almost all of it.