Coming-of-age story based around Pope's 1979 visit

Bill Burr is to shoot a coming-of-age comedy in Ireland, described as ‘Superbad meets Derry Girls’.

He has been cast in Bender, based on the experiences of writer Adrian Cunningham growing up in post-punk Dublin in the late 1970s.

Industry website Deadline reports that the stand-up will play  a ‘gruff American record-store owner who convinces a ragtag gang of teenage misfits that their best chance to lose their virginity before graduating high school is at a massive open-air mass for the visiting Pope.’

In 1979, John Paul II became the first Pope to visited Ireland, causing much excitement.

Now based in LA, Cunningham was in advertising before turning to scriptwriting. Bender is his first feature.

Burr recently received rave reviews for his Broadway debut starring alongside Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk in David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross.

He is also set to direct and star in the upcoming Netflix film Born Losers, which he also co-wrote and will produce – although details of the plot have been kept under wraps.

Published: 6 Nov 2025