At this point, Ayo Edebiri is fully Irish. The actor and comedian has kept the joke going and is now hanging out with other fellow (actual) Irish people, including Paul Mescal.
To celebrate St. Patrick's Day on 17 March, Ayo shared a photo on Instagram Story that made every fan — Irish or not — swoon. The comedian shared a sweet photo of herself and Paul, who is Irish, sharing a laugh and sitting side-by-side. The pair of friends seem to be sitting in an old, stone stairway. It's unclear who took the photo — was it fellow Irish actor Andrew Scott?
Edebiri captioned the photo, “Happy St Paddy's,” in honour of the Irish holiday.
Of course, fans were sold on the idea that a Paul Mescal and Ayo Edebiri rom-com should be made immediately. Multiple tweets nearly begged for it to happen: “the paul mescal and ayo edebiri romcom is imminent,” one fan page wrote. Others made jokes about Edebiri's ongoing bit that she's Irish: “THEY SAY HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS… BUT GOD I LOVE THE IRISH.”
It's unclear if the pair are actually going to make a rom-com together, though here's hoping. Either way, Ayo Edebiri's longstanding relationship with the Irish has gone so far that she's gotten support from many citizens of Ireland and has thanked them in her award speeches. While hosting Saturday Nigth Live last month, Ayo seemingly leaned into her not-real Irish heritage by wearing a t-shirt with a four-leaf clover on it.
The bit emerged during a red-carpet interview from last March while promoting her movie Bottoms. Speaking with Letterboxd at the time, Ayo joked that she starred in the Oscar-nominated film, The Banshees of Inisherin, playing Jenny the donkey. In the quick interview, Ayo goes fully into her (very impressive) Irish accent as she riffs about preparing for the role.
“I lived in Ireland for about four months and I got really in character,” Ayo said. “And I was on all fours for four months and it was really painful but beautiful as well. And it was probably the most fulfilling part of my career.”
She continued: “I'm so happy for everybody going to the Oscars, even though I deserved the nomination more than anybody else because I was, obviously, a donkey for four months.”
Since then, Ayo's relationship to the Irish has only grown stronger. And a movie with Paul Mescal might be the next logical step.
This feature originally appeared on Teen Vogue.
