An Irishman Abroad

This week, award-winning writer Kevin Barry joined Jarlath for a fascinating conversation about writing and the mystery of the creative process.

 

Kevin speaks about the deal fiction writers make with their subconscious mind, the importance of embracing failure, trusting the gut and reveals the book he regards as his "awkward child".

 

This chat is full of the classic Irish observations you’d expect from Kevin and few strange revelations such as his early attempts to write after returning home from a heavy night out to his admission that he couldn’t ride a bike until he was 15. This conversation is the perfect antidote to the bleakness we have all gotten used to this past month. Irishman Abroad brings you more light next Friday with Harry Hill joining our online comedy show in aid of frontline workers. Go to www.returnofthecraic.com to reserve your stream and see the rest of the stellar lineup.

 

To hear every episode in full and to gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad

 

Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.

 

For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected].

 

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

Marion leads us through the opening days of the Derek Chauvin trial and it’s deeper impact on the American psyche. Police brutality and deaths in custody will come into sharp focus over the coming weeks. Marion eyes another scandal building on the horizon as Congressman Matt Gaetz, one of Trumps biggest far right cheerleaders, is under investigation for sex trafficking. A long time rumour around Washington media circles, there are significant implications in the weeks to come. Jarlath asks if Biden’s plan to fuel his infrastructure bill by taxing American companies abroad will affect his romance with Ireland. We finish this episode with a documentary recommendation and review of one of the most talked about scandals in the history of modern America. Allen vs Farrow from HBO is now playing on Sky Documentaries. Jarlath and Marion examine the four episodes and the grotesque manner in which Hollywood enabled Allen and silenced his victim. Finally Jarlath looks ahead to Sunday’s episode with the brilliant Irish author Kevin Barry. 

 

If you have a question for Marion please send it through to [email protected] and Jarlath will do his best to include it in the next episode.

 

Supplementary research provided by John Meagher.

 

To hear this episode in full each week and to gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad.

 

Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.

 

For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected].

 

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

Niggly pains and aches are among the hardest aspects of running at any level. The intuition and detective work needed to decipher whether a nagging pain is just a passing change taking place in your body, a part of the normal discomfort of pushing yourself or something that if left unchecked will develop into something way more serious - can be immense. Whether you suffer with tender shins, heals, toes, arches or hips, tight achilles or glutes, Irish athletics legend, Sonia O’Sullivan is here to help with the detective work you need to do. Together with Jarlath she tries to provide some simple no nonsense solutions and guides to help with whatever ails you. There’s also a preview of this week’s Elevation event, our listener of the week, the conclusion of Shoe Dog and a discussion of whether a sliotar is a ball or not. Get more by joining the podcast’s running club on Strava. https://www.strava.com/clubs/irishmanrunningabroad

 

Join our running event on strava.com/clubs/irishmanrunningabroad and help raise vitally needed funds for our chosen charity partner jigsaw.ie and all the work they do to support young people in Ireland.  

 

To gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad.

 

Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected].

 

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

Our special Organ Donation Awareness Week episode brings together three very different stories from three very different individuals who have had their lives changed by this modern medical miracle. RTE courts reporter and Irish Kidney Association ambassador Vivienne Traynor donated a kidney to her nephew in 2009 but that’s only the beginning of her story. Lucy Davis received a kidney from her mother in 1997 and until now has not spoken about the experience in great depth. She explains to Jarlath why she has taken the decision to speak out and the grotesque press treatment she received following the donation. James Nolan has helped to raise almost 2 million euro for kidney research projects and has represented Ireland at the World Transplant Games. He was one of the first recipients of a kidney from a live donor in the history of the Irish state and has been instrumental in Jarlath’s own transplant journey.

 

To hear every episode in full and to gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad

 

Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.

 

For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected].

 

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

Before delving into the Iran-Contra Scandal Marion takes a look at an event first news conference for President Biden. His vaccination successes may distract from a few other inevitable failures that lie ahead.

 

The deep dive into a sprawling affair such as Iran-Contra was always going to be complicated but Marion expertly sifts through the details that make this scandal so overwhelming. The characters and the deceit, the hearings that followed and why Reagan was never implicated, Marion leaves no stone unturned. How did a Republican President intent on fighting communism end up funding the drug cartels his wife was desperate to beat? Listen to this episode to find out. There’s also news on this Sunday’s organ donation awareness episode.

 

If you have a question for Marion please send it through to [email protected] and Jarlath will do his best to include it in the next episode.

 

Supplementary research provided by John Meagher.

 

To hear this episode in full each week and to gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad.

 

Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.

 

For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected].

 

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

You’ve probably heard of Kobe’s “Mamba Mentality” of work ethic and perfectionism. This week Irish athletics legend who is also know by just one name, takes us inside the “Sonia Mentality” for running. Whether you’re struggling to get out the door or break 20 minutes for 5K, Sonia O’Sullivan’s tips on the right headspace or mental approach to running and life will help you. With an honesty you rarely hear, Sonia explains her own mental struggles during and after her career. She gives Jarlath a few tips to help him reset after last week’s ferocious training load and together they assess “Shoe Dog” our book of the month. There’s also a breakdown of last Wednesday’s event and the winner of our “Biggest Eejit” fancy dress competition.”

 

Join our running event on strava.com/clubs/irishmanrunningabroad and help raise vitally needed funds for our chosen charity partner jigsaw.ie and all the work they do to support young people in Ireland.  

 

To gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad.

 

Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected].

 

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

Patrick Kielty sits down with Jarlath to talk about the long and winding road from rural Northern Ireland to London and L.A. and back again. Recorded the day after Piers Morgan stepped down from his television duties, Jarlath starts by asking Paddy about the first time he realised he was tabloid fodder and the poet of modern media. With standup firmly on his mind, Jarlath digs into how laughter solved some of the pain from the trauma he suffered in his teens. We hear how the Empire Comedy Club came to be and why it took off the way it did. In 2018 Patrick produced a stunning piece of documentary for the BBC about the death of his father and the peace deal that followed. Together they look at some of the finer points of the situation Northern Ireland finds itself in now and whether there might be a way out. 

 

To hear every episode in full and to gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad

 

Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.

 

For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected].

 

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

In our new “American Scandals” series Marion McKeown takes us into perhaps the most peculiar corner of the east coast; Palm Beach. A tiny strip of land that is home to some of the country’s most obscenely wealthy individuals and grotesque scandals. Marion traces the seedy past of Palm Beach from the original deceit upon which it is built, to the most recent Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking ring. Jarlath asks why the authorities enabled his behaviour even after a guilty plea. In this deep dive into the underbelly of wealth and influence we get a rare insight into why this specific area seemed to attract and facilitate the likes of Madoff, Maxwell and Trump. Finally Marion turns her focus to the victims of the most recent Atlanta shootings and whether President Biden has any chance of changing the gun laws during his time in office. 

 

If you have a question for Marion please send it through to [email protected] and Jarlath will do his best to include it in the next episode.

 

Supplementary research provided by John Meagher.

 

To hear this episode in full each week and to gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad.

 

Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.

 

For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected].

 

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

Sonia and Jarlath discuss a subject that is long overdue on this podcast and in society in general. Jarlath asks Sonia about fear that comes with running for women and what men can do to help make the running experience less threatening. The Irish Olympic legend opens up about her own fears and the intimidation that even world class athletes feel on their runs. Together they try to find at least one charge we can all make today to immediately change the current situation. There’s also a review this weekends event for Jigsaw.ie and look forward to our St Patrick’s Day 5K.

 

Join our running event on strava.com/clubs/irishmanrunningabroad and help raise vitally needed funds for our chosen charity partner jigsaw.ie and all the work they do to support young people in Ireland.  

 

To gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad.

 

Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected].

 

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

Colin O’Donoghue had his light bulb moment in Drogheda when he got roped into performing youth theatre. Today he confides in Jarlath that the craving for more work, more projects, more challenges has never changed since. The star of such global hits as Once Upon A Time, The Rite and The Right Stuff, Colin speaks for the first time about how close he came to quitting the business completely. Jarlath gets into what kept him going through these difficult times and the projects that would soon follow including one with the legend Dolly Parton. Together Colin and Jarlath examine his most challenging ties to date for Disney. There’s even the startling account of the time Colin witnessed an exorcism and the brilliant moment he realised that Sir Anthony Hopkins was actually really sound. Jar also makes a big announcement about how standup special Notions Eleven. 

 

To hear every episode in full and to gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 400 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad

 

Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation.

 

For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected].

 

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.