Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing a belter of a podcast with Irish stand-up comedian and author, Caimh McDonnell.

This is a long one as tends to happen when you get two Irish lads on the phone together, clocking it at nearly an hour.

I had a great time talking to Caimh, his stand-up is fantastic, he’s got a great talents for telling hilarious stories and being spontaneous with the crowd as well.

We spoke about how his show has changed over the years, how he has honed his comedic talents while writing for other comedians and performers thanks to his time writing for a multitude of British TV panel shows. We also chatted about his first book “A Man with One of Those Faces” and how it came about. We spoke about his recent Edinburgh Show “Bride and Prejudice” and his experiences with racism.

Rugby gets a mention, Caimh is the stadium announcer for London Irish, as does football, former Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni gets a mention when Caimh  asked him what happened when Nigeria scored a goal against Ireland.

We also spoke about the podcast he puts out with British stand-up comedian Gary Delaney called Panel Beaters, a panel show where the loser dies at the end.

We spoke too about Pet Squad…..Dodge the beagle, Sheeba the tabby cat and Bingo the guinea pig  – three domestic pets who lead a thrilling double life as unlikely superheroes….a CBBC cartoon Caimh wrote many moons ago.

As I said, this interview is a long one but it was fascinating to speak to someone who is still totally in love with comedy and who is a successful stand-up, comedy writer and author.

Caimh’s website: here

Caimh’s Facebook: here

Caimh’s Twitter: here

Panelbeaters’ website: here

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Welcome back to another episode of The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Welsh stand-up comedian Robin Morgan.

I had a really insightful chat with Robin about comedy. Robin writes for the BBC Radio 4’s The New Quiz, among others, so it was great to talk to him about the transition of going from writing his own material for his own shows to writing material both with other comedians and for them.

We had a chat about Welsh comedy, moving up to London. Comedy advice from his parents, how he works on his stand-up routine and his flirtation with the Welsh Death Metal scene.

Robin’s Website: here

Robin’s Facebook: here

Robin’s Twitter: here

Robin’s Instagram: here

Robin’s YouTube: here

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Welcome back to The Comedy Cast. Today from John Scott and it’s an absolute belter of an interview.

A proud Scot, John’s a massively talented comedian, mixing the big issues of the day with the normal banality of life all the while ensuring that there’s a solid and warm connection with his audience.

The interview was recorded the morning after Donald Trump won the Presidential election in America so, of course, that popped up.

We also spoke about Brexit and the Scottish Independence Referendum and how it’s all just a bit mental.

We chatted about being a Scot living in Northern England and being lectures to about Scottish Independence by the locals.

We nattered about John going back to college to pursue a career in writing. We had a right talk about using comedy as a default defense mechanism and where that comes from and why so many people us it.

We also spoke about his influences growing up, dying on his arse on stage for the first time, his undying punk ethics when it comes to both his profession and his outlook on like and finally we speak about how he works on perfecting his act.

John’s website/blog: here

John’s Facebook: here

John’s Twitter: here

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Welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from British stand-up comedian Meryl O’Rourke.

Meryl has been doing stand-up for about ten years now and has found a loyal following on the scene thanks to her particular style of humour and frank delivery. It would be unfair to call her ‘one of the lads’ but she’d make all your male friends blush with her anecdotes and two seconds later have them howling with laughter.

We spoke about her love of comedy, how it was passed onto her by her mother (bringing her to see Morecambe & Wise at the age of 5) and her love of comedy writing too. Comedy wasn’t the only thing she inherited from her mother; indeed a few years ago she won over many an audience and critic with her successful show “Bad Mother.” A show that dealt hilariously with the anxiety she’d inherited and how she came to terms with it when she started her own family.

Meryl’s Facebook: here

Meryl’s Twitter: here

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Welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Hull-based British comedian Gina Jenkinson. When I first saw Gina’s stand-up show I was sure she was going to eat me alive on the show; she’s known for being controversial and a bit aggressive on stage, but all fears were quickly washed away.

Gina was incredibly lovely to speak to and she quickly opened up about her childhood. In 2015 she made headlines with her Edinburgh Fringe show “Desperately Seeking Attention” a show about how she dealt with her tumultuous upbringing. While researching I read it had been quite bad but what she revealed in the interview was quite shocking.

Thankfully Gina has a common trait among comedian; the insatiable will to succeed. She hasn’t let her past dominate her and when parenthood and marriage didn’t quite deliver the satisfaction she thought it would she set herself the goal of becoming a stand-up comedian. To be so open and honest on stage with material that’s pretty horrific at times and to make fun of it and to get other people to laugh both at and along with it takes a huge amount of talent and skill.

We also talk about Gina’s love of sketch, her comedic influences and inspirations growing up and we close the podcast with her hilarious song “Children of Africa/It’s My Birthday”.

Gina’s Website: here

Gina’s Facebook: here

Gina’s Twitter: here

Gina’s Youtube: here

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Welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Irish stand-up comedian Danny O’Brien.

Danny’s not all that long on the comedy scene but he’s certainly rising up through the ranks and gaining new fans quickly.

We had a chat about why he got into comedy, how and why it happened; after returning to Ireland from Australia he was determined to follow his dream.

We spoke too about his part in The Comedy Crunch, one of Dublin’s most talked about stand-up comedy shows, held on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights in The Stag’s Head. How his involvement came about and how it keeps going from strength to strength.

We also had a chat about who his comedic influences were growing up and how he he works on his sets for different audiences where he gigs.

And it wouldn’t be right for two Irish lads to chat and not natter about oral sex.

I think Danny is someone we should all be looking out for, he tours like a maniac, when he’s not at The Comedy Crunch he’s either across the water someone in Britain winning over crowds or further afield in America or Australia, you get what you deserve in this life and Danny’s certainly putting the work in to make him one of Ireland’s best. You’ll be seeing a lot of him in the future I feel.

The Comedy Crunch Facebook Page: here

Danny’s Facebook: here

Danny’s Instagram: here

Danny’s Twitter: here

Danny’s Snapchat: @dobriencomedy

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Welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today we have a very special Comedy Cast interview  with Graeme Watson.

A few weeks ago while researching potential guests I came across a Facebook post about a stand-up comedy course being held in Belfast; and with Belfast being such a hotbed of comedic activity in recent years I had to find out more.

Graeme Watson runs the course and just by sheer luck on my part it turned out that Graeme is one of the guiding hands behind Belfast and Northern Irish comedy, for shame I hadn’t heard of him before, but in my defense, I’m still new at this comedy game.

Graeme performs stand-up still but his main focus is in running comedy clubs and gigs, being one of the organisers of the Belfast Comedy Festival, running an annual stand-up comedy course and generally being an all-round good guy to comedians in Northern Ireland.

We had so many things to talk about as you’ll hear but of course we spoke about what attracted him to stand-up comedy in the first place and the process that led to him taking the bull by the horns and starting his own comedy nights.

We spoke about the annual stand-up comedy course he runs in Belfast and we both gushed over how Belfast seems to be having a Seattle grunge-like explosion in stand-up comedians and comedy writers.

I loved talking to Graeme, I think in the future we can definitely talk again and I was over the moon to hear him talk so passionately about the thriving Belfast comedy scene and just his love for comedy and for helping comedians.

Graeme’s Facebook: here

Graeme’s Twitter: here

The Infinite Jest Facebook: here

Cathedral Quarter Comedy Club Facebook: here

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Welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today we have a very special guest, Ben MacLean, a Canadian stand-up comedian making a career for himself in Germany’s capital city, Berlin.

Ben MacLean was bitten by the comedy bug a while ago and even though he didn’t delve in immediately, choosing to take his time and perfect his jokes before gigging more.

It was really interesting to speak to Ben about the exploding stand-up comedy scene in Berlin; I’d heard stories that it was going through something or a boom and I’d be very skeptical to say the least so it was great that Ben was able to give a great picture of what’s really going on and I was put in my place.

We spoke about Ben’s influence, why he got into comedy, what the future hold and at the end; our True/False Challenge.

Ben’s Facebook: here

Ben’s Twitter: here

Ben’s Instagram: here

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Hello and welcome once again to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing an from Northern Ireland, Paddy McDonnell.

Paddy’s been on the stand-up scene for a few years now and if you’re familiar with the burgeoning Belfast stand-up comedy scene you’ll certainly know the name, if not the face.

So, of course we had a chat about why Belfast is going through something of a comedy boom at the moment, what is it about the city that has delivered a generation of extremely funny men and women.

Being from Belfast I had to ask what was is like growing up in West Belfast during the 1980s and living on a daily basis with The Troubles. I grew up directly south of Belfast in the 80s and 90s in Wexford, around 300km away, and while it was the same island it was a completely different world back then.

Of course we spoke about his style of comedy; and in particular I was inrerested to know how he works on and perfects his act. We spoke too about his ambitions for the comedy world and what the future hopefully holds.

Finally then, we spoke about how he got the nickname Dagger and to finish off we have our usual True/False Challenge.

Paddy’s website: here

Paddy’s Facebook: here

Paddy’s Twitter: here

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Welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’re going to be hearing from Erich McElroy, an American stand-up comedian who is making a name for himself in the UK.

Erich McElroy dabbled in stand-up and sketch comedy before moving to the UK 16 years ago and when he arrived fancied his chances on the up-swinging UK stand-up comedy scene. Fast forward a few years and Erich is a much in-demand political satirist, his special subject is or course American politics but he’s not afraid of confrontation; he was the only comedian at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016 who opposed Scottish Independence (a brave man in my honest opinion).

We had a great chat about the state of American politics, of course Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton made an appearance too and then we had a natter about comedy; why he got into it; his influence and heroes and of course at the end our True False Challenge.

Erich’s Website: here

Erich’s Twitter: here

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