You know that thing you hate where you go home at Christmas and meet someone from your old school? Well that’s not so bad when the guy from your school just happens to be one of the funniest people working in comedy today as joining Andy for a Christmas pint is comedian and fellow Arklow Christian Brothers alumni Peter McGann. 

You’ll know Peter from his incredible videos such as Filter Dad, Woody at a House Party and the dawn chorus of a Stephen’s Day “I’d say there’s a few sore heads this morning!”. No one can capture the absolute hilarity of a grim situation like Peter. 

Peter chats to Andy about the roles of Zig, Zag and Alan Partridge played in making him the comic he is today, battling imposter syndrome and the importance of your own voice when creating work. 

Plus as both Peter and Andy went to the same school there is an awful of CBS based chat including the fear of hearing “so what are you at?” And Peter’s long search for a nickname. 

Also Andy throw’s a very loosely themed Christmas tape test at Peter as tis’ the season. 

So enjoy this episode and also from all at Be Grand towers, have a wonderful and happy Christmas. 

This week’s guest on Be Grand is the author and journalist Roisin Kiberd. Roisin is the author of the incredible book The Disconnect : A Personal Journey Through The Internet which is a wonderfully honest, funny and brave book dealing with mental health, dating, energy drinks and of course, the internet. 

Roisin joins Andy to chat about The Disconnect including how putting a spotlight on your problems can allow you to move on, struggles with sleep and how no matter how bad things get there is always hope. 

Plus Roisin chats jam, how being curious lead to a love of horror movies and joins Andy is a trip down memory to discuss his favourite topic..Antics Indie Nightclub. 

Also this being Be Grand means Roisin chats all things school including the amazing true fact about her Junior Cert, fitting in at Cambridge and being the badass that she is Roisin takes on the latin leaving cert paper. 

JJ72 Sunt Refrigerant…that’s latin for “JJ72 are cool” apparently 

Joining Andy on this episode is the mighty Andrea Cleary.

Andrea is a journalist, broadcaster and podcaster who will know from her incredible music reviews, articles and brilliant podcast My Favorite Album.

Andrea chats to Andy about how it took a few self reboots, indie music and The OC to find her true identity. 

Plus Andy and Andrea bond over never feeling like school was for them. 

All this plus Andrea chats all things music including her tips to find new music and she takes on the dreaded tape test.

Joining Andy on Be Grand this week is one of the most influential (and soundest) podcasters in the business, Cassie Delaney,. You’ll know Cassie from hosting amazing podcasts like Before Brunch, The Creep Dive as well as being the founder of the TaleTales Podcast Network.

Cassie chats to Andy about the incredibly unusual job she wanted as a child before she turned her attention to a career creating art until college life and terrible taxis changed her mind - for a while. 

Cassie also talks about her incredibly ambitious and brilliant to change how content is monetised in Ireland with her new venture -  Outcaster.

All this and of course all the usual Be Grand Leaving Cert messing including a trip down Gothic Architecture  memory lane and an incredibly lovely answer about friendship in the traditional English Paper Essay Round.

Follow Cassie on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CassieLorraine 

And find out all about Outcaster at https://outcaster.io/

The nights are getting a little bit darker so it seems only fitting to start talking all things that go bump in the night so who better to do that than a modern master of Horror so joining Andy this week on Be Grand is writer, producer and director Jed Shepherd. 

Jed was the producer and writer of the found footage surprise smash hit of lockdown “Host” as well as this year’s insanely good fun “Dashcam”. Jed chats to Andy (and puts up with Andy’s fan boy-ing) about how this ghostly Zoom tale came to be and how it felt to have taken the horror world by force. 

Jed also chats about how his culture and school days played an important role in instilling a love of horror as if he wasn’t being told stories of creatures by his mother he would most likely be found reading ghost stories in the school library. 

Also Jed talks about his ambitious and important plans in other to change the very business of horror in England in the hope of more a accessible entry point to aspiring young horror film makers. 

All this plus…the dreaded Tape Test returns…

Joining Andy on this edition of Be Grand is author and podcaster Sophie White. Sophie is the author of incredible books such as The Snag List and the honest, brilliant and funny Corpsing: My Body and Other Horror Stories. 

Sophie joins Andy to chat how a Bi Polar Incident in her early twenties derailed her plan for life which saw her leave her artistic ambitions and among other things end up as a chef in New Zealand. Sophie also talks about her journey to becoming a writer, what makes a perfect story and the advice she would give to anyone wanting to take a chance. 

Andy and Sophie also chat about their shared battles with alcoholism and of course answer some leaving cert questions including the mighty - tell me about the Spire in Dublin there. 

Sophie’s new book Where I End is released in October. 

Norwegian pop icons A-ha once said “The Sun Always Shines on TV” and who better to investigate this claim than a man who knows more about TV than anyone you’re likely to meet - Boyd Hilton. 

Boyd is the TV editor for Heat magazine and one of the hosts of the mighty Pilot TV Podcast so if Boyd recommends a show to you, chances are it’s probably great. Boyd has been championing great TV since the foundation of Heat Magazine and chats to Andy about standing up for Queer as Folk, Lost beaches and getting actually lost in the woods for the OA. 

Also Boyd talks his extremely different school play, breaking into writing and then tells, very possibly..the most rock and roll story ever in Be Grand. 

So enjoy this episode of Be Grand featuring the mighty Boyd Hilton. 

After more than a year away it’s finally time to go back to school as Be Grand returns and lads, do we have an absolute banger to come back with it.

Joining Andy on the first episode of season four is Darragh Ennis who is also known to many as The Menace on the greatest quiz show on TV, The Chase. 

Darragh chats about his unusual path to becoming a chaser which famously started with him appearing as a contestant before a Twitter storm erupted over his then teammates. Plus Darragh takes us behind the scenes of the show including the aspect of the show he hates most…

Also Darragh and Andy chat their shared experience of feeling lost in school and not really caring about what happens next and how like the best things in life, a little bit of luck is needed to find your path.

Plus the leaving cert quiz which …emmm, Darragh does very well in obviously.

On this very special episode of Be Grand, it’s time to go way back.  Back to a wild, strange and alien time and place that we call the year 2005.  A time of NME, floppy fringes, skinny jeans, retro stylings, eyeliner and something called indie.  Oh, and the small matter of a groundbreaking, life-affirming club night that brought indie music to Dublin in a way that just hadn’t been witnessed before and made the place feel like the centre of a musical universe.  This is the story of Antics.

Hitting the much-missed Harcourt Street venue of Crawdaddy in November 2005 like a meteorite that had first crashed through a Top Shop warehouse and a guitar factory, Antics was the brainchild of three friends named Craig Harper, John Goucher and Dave Parle.  Tired of the stale scene surrounding them and with nowhere that played the kind of music they or their mates were into, the DJs took their growing love of the indie rock boom of the early 21st Century and gave it a home in the heart of the city; a home that Andy would soon call his own, like Roger in Sister Sister.

Craig joins Andy to talk about Antics’ incredible legacy and the special place it holds in the hearts of anyone who attended.  From the early days of half-empty dance floors to the soaring heights that saw the likes of James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem behind the decks, Craig gives us a firsthand account of what it was like to pour your heart into something and have it succeed.  Also joining Andy to talk style, tunes and VK Ice is his beloved Antics crew of Colm O’Brien, Tony McDermott, Niamh Farrell, Cat Bradley and Meg Dunne.  Plus there’s a brilliant contribution from ace journalist Andrea Cleary, who charts the rise and fall of the indie scene from 2005 to the strange half-life it now inhabits.

An epic episode of Be Grand that we loved making, this celebrated a wee Wednesday night in happier times when fashions changed, songs were sung and lifelong friendships were forged.

Don’t forget to review and subscribe!  Stay safe and enjoy!

TW: This episode features discussions of abuse.

Joining Andy this week on Be Grand is Dalal Alshohaib, whose story of escaping a forced marriage is both a harrowing and inspiring tale, which took Dalal from Saudi Arabia to the States, before finding a happy ending in Ireland. 

After growing up in Saudi Arabia, Dalal’s life changed completely when at the age of eight her family moved to the United States. Here Dalal fell in love with the culture and enjoyed incredibly happy schooldays. However a move back Saudi Arabia saw Dalal struggle with an oppressive culture she was no longer used to. This was followed by an increasingly abusive situation at home and at the age of 18, she was given the news that she would be forced to marry a man she had never met. 

 

 Dalal chats to Andy about the dark times that followed, as this marriage obliterated all feelings of hope as she felt she life was no longer her own, and the measures she took in order to survive. 

 

 The story does however have a happy ending as Dalal eventually escaped this marriage, and fled the country to start a new life in Ireland with a man she truly loved. Dalal talks to Andy about how even now she will never take for granted the simple joy of sitting on the sofa, watching tv, with someone you truly feel safe with. 

Dalal’s story is a truly astonishing one and she hopes it is proof to people in similar situations that there is hope, no matter how dark things can be.