BOLD with Joe McGucken

Hello everybody! Thank you so much for listening and supporting the BOLD podcast for it's short life. It's given me an opportunity, to develop it into a brand new RTE podcast called RAMBLE. 

I'm Joe McGucken and on this weeks episode of the BOLD podcast My dog Fred done a runner and went missing, and somehow that got me thinking about old Nokia ringtone, and sending cartoon porn to friends through infrared.

What's up! I'm Joe McGucken, and this week on the BOLD podcast, you're lucky I'm even here. I was violently knocked off my electric scooter by a car and somehow survived to tell the tale. As if my week wasn't bad enough after being attacked by a rabid bat in a Galway pub. My self defense involved a lot of screaming.

What was I doing in Galway? Well, somehow I got roped into a football panel discussion for Off The Ball, where I presented myself as a Shelbourne expert.

All that, and more sh*te talk, on this week's BOLD podcast!

Someone in Cork just scored a ridiculous EuroMillions jackpot this week. €250 Million! And while everyone's celebrating them (and the shop that sold the ticket!), I'm here to tell you that sometimes that kind of luck can be a curse.

I'll take a look at why winning big might just be the most unluckiest thing that can happen. And what even is luck anyway?

Happy Father's Day! Or Da's Day, because I'm not a priest.

We'll also take a look at some weird Hollywood das (looking at you, Eddie Murphy) and even weirder ones in nature like the seahorse aulfellas giving birth. Respect.

This week on the BOLD podcast, I talk to Pat and Breda Curran. Their home was petrol-bombed in a case of mistaken identity, destroying everything and tragically taking the life of their dog. It's a truly horrific story. But thankfully they were fortunate enough to escape with their son.

We reflect on Pat's art, which has been a source of healing for him in the past, often showing scenes from old Dublin and his time growing up in the flats.

You'll also hear from musician Gemma Dunleavy, who explains why Pat's art is so important to her and to the city's history and culture.

This week on BOLD, I head to Corinthians Boxing Club, an institution of the Inner City. I chat with head trainer Kevin Corcoran about the club’s 100-year history, my connection with it as a young person, and how a place charging €2 a session produced Olympic champions like Kellie Harrington.

We also talk about why the HSE is failing families with autistic kids, and how a boxing clubs like this can become a lifeline for families in the inner city.

New episodes every week – rate, review, and leave a comment. Cheers!

I'm Joe, this is BOLD. This week I planned a romantic birthday for Máire. Not a spa day or a European day-trip. Instead, she drags me to the Dublin Criminal Courts of Justice to spectate the high profile Richard Satchwell murder trial. It wasa terrible experience: frazzled barristers, no transcripts, and the judge baffled with the prosecution. I’m paranoid the jury’ll recognize me and I'll cause a mistrial.

Then, we slog through dull tours at Collins Barracks and Kilmainham Jail acting the tourist again. Dinner at FX Buckley’s is an expensive dissapointment. Overdone steak, prawns with the head on, And Oysters that tasted like... Oysters. I spar with the waiter, skip the tip. But we salvage the night at the Stag’s Head with Guinness and a ukulele jam... until the Americans showed up.

The Pope is dead. Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, the Jesuit reformer, the guy who blessed gay couples and pissed off conservatives, dropped dead on Easter Monday.

So what happens now? This episode digs into the aftermath: the secretive conclave to elect his successor (where the frontrunner is an Italian bureaucrat named Pietro Parolin with tasty betting odds), the Vatican’s long history of financial scandals (ever heard of "God’s Banker" hanging under a bridge with rocks in his pockets?)

Also, I’m back from Washington DC, where I finished my play, nearly got Ollie arrested for vomiting in the White House, and learned that Capitol security considers sunscreen a threat to their national security.

This week I got you good. You thought I was getting deported. Well imagine how I felt when Maire got me with that same April Fools prank. She had me packing my bags convinced ICE were after me. 

I have an interesting conspiracy theory about cherry blossom trees, the existential dread of performing Beckett to miserable crowds, and why “Industry Night” sounds like hell. I also return to Crank Corner to top up my phone, only to find out the shop has turned the Corner Crankier.