Atletico Spudland

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Irish stand-up comedian, Damien Kiely. We kick off the interview with Damien telling me about his bittersweet weekend, a communion for one of his kids and a cat funeral. We speak about where Damien is from, what he calls the Harlem of Dublin. We talk about what’s been happening in Ireland that’s been making headlines recently but we end up speaking about burying animals in the backyard and Scientology. Stephen Fry gets an honourable mention as well. We chat about how and why Damien got into comedy and he tells me about how hitting the big 4-0 was a real turning point for him in his life. Damien speak about his first ever gig in the Ha’penny Inn at the Battle of the Axe, and about how a couple of Dutch tourists were nice enough to laugh along even though they’d no idea what was going on. We speak about the Dublin comedy scene, its community spirit and how encouraging it is for new comedians. Damien speaks openly about therapy in his act so I asked hm about his own experiences with going to therapy following his battle with substance abuse. Damien Kiely’s Twitter: here Damien’s Facebook: here Damien’s YouTube: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from American stand-up comedian, Liam Breunle. I came across Liam a few weeks ago on Instagram and when I read his bio I knew I had to get him on the show. Here it is: “Former accounts receivable for the Italian Mafia, Felon, ex-WWF wrestler, Biker…Comedian, What the hell…right?” Now if that doesn’t grab you as interesting then we’re very, very different. We speak about Liam’s past, how he was a successful wrestler, how that led to him working for the Italian mafia, after a brief stint in prison. We speak about how he was framed for murder by cops and ended up in prison again, this time for more than 4 years and how it nearly killed him. Liam talks about the trauma he went through as a child, being adopted and victim of child abuse. We speak too about him suffering from PTSD thanks to his times in prison. We chat then about how Liam got into comedy, how he’s always been an avid reader and a sponge for learning. We speak about his time with the WWF and we speak too about what American prisons are really like and if how they’re depicted on TV is anything like the reality. We talk about Liam’s comedy and how he uses his appearance and image to really mess with the audience. Don’t forget to check out the YouTube channel and you can watch both of us speaking. Liam Breunle’s Facebook: here Liam’s Instagram: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from English stand-up comedian, Travis Jay. We kick off the interview and we speak about Travis’ heritage and some of the stories his immigrant grandparents told him about coming to Britain from The Caribbean. We speak too about the silent Tory supporters and how social media is a terrible indicator for what’s happening in the real world. We speak about growing up in a house of comedy. Travis’ mother is none other than Angie Le Mar, so we speak about being the son of a successful comedian and about the moment when he realised that she wasn’t just a mother to him but was in fact, a successful comedian. The conversation then turns to us speaking about what kind of pressures that brought on Travis when he started comedy, both internally and externally. Travis almost became a professional basketball player before he got into comedy, so we speak about that for a bit. Travis also reveals that while in college he wrote a lot of poetry and kind of stumbled into comedy. We talk then for a bit about how comedians are always chasing the high in stand-up comedy, how you’re always trying to get that perfect night when everything is funny and the crowd adores you. We chat about Travis’ first gig, where it was, some of the jokes he remembered and how it went. Earlier this year Travis took part in a charity boxing match, so we really get into this, what it involved, the training, who the charity was, why he wanted to box and most importantly the actual match. I’m won’t bullshit you folks it was pretty amazing. I’ll add the YouTube footage below and you can see the Rocky parallels for yourselves. I was blown away when I saw it first and it was so cool to speak to Travis about it. Travis Jay’s YouTube channel: here Travis’ Twitter: here Travis’ Instagram: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from American Stand-up Comedian, Chris Barnes. We kick off the interview and speak about where Chris is from, Long Island. He’s our second Long Islander is less than a month, which is pretty mad. We speak about what Chris did in college and how it helps him with his role at Stand Up NY, one of New York’s longest running comedy clubs. We talk about how and why Chris got into comedy and how he started it all off at the tender age of 17. That lead us on to discuss how even though he was too young to be served a beer in the clubs he was gigging in that the other comics were really supportive of such a young person getting into stand-up. We chat then about gigging in some legendary comedy clubs in New York and just how surreal it must be to thread the same stage as your comic heroes. We speak some more about Stand UP NY then, Chris’ role in the club and how he became involved with them. We get nerdy then on Chris’ writing process and Chris walks me through how he works on his jokes, trying to constantly improve on them and how many times he’ll give a joke before binning it if it’s not getting the laughs he wants. Chris falls into that dreaded label of being a ‘millennial’ and we have a natter about that and how it seems that they get blamed for just about everything even though it’s not their fault that the older generations have fucked things up so royally for them. Chris Barnes’ Twitter: here Chris’ YouTube: here Chris’ Instagram: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Irish Comedian, Steve Bennett. Steve is Irish comedian of the year so we kick off the podcast by speaking about a tour he’d just completed in Australia on the back of that achievement. Steve hails from Laois in Ireland, so we speak about growing up there for a bit. Take the train through it though, don’t bother stopping he says. Before getting into comedy Steve was a teacher, so we speak about that and how he got to live in France for a while thanks to it. While there he documented his life with a very funny web series called Hey France on his YouTube channel. We speak about how and why Steve got into comedy, and popping two cherries on the night of his first gig. We speak more about being Irish comedian of the year, the competition. What doors have been opened for him and if he feels any pressure thanks to the award. We speak about how Steve uses music in his act and we get talking about music comedy albums. And we even get a new tune. Steve Bennett’s website: here Steve’s Facebook: here Steve’s Twitter: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Australian stand-up comedian, Wayne Carter. We kick off the interview speaking about the glamour of stand-up comedy, baked beans for dinner and spring cleaning. Wayne comes form a small rural area ins Australia, so we speak growing up there and about how it was the kind of place that had ‘one of everybody’. Wayne’s family ancestry is Scottish-Jewish. Yes, we joke about it. Wayne regales me with a romantic tale of passion when he first visited Dublin’s fair city. We speak about how and why he got into comedy and what he remembers of his first gig. Wayne wears fetching dressing during his set, but Wayne tells me that straight audience think it’s weird, gay audiences think it’s not outlandish enough. We speak about Wayne’s variety show; Gay Shit, coz it’s Gay and it’s shit….his words. We speak more about Wayne’s show and how it tries to straddle both the gay and straight world, how it’s both funny and inclusive for both communities and we talk about what he has in store for this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Finally then we speak about Wayne’s comedic influence growing up. Wayne Carter’s Twitter: here Wayne’s Facebook: here Wayne’s Instagram: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here The Comedy Cast on Google+: here  

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from British stand-up comedian Ola. We get straight into things and speak about his YouTube series of videos called Humanise Ola. We speak about his Nigerian heritage and where his name comes from and how holding onto that heritage is important to him. We speak about how and why Ola got into comedy and how he used to love downloading comedy when he first got the internet, even though it wasn’t his most downloaded form of entertainment. We talk about how terrible comedians can be really inspiring. We spoke about how Ola likes to explore new cultures and his need to learn about new places when he visits them with his stand-up show. We touch on the topic of race and how when starting out it was both a help and a hindrance being from a minority community. We speak about a character he used to play Leon Askwith, where the inspiration came from to play an aristocrat with an interest in rap and why more comedians don’t tackle more character roles in their stand-up. We speak about his reluctance towards social media how it’s all me, me, me, but to be a comic you need to be shameless on it. We speak about The Sunday Service a comedy night Ola runs every Sunday at The Top Secret Comedy Club in London. Ola’s Website: here Ola’s Facebook: here Ola’s Twitter: here The Sunday Service at The Top Secret Comedy Club: here   Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here The Comedy Cast on Google+: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from American stand-up comedian Tim Dillon. We begin the interview with Tim educating me about Long Island because I barely know anything about it. We speak about a few of Tim’s old jobs and we discuss how it’s kind of weird that stand-ups are all really crap at sales jobs, where you’d expect lying to be part of the course. We get talking about about how crack houses can be a lot of fun when you’re 13 and how he got into drink and drugs. We have a laugh about the single worst piece of reality TV: Undercover Boss and why it’s such a god-awful piece of shit. We chat then about about comedy reviewers and how many of them don’t really get Tim’s material, calling him a contrarian when in reality he doesn’t take different sides to stir shit, he just wants to explore different angles when questioning something. We speak about the whole idea of punching up in comedy….but he puts me in my place saying ‘punch everywhere man, you ever been in a fight?’ Finally then we speak about Tim very successful podcast Tim Dillon is Going to Hell a podcast you really should be listening to. Tim Dillon’s Website: here Tim’s Twitter: here Tim’s Facebook: here Tim’s Instagram: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here The Comedy Cast on Google+: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Irish stand-up comedian Jonathan Sheehan. We kick off the conversation talking about my recent run in with a South African record producer company, sorry, it was just something I had to get off my chest. Jonathan hails from Tullamore in Co. Offaly so we chat about the 3 things I know about Tullamore, Irish hiphop, whiskey and a former Irish Taoiseach, or Prime Minister, and he fills me in with more local knowledge Jonathan used to run comedy nights in the Irish midlands, exotic places such as Mullingar and Birr, so we spoke about everything involved with putting on comedy in provincial towns in Ireland. We speak about what Jonathan does for a living and how he used to use it for material for his sets. We chat then about how and why Jonathan got into comedy and he speak about a comedy course he took before his first gig. We have a natter then about why so many Irish people emigrate to Australia and how not going, like most of the parish did, worked out better for him. Then we get on to his comedic influences and the comedy he watched on television growing up. We speak then about how he works on his sets and he tells me the greatest Lethal Weapon joke I’ve ever heard. Finally then we get talking about improv comedy then and Jonathan spills the beans and reveals some secrets not known outside the murky world of improv. Jonathan Sheehan’s blog: The Cost of a Bad Gig: here Jonathan’s Twitter: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here The Comedy Cast on Google+: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Scottish stand-up comedian Rosco McClelland. Rosco’s from Scotland but he’d just been touring with some Irish comedians in Australia so we got talking about some of the new Irish slang he’d learned from them. We both then profess our undying and unwavering love for American pop/punk masters Weezer, really I love that band and I won’t have a bad word said against them. It seems to me that Scottish comedy is going through a revival, more successful comedians are coming out of Scotland and there are more and more comedy nights all over the country now so I ask Rosco if can he explain this revival and the purple patch Scottish comedy seems to be going through. Search for Rosco on Youtube and you’ll get a ton of rap battles; so I ask him about hip-hop and we talk about him having been a drummer in a punk band before comedy. We speak about how and why Rosco got into comedy, and he tells a great story of trying out his first joke on none other than Kevin Bridges. This doesn’t come up very often but Rosco has an alter-ego character he sometimes gigs as; Rosco McSkeleton, so we had to chat about that, I wanted to dig into the subject and get to know more about the character and why more comedians don’t try playing roles on stage. Rosco won Scottish Comedy of the Year in 2016, so we speak about the competition and what it’s lead on to since winning. And finally then we chat about Rosco’s comedic influences and the comedy shows he used to watch on tele growing up. Rosco McClelland’s Twitter: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here The Comedy Cast on Google+: here    

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Scottish/Thai stand-up comedian Wis Jantarasorn. We kick off the interview speaking about Gok Wan & Alan Carr, Wis reveals why. Wis is from Leith, just north of Edinburgh so we get talking about that and how the small port town has changed over the years. We get topical then and speak about Theresa May triggering Article 50 for Brexit, being against a second Scottish Independence Referendum, Scotland having zero Conservative party members in the Scottish parliament and just how crazy it must be to live in Scotland at the moment under such conditions. We get onto comedy then and speak about how long Wis has been doing it and how and why he got into it. Wis speaks about how quickly he learnt to read crowd reactions so that he’d know how far he could go with certain topics and jokes. We chat about how Wis’ sets have evolved over the years and how he has the confidence to go back to early material and rewrite it with a new perspective We speak about seeing comedians regularly and how it pushes you to be a better observes and better comedian. And finally then Wis had just announced his plans for this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival so we had to have a natter about that. Wis Jantarasorn’s Twitter: here Wis’ Facebook: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here The Comedy Cast on Google+: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from American stand-up comedian Kristin Key. We start off in unusual fashion, Kristin was doing her US Tax Returns, so I wanted to know more about American taxes and how comedians are taxed there. All I know about the American tax system comes from a certain Simpsons episode. Kristin describes herself as the lovechild of Ellen and Jane Lynch, so we addressed that and get it out of the way. It’s a classic joke comedians use, to address everyone sees and make light of it. Kristin talks about how to deal with the most hurtful type of constructive criticism; that from other comedians. We speak about where Kristin was raised in America, a place with a great name Aurora, a place with a misleading name, Liberal and Amarillo, yes, that Amarillo. We spoke about Kristin’s experiences growing up the daughter of a religious preacher; especially if she had to be nice to all the kids of the losers that helps out at Church. We get chat about ‘clean comedy’ then and Kristin mentions the two schools of thought for comedians starting out, say what you want and go straight to the stop and swear as much as you like, or have separate clean and not clean sets for different audiences We speak about Last Comic Standing, how and why she became involved in the hugely successful NBC reality show about comedians and any behind-the-scenes stuff that she could reveal. Kristin finished 6th in the show so we spoke about the benefits of having appeared on it, more gigs and more interest and how it opened loads of new doors for her. Kristin uses a lot of music in her sets so we got speaking about comedy music albums and she reveals some great news on the subject. In 2013, Kristen was in a bad car crash and led to her taking more risks on stage and being more personal with her sets, so we speak about that. We get talking then about being gay and married in Trump’s America. Finally then we get nerdy on how Kristen works on her sets and what her writing process looks like. Kristin Key’s website: here Kristin’s YouTube: here Kristin’s Facebook: here Kristin’s Twitter: here Krintin’s instagram: here   Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram:

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Irish stand-up comedian Alex Byrne. We kick off the interview in unusual fashion and speak about peanut butter and jam, or jelly, sandwiches, I’d just discovered them and wanted to share their amazement with the world. Alex comes from Lucan in Dublin, so we get the lowdown on the village withing a city’s borders. We speak about Alex being half stand-up comedian, half magician, and not half-Michiganian, coz I’d thought I seen the word Michigan when I should’ve been reading magician and proceeded to make a right tit of myself. We chat then about what attracted Alex to magic in the first place and about what he does for a living. He reveals a great tactic for getting rid of drunks that want to talk about his job on nights out. Alex has previously attended Dublin’s Gaiety School of Acting so I wanted to know more about its acting courses, what he learned from it and what has been transferable to stand-up comedy. Alex enjoys gigging all over Ireland so we speak about whether he finds there’s differences between city and country audiences. We speak about Alex’s influences;  Fr. Ted & Fawlty Towers both get a special mention. And finally then, we tackle that old myth about comedians being miserable and needing the validation and love of strangers. Alex Byrne’s Facebook: here Alex’s Twitter: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here The Comedy Cast on Google+: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from Irish stand-up comedian Aidan Shields. We kick off the interview by speaking about Dundalk, a town close to the Northern Irish border and how lucky Aidan is to have not taken the accent, nor that one of close rivals Drogheda. In Ireland the areas around the border are known lovingly as “Bandit country” so we spoke about that and the death of Martin McGuinness, former IRA leader and Sinn Fein politician. Aidan teachers English as a foreign language so we speak about that and the commonalities between teaching and stand-up comedy. We speak then about what he likes about the job and how he got into it. We chat about how and why Aidan got into comedy and he tells a brilliant story about his first gig. We talk then about how Aidan used to be a bit nervous before his first few gigs and it led us on to something interesting; Aidan tells me that he’s not the kind of comedian that can tell the same joke twice, always trying to improve on them from set to set. A few weeks ago, I met Aidan while recording in Dublin and saw his set, he speaks about having a new joke in it and how ‘it seemed to scare a few people’. We speak then about Aidan’s comedic influences growing up and the comedy shows he used to watch on tele. Aidan tells me that while gigging over St Patrick’s weekend he reveals to his audience a little-known fact about St Patrick; he was a giant racist. And finally then we get talking then about JuiceBox Comedy, Dundalk’s comedy club in The Spirit Store and Aidan’s role in running it. Aidan Shield’s Facebook: here Aidan’s Twitter: here Juicebox Comedy’s Facebook: here Juicebox Comedy’s Twitter: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here The Comedy Cast on Google+: here

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Cast; today you’ll be hearing from English stand-up comedian Angus Dunican. We begin the interview with an old opening line Angus used to use to open his sets which I personally love. We speak a bit about Angus being brought up in Eastbourne, which in his words are both the retirement and suicide capitals of England. Angus speaks at a millions miles a minute, it’s something to behold especially when he’s thinking on his feet but you’ll be impressed, so we speak about that for a bit, and discuss where that comes from and what I found on the internet regarding the subject. Angus mentions then that when he was young reading very quickly in religion class and laughing a lot and then not being asked to do it again. We chat then about how Angus got into comedy, everyone thought he’d go on to study drama after school instead Angus got hooked on coffee and experienced the deathly depression of working in a café in an English seaside town in November. Angus says then that decided to go for comedy as it’d been something he’d been a huge fan of for a long time. He speaks about the how he changed over the first year of doing stand-up comedy, going from glamming up and being camp to being more like his peers, he now says he misses his nail polish and tight Marilyn Monroe tshirts, so maybe we’ll see a return? Angus then explains how to beat white girls with dreadlocks at parties in philosophical arguments; something he learned at university, a skill that can be a life saver at parties. Angus and I go full theatre and comedy nerd then on that old Irish rogue of theatre Samual Beckett, we’re both massive fans and Angus reveals how he uses Beckett in his set to test how far he can go with certain material. We speak about The Vanity Project, Angus’ show that won a Pick of the Fringe Award in 2016 and he’d also just performed it at this year’s Vault Festival in London. We go full-on existential then, in Angus’ words we are mere fragile mortals holding each other in the dark and we need to be a bit more Buddhist about it, ‘mate, it’s fine you’re an illusion, have a biscuit. Angus Dunican’s website: here Angus’ Twitter: here Get in Touch Don’t be shy, get in touch with The Comedy Cast or follow us on social media If you’d like to get in touch, email me here: spud(at)thecomedycast.com The Comedy Cast on Facebook: here The Comedy Cast on Twitter: here The Comedy Cast on YouTube: here The Comedy Cast on Instagram: here The Comedy Cast on Google+: here