Comic Relief with Gearoid Farrelly
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Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone. This is Jan Arden, and you are listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. I am here with Adam Karsh, as always, and today, very special, special, special from the future. You're right, fairly.

Hi, Keroi. Hello. How are you? I'm really good. You are in Ireland right now. So it was funny, just before we started recording, I'm speaking to you from the future. And I was like, okay, what's happening? You're like, it all goes to shit. It's pretty bad, but you're going to get some great songs out of the jam. How have you been? I spoke to you, what, 10 months ago, probably. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I've been good. This week, actually, Ireland has, we've kind of just started indoor dining again, which was like the big step. We've done it. I had my first show back on Friday night, which was so terrifying. I mean, it was so weird. Where did you play? I played in, there's a place in North County, Dublin called Knoll.

It's a little village and they have this gorgeous theater called Seamus Ennis Center. And they are just, they just happen to be blessed because they have this big courtyard outside. So they were able to put a kind of a marquee roof on it and do socially distant bubbles. And it was really great. For those of you who don't know, Keroid Fairley is a fricking hilarious comedian. He's a writer. He has become a baker and,

He is a proud cat owner. So he, yes, he's got a beautiful cat. But Geroid, I mean, you have done so much stuff over the years. You've won different like talent contests, which have got to be so nerve wracking.

you've opened for so many amazing people and a lot of amazing people have opened for you. I just wanted people to know that, that aren't aware of what you're doing, that you weren't doing like Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance or anything. If they're hearing your accent, they're like, oh, he's in Lord of the Dance. If you ever get a chance, please go online. There's so many great, hilarious YouTube clips online.

And Geroid is spelled G-E-A-R-O-I-D. Yes. Fairly. F-A-R-R-E-L-Y. Yeah. Two L's. Two L's at the end. Two L's. Two L's at the end. Yeah.

It's funny. A couple of years ago, I had this thing that I thought, okay, I need to get people to pronounce my name properly. So I brought a show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and I called it Garode Less Travelled because I thought, okay, that will do it. Garode, because it's an Irish name and is it a common name in Ireland? Yes.

No. Okay. What was your mother thinking? I don't know what the hell she was thinking. I think the story about my name goes back to that my mother was, she was pregnant and she was sick during her pregnancy. And she said a prayer to St. Gerard, who is the patron saint of expectant mothers.

and said that if everything was okay, she would call her firstborn after him. And then when I was born, she kind of realized she didn't really like the name Gerard, so she called me the Irish version. So she basically, she kind of screwed over a saint. So if that doesn't curse you at birth. Great. What a great, yet auspicious beginning. I like that. Gerold, Les, Travelled.

That happened? I know, it did. It didn't help. It didn't work. Okay. People were asking for Gay Rod Less Traveled. Gay Rod... That's a different show. Well, it's a different show. I would think a little more entertaining, actually, at the end of the day. I 100% agree. Anyway, now that you know, you can go on, you can find clips...

and support this man's extreme talent. You also have a freaking amazing podcast. I don't know about you, but I'm always going up to people and I'm now asking them, what podcasts are you listening to? Like, are you listening to good podcast? It's called Fascinated. I have been a guest. I was very thrilled. And that was back in the day. We did this several years ago. And I remember recording our audio and it was quite the...

It was a little tedious to do podcasts from across the pond because we didn't Zoom. We didn't have Riverside. We didn't even think of doing FaceTime because I don't think, and I still don't think you can record FaceTime. Can you, Adam?

I don't believe so. No. So, so these formats didn't exist, man, that would have been so nice to have seen your face. But if you're looking for a podcast and you can go back, um, several years to listen to fascinated and it is such a great podcast. You talk to so many amazing people and I don't even know how you track them down.

Yeah, some of them have been quite difficult. It's my, it's basically fascinated is me talking to the people that made the things I love. So it's just essentially me tracking down people I'm a big fan of and just being a big fan. And not, and it's, you can stalk them without really being arrested because you have a reason.

100% if you have a podcast that's your reason it's fine you do need to listen to it I just I've really gotten into podcasts this last well I'm gonna say probably the last year for sure I spent the first six months of COVID just worrying I just wandered around my house and I just worried wringing your hands yeah and I was busy wiping off groceries I don't know what you guys were doing over there

We were exactly the same. My partner is like as a scientist and we were washing things. We were we were just busy not doing anything. At one point I had to have a COVID test and I was locked in a room for five days. I remember that you were locked in your bedroom. Yes. And I was getting meals left for me outside.

outside my door on the ground and at one point I opened the door. In your own house? In my own house and there was a steak and chips on the ground with the cat looking over it going these two have really stepped up their game. This is the best dinner I've ever had. Wow. Now do you have an outdoor cat? Is Boots, and the cat's name is Boots by the way, she's adorable and uh anyway do you have an outdoor cat? Does Boots go outside?

No, she goes out. I have a balcony. So she goes out on the balcony because I live in an apartment in the city centre. Now we did, we trained her to, we had to train her for the balcony. So we put her on a harness with a bungee cord. No, you did not. We did. So she had like a bungee cord that she would go out and she could run around the balcony. And in the event that she fell off, the worst that would happen would be she would be hanging on,

outside the window of the apartment below me like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. Like that was the worst thing. But she's trained now. We can take it off. She's fine. So she, because I thought about that. If you have an outdoor cat in early days, I would think like I have a little dog, but for people that, you know, have cats that go out in the night, God only knows what they get up to and bring back this cat

horrible disease back to the house because no one was, no one was sure of anything. I still feel like there's way more questions than there are answers. But I was thinking if boots is out on the prowl, she comes back and you and your scientist boyfriend are suddenly, you know, got a little sore throat and a cough. I know it was scary. It was really scary.

And I think at one point we were thinking, what if they decide you can't have cats? Because they were saying that cats were, you know, cats were vectors for this. But that was all the craziness at the start of this. But yeah, thankfully, we're kind of starting to get a little bit more educated around the whole thing.

Well, you were saying, you know, that restaurants, you can do indoor dining now and things like that. In Alberta, you know, we've, they lifted the stuff just in time for the province to have the Calgary Stampede, which I find quite suspicious. Yeah.

And there's more and more people vaccinated all the time. But now our numbers are climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing. They're having trouble in the interior of British Columbia, which is the province next to us, in a very touristy part of things. And I think there's a lot of people that are vaccinated that are getting the Delta variant. It's breaking through because, you know, it's not the efficiency of these vaccines

vaccinations, it's still up for grabs. Like, do you have 90%? And what does that mean? And what's the 10%? And there's people that are getting sick that are vaccinated. Are you finding that, does it feel like too much too soon over there?

I think we've been very cautious here. Like, it's really, really cautious. I mean, I think theatres won't be open till next year. I think we're at a weird sweet spot now where people are starting to feel quite confident because they've got the second jab. But also we haven't enough for herd immunity. So we're at that point where there's going to be a climb. But our vaccination rollout has really accelerated. So we're

I think we're at the point where if everyone's just battens down for a couple more weeks, we're going to be in a much better position. I think so too. I'm surprised to see things kind of, well, they kind of are spiraling. It's sort of scary, but I don't know what the anti-vaxxer thing is like over there, but we have. It's bad. We have that here too. And I'm like, well, yeah, you guys will sure take Viagra though, won't you? Yeah.

But I'm thinking about science and the things that are made to help us. I mean, we practically eradicated polio and the measles and smallpox and all these things over the years. And yet, when it comes to the COVID vaccine, a guy will take Viagra. He'll have an erection for 12 hours. But he's not going to take a jab to protect him from...

you know, the coronavirus. I don't understand how people are picking and choosing what science they're going to get behind. I think it's got to do with the news and it's got to do with media and people have just got used to getting their news on Twitter where it's just, it's such a cesspool. And I don't know, I think everyone has a job now to be...

slightly intolerant of that sort of attitude because I think a lot of that anti-vaxxer attitude, it's adjacent to a lot of other awful things. You know, you don't have to go too far to get, you know, the worst level of xenophobia among the cohort of anti-vaxxers. So I always think

We were tolerant and we gave people a chance to explain themselves and to talk. And now it's like, no, no, no. It's time to be a little bit more intolerant of that silliness. Well, I mean, I really do wish we could just find an island for them somewhere where all the anti-vaxxers can go and just say, fine, take your families, take your stuff.

And just go to this island and we wish you luck. Good luck with everything. Good luck with your erections. And you're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. I'm with Geroid Fairley and we'll be right back.

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They've got one in Honolulu, they've got one in Moscow too. They've got four of them in Sydney and a couple in Kathmandu. So whether you sing or pull a pint, you'll always have a job. Because wherever you go around the world, you'll find an Irish pub. Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast. Adam Karsh is with us in his basement studio. One of his children has not burst through the door yet.

Usually we have one of your daughters that comes in. Dad! I always give them the warning. I say, I'm going downstairs. I'm recording Jan. If you need a snack, let me know now. Gerold Fairley is talking with us, a brilliant comedian, writer, an excellent human being, cat owner, man about town, actor. I didn't even add in actor because you've been in a lot of stuff over the years.

And I know that you have been working on different projects, scripted comedies over this past year and a half too. And of course you and I both know everything. The breaks kind of came to a screeching halt with a lot of, a lot of these things because of COVID and television kind of came to an abrupt halt. How, how do you think that's affected your creativity? Do you think it's helped hindered your,

uh, abolished, um, kicked it in the butt or, or is it kind of giving you a new incentive to carry on? I think initially it was a kick in the butt because some of the stuff I was working on, it was like, well, that's not going to happen now. So that's parked. Um, but I'm working on something else that I think I would have, if I'd been in the thick of doing shows and working on other stuff, I definitely would have said, oh, that's not really for me.

But because it's slightly more drama than comedy. And because I had the time, it was like, okay, well, let's follow this. And I'm working with a brilliant writer in the UK. And I don't think that would have happened if COVID hadn't happened. The idea was a bit out there and it was a bit, we had to do a bit more thinking than we normally would. So I think that that's been an opportunity. I think everyone that has had a bit of time to reassess

I think is going to come back a bit stronger. So yeah, I think it's been good for that. But again, it was everybody's career stopping and it was how do we navigate all of this? Yeah, it's hard to feel sorry for yourself when it's happening again

sort of unilaterally. Like it's, it's, it's just this omnipresent disappointment in every single human being. So it's really hard to go into a conversation saying, Oh, this thing got canceled. I'm so bummed out and it's not happening. And meanwhile, they're looking back at you going, we're, you know, we can't pay the rent and I haven't worked for six months. And I think it was a real, it was a wake up call to gratitude. Yeah.

I entirely agree. I mean, I definitely had moments where I thought, because the way my work had gone, it was like I'd have good years and bad years. And then, and that was set to be a really good year. Yeah. And even when I look back at like the money I lost, I kind of go, oh my God, I didn't think I could lose that. If someone had told me I would lose that amount of money and then come out the other side of it and go, oh well. It's like, wow, that's a real, that's a real moment. I think, I,

I think, yeah, you have to be grateful for what you have. I think I live on a small island and I work, I earn all my money from the arts and that every day is ridiculous to me. Like it's absolutely, that is absolutely crazy. And so I think from that point of view, I kind of felt, well, if this is the time when I have to fold, that's the way it has to be. Because I think that's a really good thing

to know that if you work in the arts to know, well, what are my red lines here? Like what, you know, to know when you're going to fold when it's not enough. I don't even, do you, do you know that? Cause I have no clue. I feel like I could be playing in front of two people at a very large theater and still not see the writing on the wall.

No, but you see, those two people would be the happiest people in the world. I do think Ireland is a different place. You know, it would be, they would tell me, the two people would say, look, it's just the three of us. Let's not do this. We're not going to put you through this, Carol. No, we are laughing. We're just not laughing at the same time. That's why you can't hear it.

Yeah. And I know that for weeks and weeks afterwards, they would be thinking, you know, what is going to happen to that poor boy? How has the camaraderie been within your artistic community? Have you felt, has there been like fundraising? Are you kind of like pulling people out of the ditch as you go along? Or have you felt a sense of community there that perhaps wasn't there before?

And somewhat, I think we had in Irish comedy, we had there were some there was kind of some stuff that came to light midway through the pandemic that wasn't wasn't too great. Just people who were not great people, you know, so there's been a kind of coming together with regards to that is to make the comedy safe, comedy safer for everyone.

And so we did, there was some funding for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, which was great. You know, it was great to do things like that. But I think that when we come back, I think it will just come back stronger. I think so too. I saw that you did a few online comedy gigs, like virtual comedy gigs. Now, I, much like yourself, did some online gigs.

music gigs. So you don't see the audience. You are basically looking at your own fat head and singing and there's a host sort of relegated off into the corner that's looking at their stopwatch to make sure that, you know, that is this thing on? Is this thing on? That's kind of, they just look panicked the whole time that their technology is working. How did you find doing comedy? Because within comedy, which is even more difficult than music,

Your timing, everything is contingent on people reacting to punchlines and people reacting to your physicalizing of jokes, like whether you're, you know, hopping around on one leg or, you know, how do you, how do you time that? How do you do that?

It was difficult. And what I found was I had to really be talked into that, actually, because I just thought, no, no, I'm done. But what I was finding really, really difficult was just because you're not doing the gigs doesn't mean that you're going to stop writing jokes because you're automatically, oh, that's material. And I always have a notebook and always fill it full of stuff. But I was never getting to try any of this stuff.

And then it was just, I've got some work on now, that I needed a new half hour. And one of my friends was in the same position and she just said, look, let's just do this on Zoom. It'll be painful, but we'll get through it. And actually it was fine. We got used to it really quickly and the tickets would sell really quickly. There was a great appetite for it. But yeah, it was a really nice thing to do and it was a good thing

to remind yourself, oh, that's what I do. I mean, even though, you know, 10 minutes after you finish a show, you're loading the dishwasher with your post-show adrenaline. Or you're doing the gig while you're loading the dishwasher. It could be worse, right? Yeah.

I did have a moment where I was doing a show for, because we were doing some for Australia because of the time difference, we were able to do that in the morning. And I was doing one and noticed in the corner of the screen that my clothes horse with laundry was just ever so slightly in shot. And I thought, that is just not showbiz. Well, I know there was an app going for a while, maybe it's still on Twitter, where it was Room Raider or something. Room Raider? Oh, God.

And it was judging like Adam's background right now. I can kind of see some bottles. I believe there's a speaker, a filing, your stereo, a filing cabinet. Is that a filing cabinet or a chest of drawers behind me? Yeah. And you got plastic bins. Yeah. Of course with like cassettes and old CDs. I think room Raider, I think you would be like a two out of a 10. Oh, this is terrible. Oh no, this is not fancy. But I mean, how,

how, how embarrassing, like this thing was just rating people's zoom calls. And now I know that you can get literally green screen things that unfold behind you and you can put in,

Whatever background you want. I don't know what it's called. Oh, my Jesus. I have one of those. So what happens? It touches to your chair. It's like a green screen. No. Oh, God. And it goes like this.

Okay, folks, Gerard is now putting, he's attaching a giant green screen. I believe we're going to get a demonstration, perhaps. No. He's trying to, oh, it fell off. That's so I can have an aspirational kitchen while I'm doing my gig. It can look like I'm in a really nice kitchen. Yeah.

But anyway, you're doing better than Adam. I'm no better. I keep tipping my screen. I've got a red blanket here that I need to wash. We're looking kind of out a window. I look like I just came from harvesting potatoes for six weeks in northern, I don't know, Saskatchewan.

Speaking of kitchens, you have been, we have to come back. That's the end of the segment. Don't go away. Geroyd and I are coming back and we're going to be talking about Bennifer. So don't go away. Welcome back. It's the Jan Arden podcast and show.

Gerold Farrelly is here with us from Ireland. It is seven hours later in the day, so he's in the future speaking to us. What I was going to say before we went to break is that at the very beginning, like two months in, I would say, into the pandemic, you started doing

on Instagram, a baking show. It was like, but you really got some traction on it. You started doing, you know, morning television chat shows, people talking about, you know, this baking show. So basically you chose a recipe, whether it was really lofty, like a Nigella Lawson fricking, I don't know what the hell you were making, but you made all these really difficult recipes.

baking things and people would follow along and then there was a winner and they didn't get a prize, I don't think. No, they didn't. They just got the laudy, the adulation, essentially, of being the winner. I want cash! Yeah, it started out because I...

I was doing Insta lives because my tour got canceled and people were like, I have tickets for this date. And early in the pandemic, we didn't really know what was happening. So I was just doing Insta lives to say, well, okay, that one's gone. That one's gone. And, and we, I just mentioned I'd baked a cake and then somebody suggested that we do a bake along. So I thought, okay, then we'll do that tomorrow night. And then one of my friends is one of the hosts of the, the bake off, uh, the professionals. So he was a judge and,

Oh, Jesus. It just snowballed.

And then we were doing it every week and we had great guests. And then it did get a bit, I did a few tellies where it came up in interviews. And then I remember one TV show contacted me to ask if I wanted to cook, do the cooking segment. And I thought, that is people that have not seen The Bake-A-Lon because that is not what this is about. But isn't it, I mean, things like that because of the pandemic, how could you have ever imagined

In a billion years, Farrelly, imagined that you would be cooking in your kitchen. And never mind that. If you guys were similar to what we were going through with the groceries, with sugar, flour, yeast, you know, those first few months, the shelves were like cleared out. Everything was a meme. Yes.

And, you know, people were bartering with, you know, I'll give you two pounds of flour for a tablespoon of instant yeast. 100%. I had this really weird thing that happened where one of my friends texted me and said that there was a cafe named...

maybe seven or eight kilometres away that was selling bags of flour. And I thought, okay, I better go get some. And we were within a five kilometre restriction at that point. I thought, oh God, I'm going to have to break it to get the flour. So I went, bought the flour, which they sold me in these clear plastic polythene bags. So they were on the passenger seat of my car. Middy's chipping in. Well, there's somebody at my gate, but just bear with me, stay...

Opening the gate now. Hi, welcome. Welcome to my world. Hi, Bob. Welcome to the Jan Arden Podcast. It's a very secured, I have a very secure perimeter here. And, Minnie! Minnie!

Sorry. Don't edit that out. That's how I talk to my dog all the time. It's just very gentle. I thought Middy was upset because I'd broken restrictions. I just thought you thought, you know what? I've had enough of this. This is outrageous. I'm picturing you with your, your, you know, your, your watch that's your fitness tracker. You're going, I'm at 4.7 kilometers. I'm at 4.8 kilometers. I'm going to go.

over the restriction. Never mind that. Flour in a Ziploc bag sounds like you're visiting a drug lord. And I had to come back through a police checkpoint. No. Yes. And I thought, oh my, I'm going to be arrested. This is the end of it now. But no, they never batted an eyelid. That's the Irish police. Just not that interested. Well, what would they do? What would they do anyway? Like,

Yes, I've broken the five kilometer rule, which just seems like that's what I mean. We're going to look back at this and we're going to did we overreact in some areas? Did we completely under react in other areas? I feel like history is going to be the only accurate thing that we have to tell us what the hell we did.

I know. I'd love, I would love to know how they're going to write about this in the future because it's been like, I do think that this is our world war. This was the thing that happened in our lifetime that was, was the war. This was, this is what it was. Well, I just, it's been so weird and it still continues to be weird. I mean, I think the grocery thing has kind of righted itself and,

I, we, we did the flower thing went on for about eight weeks and I don't know what happened exactly. Someone's going to have to fill me in. Did the flower mills just suddenly, were they out of wheat? Were they just not able to keep up? And then I've talked to a friend of mine who said that this guy that she knew had hoarded all this flower and

He had literally bought a hundred bags. He went to all these grocery stores when it started happening and he bought all this flour and he had it in his basement and he was literally selling flour out of his back door.

for quadruple the price that it was. Like to families, people with like four kids, he's selling a bag of Robin Hood flour, you know, off the back stoop at midnight. You know, people coming in. He only took cash, obviously. And I'm just like, I can't wait for some of these stories to actually really come out. Well, I did hear that the reason that there was a problem with flour was it was the bags.

It was the bags that it gets transported in that they were, I think, from China or something. And that the flower was there, but it actually couldn't be packaged. So that was the story I heard. That's that is a new one. That is a new one for sure. So you got the flower from the cafe. You went back. Avoided jail. You avoided jail. Yes. Have you ever been to jail? Have you ever had to go to jail? No.

No, I've never... I've never... I've never... I've lived a very honest life. I'm very nervous of policemen. I always have been. I have a lot of criminals in my family. So, you know, it's just sort of a... It just seems like a regular thing to hear about, oh, yeah, your uncle broke out of the remand centre and tied some sheets together. To me, I'm like, oh, that guy, what a nut. LAUGHTER

What was he thinking? Okay. I promised people that we were going to talk about this and that is Bennifer. I want to know what your take on this is, if this is some kind of publicity stunt. And I'm sounding like I actually care about this stuff. I don't really know what I'm talking about. All I know is that they went out 20 years ago. And I know people that absolutely hook up with their exes.

But this just seems like the biggest debacle. There's pictures of them wandering through. They're in Italy somewhere. And it is an absolute crap show. It's very strange. It's really strange. I think that it does give... I think anyone that's ever been dumped...

And many times. Many, many times. I've never been broken up with. But go ahead. You wouldn't know. You wouldn't know. It's a thing that happens. You've probably heard about it. Yes. But I think it gives everybody hope because we always have that thing in our heads. One day they'll come back. They'll have their regrets. And I think it gives everybody hope that that actually will happen. Well, there didn't seem to be much time between A-Rod and...

or she broke up with him over whatever. And it seemed like there was like a 10 minute lapse. And then she was back with Ben Affleck. And then I'm thinking to myself, Jennifer Garner, you have dodged a bullet. You've dodged a bullet. Because... A hundred percent. Right? A hundred percent. If he runs back that quick, that's a bullet dodged. But I...

I don't know. I just, I'm trying to act like I'm not interested, like who cares? But every day I open up my phone and I'm like, ooh, what are they doing in Italy now? And what's she going to be wearing? And how weird is he going to look? Like she looks so, don't ever A, get your picture taken beside Jennifer Lopez, because it doesn't matter who you are, you're going to look like a big weirdo.

Like every picture of him, I mean, he's just gazing at her. He's just like falling apart, gazing at her. She looks perfect. And he looks, and I thought he was sober. I thought he, oh, he's giving me the, he's rolling his fingers. Anyway, what a riveting conversation. You're listening to the Jen Arden Podcast. I'm here with Gerold Farrelly. We're going to be right back. ♪ I'm still, I'm still Jenny from the block ♪

Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast. I'm Karsh. Geroge Farrelly.

Is here. Comedian. Go on YouTube. Look up his stuff. I wanted to say too, you've got shows coming up with Sarah McMillican. Yeah, that's right. I'm doing some supports for her. I'm doing my first one next week, actually. Oh my God. I love her so much. Please hug her from me. Say you have a. Oh, I will. And tell her that she started following me on Twitter and I almost had, I almost crapped a gold one.

Because I'm like, is she – because she is just – I mean, she's got like a million followers. Sarah is so – she's like you. She's just so funny. She's got such –

clever sense of humor. Like you're so great at taking family stuff. And I still laugh at a segment that you did. And it was a long time ago. I don't know when you did it, but it was about your mother sending you to the, the Christmas pageant, you know, in your Batman suit. Yeah.

Yeah, my mom, yeah, like, it's terrible. The nativity scene. The nativity scene, yeah, yeah. My mom was one for fancy dress. She did apply fancy dress when a lot of the times it wasn't required. Only this week I was sent a photograph from a time when I was in the Cub Scouts and we were doing a fun run to raise money for...

for charity. And as we were leaving to bring me to do this 10K run, my mom looked at the card and saw it was a fun run and assumed that that meant we had to be dressed up, even though I said, we absolutely do not have to be dressed up. And she improvised and she put me in one of her maternity dresses, like I was eight years of age.

She put rollers on my hair and she put a turban around my head, gave me a feather duster and made boobs out of the cushion from the cage. I was the only kid, the only kid dressed up and I had to run 10K like that. And I lost my boobs at the back of Dublin airport. Yes, you did. As you would. Well, I mean, were you embarrassed or did you just take stuff like that in stride?

I was more, well, I mean, I was more worried about losing the feather duster. Than your breasts? I was like, look, we're going to sacrifice the breasts. That's just a cushion from the couch. There's more of those. But yeah. So you and Sarah McMillican are going out and doing theatre shows in front of human beings. Yes.

Human Beans, full capacity theatres. She started her tour on July 19th. God. And it runs for a year. No, it does not. I think...

Yeah, yeah, it'll run. I think it's hundreds of dates. And then she has six support acts. And then we do it, you know, week on week off. So I have a couple of stints this year and then I've got to... Oh, I would love to see you and that double bill with you and her. I would just love to see that. I'm supposed to be coming to the UK...

Well, you're both so great. You guys are just both... You're just great comedians. And you know what? And I will say this. As much as we're all swearing, I swear in my shows, it's not something you lean on. It's not the punchline for you. Like, I've seen enough of your stuff online. It's always just that peppering of... It's funny, but it's not at the heart of your act. And I love that. Yeah, yeah. I always try and keep it so that...

You know, that my mother could watch it. Exactly. That's what I always think. My mom could watch the show. Then it's fine. If she kind of goes, ooh, then I kind of go, well, you did. I don't think you needed to say the F word three times, but you know, you know, your dad didn't even hear it, but I did. And I get that too. I always had mom in the back of my mind. Like could, could, would she think this is funny or.

But I wish you well. But like I was saying before I interrupted myself, I'm coming over there to London December the 13th. I've been telling Adam, you know, for the last month how excited I am that I've booked this ticket because my friends live sort of, I don't know where they are in London now. They just moved. They're over by Gatwick. Yeah.

Cool. For 10 days. So fingers crossed, I'll still be able to go and travel internationally as long as we're getting let in. How are you guys doing on international travel as far as people flying into Belfast and –

Yeah, we're good. I mean, it's kind of weird because Northern Ireland is part of the UK, so that's under their remit. So it makes things a little bit tricky. When I fly out to the UK, I'm flying from Dublin airport, so I'm doing the COVID test to get back in and

So yeah, there's restrictions, but you have to kind of keep abreast of what they actually are. So I'm always afraid of breaking a rule by accident. So are they quite different? Are Northern and Southern Ireland quite split on as far as what those regulations are? Is it that different? They are slightly different, yeah. I mean, it is possible to, if you are coming to Dublin, it is possible to fly from the UK to a Belfast airport and then

have less restrictions, which is just one of the things that we're dealing with because we're a split country. But yeah, I'm just doing it. I'm being a good boy and just doing it the way you're supposed to do it. So yeah,

Yeah, I have to have a COVID test before I fly home. But because I'm doubly vaccinated, I don't have to do quarantine. And that applies with us as well, is the double vaxxers. You have a lot more leeway and a little bit more room to do things. I think this is similar to you. I always get, why didn't you go to the States? Why did you stay in Canada? And I bet on your end of things, it's like, why didn't you go to London? Like, why didn't you go? Why didn't you just, you know...

get out of Ireland and go to London and, you know, have more opportunities as a writer, an actor, a comedian. What do you say to that? And has that been a frustrating part of sort of the narrative of your career? Yeah, it has really, because I think in Ireland, there's always a narrative that if you, the ones that are good get out of Ireland. Yeah. Me too. So it's always kind of. Me too with Canada. Why did you stay here? You don't live here, do you? I'm like, yeah. Yeah.

I mean, like, I've got from a big family, you know, I've lots of nieces and nephews, I've loads of brothers and sisters, and I kind of don't want to be too far away. I love where I live, which I'm very lucky. And I mean, I definitely thought now in the past year, I know I went through a phase of thinking I would love to move to Los Angeles, but, you know, that ship has sailed. And I think...

So I definitely could consider a year or two in London. I would love that. I'm doing more work over there and that seems to where all of my stuff gets optioned anyway. I would do maybe a year or two, but I don't think it's a forever thing at all. I think it is changing slightly. I think I've even found in the last four, five, six years that...

People are realizing because of the internet and because of social media that you can be anywhere and have a career because even people who are based in LA, they're flying to Idaho. They're flying to Canada for work. They're flying to the UK to shoot a movie. It's not as centralized as it was like the world doesn't live and breathe and stop and start like in LA or in New York or in Toronto. Um,

We're able to live where we want to live. And you know this about me. I'm in the trees west of Calgary. And I have very little work here. I'm very grateful that my television show, actually, I have an opportunity to be home for six weeks. But other than that, I'm on the road.

Like Sarah McMillican and you guys, I mean, a year and a half touring, my God, she's not going to be home. Yeah. Well, it's, it's a strange one. Like, I mean, I also think it's, it's always worth calling that out when somebody says that to you, it's like saying, well, it's a really bad trait to think that you can't be successful and stay where you're from. And a crap message to young people and so many communities. And I would think a country like Ireland or whether you're Dublin or Belfast or you're from Calgary, um,

People, if they want an artistic community, Geroyd, don't you think they have to stay and create that community? Yes.

And I think that's really important as well, because people have been saying quite a bit, you know, oh, it will come back. Like after COVID, theatre, it's all going to come back. And I always think, well, no, actually, it won't just come back. You have to want it. You have to actively say we want this back and we're going to go and support it. Like it's not because if people don't go, it won't come back. Like that's it. I think saying it will come back is like letting yourself off the hook a little bit.

Absolutely. And I think the onus has to be on, you know, artists and the people that support art to really roll their sleeves up. It's like anything else and get out there and buy your tickets to your local shows. Go and see these theaters. Buy yourself a $28 gin and tonic in the lobby. You know, the show was $8, you know.

To see any of us, but by God, the drinks and the licorice are going to be, he's giving us the wind up. That's our show.

That's our show. Thank you so much for checking in with us. I can't wait to see you again in person. I'm going to do my very best to look at your dates. I would love to see you and Sarah together. So just keep looking after yourself. I love your social media. Say hi to Boots. Don't bungee Boots from the balcony, please. Absolutely not. And thank you for everything you're doing. Like what you're doing with the horses in Calgary is amazing.

That is amazing. I always think that if we had more Jan Arden's, we could solve every world problem. And it's not even many more. It's like three. Well, my goal is to just make people sick of hearing the horseshit message. Like, I know it seems like a kind of an inappropriate word, but it really sums up

you know, what, what the live export to other countries is. And you know what? You wouldn't put your grandmother in a crate and send her over there. Uh, I know that's probably a really terrible analogy. Anyways, he's winding us up. Thank you. Thank you. I will talk to you very soon. And, um, you're listening to the Jen Arden podcast. Totally do. This podcast is distributed by the women in media podcast network. Find out more at women in media.network.