S4 Ep6: Andrea Cleary

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 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.