Colm Flynn Podcast
School Dropout to Podcast Star: Alan Clarke Interview.
Alan Clarke is an Irish social media influencer and podcast host who has built an impressive following over the past number of years. His live podcast stage shows, 'Big News Coming Soon', has been filling venues right around Ireland, not just in his home county of Mayo. And in this episode of the Colm Flynn Podcast, Alan talks about the reality behind why he started the live shows, and how much work goes into each episode. He also opens up about his personal life and the fact he dropped out of school before his Leaving Cert exams, the teachers telling him he wouldn't amount to much. Hear Alan Clarke's inspiring story of not waiting for anyone to give him a break, but instead doing it for himself!
Colm Flynn Podcast Season 3 Episode 1
instagram.com/colmflynnire
Alan Clarke is an Irish social media influencer and podcast host who has built an impressive following over the past number of years. His live podcast stage shows, 'Big News Coming Soon', has been filling venues right around Ireland, not just in his home county of Mayo. And in this episode of the Colm Flynn Podcast, Alan talks about the reality behind why he started the live shows, and how much work goes into each episode. He also opens up about his personal life and the fact he dropped out of school before his Leaving Cert exams, the teachers telling him he wouldn't amount to much. Hear Alan Clarke's inspiring story of not waiting for anyone to give him a break, but instead doing it for himself!
Colm Flynn Podcast Season 3 Episode 1
instagram.com/colmflynnire
Hello and welcome to a new season of the Colm Flynn podcast. My first guest is an Irish podcaster and social media star called Alan Clark. My heart is pounding. Alan is from County Mayo in the west of Ireland and his live podcast shows have been filling theatres right across the country. We've got the world tonight. Have been filling theatres right across the country. His style of a mix of humour, sketch comedy and honest one-on-one interviews has won him over 140,000 fans on Instagram alone.
Speaker 2:And the winner is Big News Coming Soon by Alan Clark.
Speaker 1:But normally the one interviewing other people. He doesn't often give interviews himself and that's why I was delighted when he said yes when I asked him to be the first guest on the new season.
Speaker 2:This award does mean more to me than anyone in this room knows.
Speaker 1:And in this open and honest interview, Alan talks about the surprising reality behind starting his live shows.
Speaker 2:I hadn't five euros last March Colm, to be honest with you, like I lost everything. I literally had nothing.
Speaker 1:And how. As a self-employed person who does it all when he's on stage, things can sometimes go south.
Speaker 2:This is a disaster and I just couldn't get her out of my head for the three and a half minutes I this is a disaster, and I just couldn't get her out of my head for the three and a half minutes.
Speaker 1:I was like and now that his live shows have become popular, so?
Speaker 2:quickly. What's next? I think I peaked too soon.
Speaker 1:And I throw Alan a few shticky questions. I'm going to ask you about love. Are you dating anyone at the moment? And the podcast gets interrupted by a surprise gatecrasher.
Speaker 2:There she is.
Speaker 1:Let me just get a seat here. I'm Colm Flynn and this is my interview with Alan Clark. I can't do it anymore, ada. Alan Clark, great to see you again. How's it going? It's going good. How are you, colm? I'm doing good. Look at that million dollar smile. I don't know if it's the. This is a new camera you have, isn't?
Speaker 1:it Well this is just a cheap camera I got in Harvey Norman, but it's actually the light just beaming in through the patio door here that's making me look like I have a nice smile. Set the scene. Where are you at the moment? And because I'm here in Rome, it's a beautiful evening. The sun is setting over the Eternal City. What's it like where you are?
Speaker 2:It's an overcast, very still evening here in Mayo in Castle Bar. Yeah, it's just a really still overcast evening. It's boring enough. It's like one of those evenings that there'll be a few midges around you might bring the dog for a walk and then you're thinking I don't think so, there's no breeze, what?
Speaker 1:did you do today? Tell me what you got up to, what your routine was.
Speaker 2:So today was a strange one because I have a big show on Saturday night in the TF Royal Theatre. So I woke up this morning by being told one of my headline acts can't make it. Who?
Speaker 1:was that so then?
Speaker 2:there was a bit of panic and then trying to get the act replaced.
Speaker 1:Come here. Who was it? Or can you say that can't make it to the show?
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't mind. Yeah, it's Mammy Banter. Serena Terry is her name, just something came up and unfortunately she can't make it on Saturday.
Speaker 1:Come here. That must be stressful because I want to get into it all Since we first, when we first, when we first got to know each other, you were working in Midwest Radio and we kind of bonded over that because I have a passion for radio as well, having started in Clare FM. But since then you have taken off on Instagram. Your podcast is doing phenomenally well. You've turned it into live shows and I can't keep up with it when I'm watching you on Instagram and see you going from town to town across Ireland packing out these not small venues, they're big venues but the headaches and the work that must go into that as well. Like you say, just in a couple of nights you've lost one of your headlines. People have paid tickets to come and see this act. So what are you going to do now? I mean, will it be stress to find someone or how will it work?
Speaker 2:Look at worst case scenario. The night is still going to be fantastic and we have other guests and we can, you know, extend everybody on by five minutes and still fill the time. But the way I act and the way I do things in my own head is I like to give value for money, and that's what it's all about for me is making sure people go home happy and making sure people say that was a really good night and that was really good value for money. So I am trying to replace Serena with another female and I think it's important to get that balance in there as well, and I'm not doing it just to tick a box. I think it's important because it's mostly men on stage and you need a woman to pull you into shape and keep everything on time and keep everyone in check. So it's going to be hard. It's going to be hard to find a female comedian that is available on Saturday night and up for the crack.
Speaker 1:And at that level that you need to headline.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not so much the level you know what it is. It's really just somebody that gets it and somebody that's not, that doesn't take themselves too serious. Somebody that's that and somebody that's not that doesn't take themselves too serious, somebody that's that's just willing to let the hair down and and just see what happens on the night. Because that's the beauty about these shows we don't. We don't rehearse anything as such, we don't. I don't send them the questions. It just kind of happens on the night and it's hard to find people that are kind of loose like that and just willing to go with the flow and you mentioned.
Speaker 1:You know it's hard to find. It'll be hard to find a female comedian at such short notice to do this. Um, do you run into that problem a lot? That, as you say, it's mostly guys on the stage. It's hard to find the female comedians in Ireland to do the shows.
Speaker 2:I'll be honest with you, colm. I find it very hard to get females for the podcast so the live shows have spawned from the live, from the podcast, and I've contacted females up and down the country and they all say yes at the time. And I'll be like, I'll be straight up and honest 50, 60% of them just cancel a couple of days before. Or they reschedule, or they just say they can't do it and why do you think that is?
Speaker 2:I'm not. I honestly don't know. I honestly don't know. Look, it's an intimidating thing. You know you're putting yourself out there on a podcast, so I can understand why not everyone would want to do it, and then you, then you probably have the thing. You see, I'm just sitting down talking to them and I don't really think about it at this stage, but I do think back to the early days and I was overthinking what people think. You know what people will think of this and what people will think of that, so maybe that gets inside people's heads. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you think maybe it's because do men have this show off gene more than women? You know? You think of the gorillas beating their chests. That maybe is built into us in a DNA level.
Speaker 2:The has beaten their chest. That's maybe is it built into us in a DNA level. The one thing about my guests I don't think they're show offs and I there's a lot of people looking to show off. Yeah, you know, when you, when you say I have a new season coming up, there's a lot of people will contact you and say I'd love to get on it. And it's really only to boost their own profile or to sell something, and that's not really what it's about. I want to get into somebody's story, get you know, get really deep down inside somebody's story. So that's what it's all about. But I think the men I think men maybe don't think about it as much. I think they just go with it and then afterwards they might go jeez, I don't know if that was a good idea. Or can I listen back to it first without thinking, where women are probably a bit more cautious?
Speaker 1:It's so interesting. When I used to work in RT and Radio 1 on the John Murray show and Miriam McCallaghan, the broadcaster, was filling in for John for a few months when John was off sick, and I remember we had this same conversation once in a car going down to Kerry and it was a whole debate then about women on air. Why are there not as many women on air as there are men? And this wasn't just on Radio 1 and RT, it was also on Newstalk and across radio stations. And she said the.
Speaker 1:She made the point which I thought was very valid that men will tend to say yes and just do it if they're asked to do something, even if they're maybe not ready to do it or they're not qualified to do it or they're not qualified to do it. And I remember when I was starting in radio I certainly did that and she said that she thought women were a bit more hesitant, would be more thoughtful, would think it through, would be more reluctant to fill in for that breakfast show or afternoon show. So they would caution and say you know what? No, and she thought that was why men sometimes got ahead in broadcasting. So maybe it's a similar thing when you're trying to get people for the live shows in front of a big audience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's definitely part of it. A friend of mine, David Cuddy, he is. He's, I guess he is a social media influencer, even though he wouldn't allow you to call him that, but he drives machines. He's very popular on Snapchat and Instagram and I had him at a live show in Cork and there was whatever five or 600 people there and he's coming to the live show in Castle Bar. There'll be 2000 people there and I was talking to him last night and he said it was only last night. He realized like I'm actually really nervous now. What am I going to say? What's going to happen? But like three months ago he said, yes, I'll be there. And then last night, five days out, he goes oh my god, what have I agreed to?
Speaker 2:so there's definitely, there's definitely a bit of that in it.
Speaker 1:There's an element of that. When I was researching on the john murray show and they said one day I'm the presenter of the early morning show now it was half five in the morning it started, so it was probably my parents listening and a handful of other insomniacs around the country. But it was on on Radio 1 and they said do you want to fill in for a week? And I said yeah, sure, no problem. And I remember like I couldn't sleep the night before. So I went into the studio at half four, 4.30 AM, into RT, just being exhausted, having no sleep and a bit like delusional hey, cause you're so tired and just starting to think what have I got myself into?
Speaker 1:And you've got a list of things that you have to do. You know, at this time you go to the weather. At this time you go to a road watch. At this time you get the business news. Then someone drops in the newspapers and you've got to review the newspapers and you don't get to read them beforehand sometimes because they come in late and you're doing it on air. Uh, but I did it and I got through it and I was happy I did. But when I listened back to it I think, oh, that's. At the time I thought it was great and when I listen back now that's the worst thing that ever hit the airwaves.
Speaker 2:But I bet you it's not you're your own worst critic.
Speaker 1:You know it's probably still 100 perfect and come here, I must ask you, before we talk about your background and how you got to where you are, um, just because it's so interesting about um, the shows that you're doing at the moment, and I've watched them evolve the makeup of your audience then. Is it mainly women, or would it be a mix? Or what's the majority?
Speaker 2:it started out probably 85 females, but now it's gone to about 70 females. Um, we're like I'm starting to win over some of the husbands and the boyfriends, whereas for a long time, for a time, the boyfriends and husbands didn't like you. Like they looked down at you and they were kind of like oh there's your man now that I have to listen to in the bed every night at 11 o'clock and the wife is there tapping through the stories, looking at me feeding the dog and having a great laugh.
Speaker 1:And they're saying well, you, turned that fella off, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then you'd meet guys, like you'd meet them in person, you'd meet them out and they'd they'd be kind of like looking at you going can I get a picture with you there? The wife is always on about you. And then you you chat to them for a few minutes and you knock the crack out of them and then they shake your hand and go geez, you're, you're actually not too bad do you find it difficult?
Speaker 1:um, sometimes, because in ireland and it you know many people have said this that there is that kind of small bit of bergudgering where, if you're seen to be successful or doing well, people want to kind of knock you down a few pegs or put you back in your where you belong. Moment you walk onto a stage in front of hundreds of people and you see the girls are enthusiastic that you're fans, but then maybe the boyfriends or the husbands beside them and you can see in their faces like who does this guy think he is? But you still have to perform and somehow ignore that and be the same guy you are on the podcast. Is that difficult?
Speaker 2:it is difficult and you will always spot the one person in the crowd. So so I have two very distinct moments. There was one in Cork, in the Cork Opera House, and it's this beautiful historic theatre and I'll never forget it. It was a Wednesday night and there was a weather warning and it was touch or go whether the event would go ahead or not, but it did go ahead. Everything was safe in the city and it went ahead, but there was a bit of hassle getting to the venue from some different parts of the county. So, ahead or not, but it did, it did go ahead. Everything was safe in the city and it went ahead, but there was a bit of hassle getting to the venue from some different from parts of the county, so some people struggled to get there. There was a bit of a rush. They didn't have that one or two drinks in them before the show started, which always helps, and makes the show so much better, um, but I'll never forget it.
Speaker 2:I was looking down here to the left and three or four rows up there was a guy on his phone and all I could see all night long was a lit up forehead and he did not lift his head once. Wow, all night long. And there's 600 people in the theatre and you're just constantly being drawn to this lit up forehead all night long. So that was difficult in Cork and then in Castle Bar one night, before you tell me about.
Speaker 1:Castle Bar in Cork. Did you feel like calling him out as a joke and say, buddy, hey, tell us you know. Or like grab the mic and go down and read out who you text and what's going on here, you know?
Speaker 2:No, I didn't. I probably wouldn't have the confidence to do that. Yet I wouldn't, I probably wouldn't, and then plus, I knew the guy didn't want to be there, so there was no point in kind of throwing petrol on it like yeah and then, even though you had so many other people enjoying it in the crowd, was it putting you off your game that night?
Speaker 1:were you looking at him the whole evening?
Speaker 2:it definitely, it definitely does, it definitely does. And because it's so new to me Colm, I've only done 8 shows like this Saturday is going to be my ninth. When we were in Cork I was probably three or four shows in, so it was all very new and you're still kind of learning to adapt and you're trying to block him out and you're like that. You kind of do want to go down but at the same time you don't want to call him out and make an idiot out of him. You don't know how he's going to receive it.
Speaker 2:So, I just don't go there. I there, I just leave it alone. I guess you never know who he's texting or what's going on, or yeah, exactly, exactly. But it was obvious that he didn't want to be there. It was obvious he was dragged along. And what happened then in Castle Bar? Then in Castle Bar we had a great night. There was 2,000 people in Castle Bar and it's this, it's three level venue, and at the end of the night we were singing.
Speaker 2:I had this kind of I wouldn't say ambition, but this goal to sing a song. I can't sing, but I always wanted to sing one song and like, have a party piece. So I sang Sweet Caroline, and it's just this kind of party song. Most people sing along with you, so that kind of drowns out the fact that you can't sing. But there's 2000 people, everyone's standing up, everyone's singing it back to me. And then I remember looking up to the left. It was about 30 seconds into the song. And then I remember looking up to the left it was about 30 seconds into the song and all I could see was this woman and she had the two hands, like this, and she was looking down and she didn't budge for the whole three and a half minutes and I just thought, oh my God, like I was. There was a lot going through my head here trying to perform this song and I just couldn't get her out of my head. For the three and a half minutes I was like constantly looking at her and what's going through your mind?
Speaker 1:Are you thinking why is she like that? Or are you thinking this is a disaster? I'm obviously.
Speaker 2:you know this is You're definitely thinking the worst. You're thinking, my God, that woman has had a terrible night. She has, she really hasn't enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:But are you thinking that's her problem, or are you thinking I must be?
Speaker 2:bad, I'm not thinking it's my problem. 100, my problem, yeah, 100 that's.
Speaker 1:And do you think about that then afterwards? Because I know if I do something and 95 of it is perfect, but you might slip up on something or maybe get a name wrong when I go away from it. All I can think about is that my I go, disaster the thing deleted from the internet, it's. The whole thing is a disaster absolutely.
Speaker 2:You spend hours going over it in your own head. But then the beauty about the shows. Your inbox then lights up with all these compliments and people saying what their particular favorite part of the show was, so that that drowns it out. Then a little bit and then a day or two later, you don't, you don't think about it what has surprised you about doing the live shows and going on stage in front of your audience?
Speaker 2:What has surprised me is that people want it. I just, you know, a lot of people said to me will you do a live show, do a live podcast? And at the time I didn't know what they were. And you're battling with things in your head and you're saying, like, what would I talk about? Why would anyone pay to come and see me? Why would they enjoy it? Would it be value for money? Um, I've been to some live podcasts before and they're very simple, where it's just basically somebody sitting on a couch talking, and that that just wouldn't do anything for me. So I always try to add in a bit of comedy, a bit of music, a few games, a bit of video and I make it, you know, a real kind of variety night.
Speaker 1:How much, alan, are you across then? Everything do you have like a production manager? Are you coordinating the videos when they queue? And you know, and I want the lighting to change this color and then we need this reverb on this mic because we're going to do this little gag about you know you, I do everything, wow, um, and that's yeah, it's definitely it's not ideal, it's not ideal, but I, I literally just do everything myself, yeah, so, that that surprised you, that people wanted it.
Speaker 1:What about your reaction to it, as in how you've taken to it? Do you like it as much as you thought you would? Do you like it more? Do you like it less?
Speaker 2:I like it the day after. I like it when I'm sitting back here in the house and I'm having a cup of tea and I'm thinking that went well and people enjoyed that. That's that's when I enjoy it. But I don't come off the stage buzzing going. That was a brilliant night because, like you say, I do manage everything. And it's not that I'm a control freak, it's just that here in the west of Ireland, colm, it's hard to find people in that game that can do a bit of everything. I'm lucky that I've done so many jobs at this stage that I can do a bit of video and a bit of event management and a bit of production and be a host and be a bit of everything. But it's very hard to find people in Castlebar in Mayo that would be able to do a bit of that and take it on and then bring it on the road with you. So I've kind of been forced to do it a lot on my own.
Speaker 1:Have you found it appealing season? And he from bally shannon and dunny gold said that he used to sit in the little hall in bally shannon and he would watch the show bands come in and he would look at them and think, my god, someday I want to be on the stage here in bally shannon. And I've made it. And he went on to win the eurovision in 1994 in front of 200 million people watching on tv and 7 000 people in the point. But he, he told me that the minute he went on stage in Ballyshannon before that and he held a guitar and he saw the crowd, he was hooked. He was bitten by that bug. Have you found that too, now that you've experienced the crowd in front of you?
Speaker 2:I actually don't. I don't have that, I don't have that bug, I don't. I'm not driven by it Like I'm not chasing it. I don't it not driven by it like I'm not chasing it, I don't. It's a very strange thing because people meet you and they say, god, you're so successful and you're doing mighty and the shows are brilliant. I don't think about that. I don't think about that. I don't really want to be on the stage. I don't want to be that front of house showman, but you must, because you must have it inside you in some way.
Speaker 1:Maybe you just don't realize it yet or maybe, as an Irish person, you know we don't want to admit it because people will say who do you think you are? You want to be the front showman Because, for example, if you're having a bad day, you have to go up. Your job is then to go in front of thousands of people that night on a live show on a stage and entertain them for a few hours. Then to go in front of thousands of people that night on a live show on a stage and entertain them for a few hours. So to be able to bring yourself to do that, there's your ninth show. You have to in some way, when the crowd is there and the red light goes on, to say yes, I want this, this is, I want to run out into that stage it spawned from a necessity.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, I was involved in a business last year that that didn't work out and I literally had nothing. I had no other option but to kind of pick myself up and go at something to try and get a few more bob in. And there was demand for the live shows and I said, right, let's just try this. I tried to book a hotel in North Mayo that had 130 seats. I went down and I met the hotel manager and I said if I don't sell 130 tickets, can we put tables in and make it look full like a cabaret style? And she was like yeah, no problem, Like we can fill this place with 40 people, we can make it look full. And then the next day she called and she said I'm sorry, Alan, the room is double booked for your date.
Speaker 2:We made a mistake, but at this stage I had the guests booked and the theatre in Castle Bar had already been on to me and they had obviously seen something that I didn't see. And they were saying to me you know, will you come in, Will you put on the show in here? And I just kept saying no, no, no, it's too big, the venue is too big. So eventually then I went to them and I looked at the theatre and they said that the downstairs section holds 540 people. So I had to convince myself then that I was going from 130 people to 540 people. Wow For the first one.
Speaker 2:For the first one. And then I just thought, you know what, I'm going to chance it. I'm going to chance it. So I went into the theatre and 540 tickets was the target and I was really lucky. Like we sold those in 10 or 15 minutes the first day. Wow um, and that just spawned from necessity, that just spawned from a kind of a fight or flight thing within me, kind of saying right, it's either go back and sit on the till and aldi or or give this a go and see what happens what was the business you were working in last year?
Speaker 1:that didn't work out.
Speaker 2:I was, uh, involved in a clothes business that just didn't. It didn't work out between myself and my business partners. Why are you smiling when you say that? Because I can't really talk about it at the moment and I'm afraid you're going to start drilling me now. But I just can't get into it at the moment. But I will come back to you and talk to you about it again, Listen that's okay, but it's, um, yeah, and that's life, isn't it?
Speaker 1:That's the way things go. Some things work out and others don't. But you were, because there is the perception there, because you have so many followers on social media. Well, anyone who's an influencer is loaded anyway, just because of their following.
Speaker 2:I hadn't five euros last March, Colm. To be honest with you, Like I lost everything. I lost all my savings. I invested a lot of time. I turned down a lot of brand deals. I literally had to start again. I had to start from scratch.
Speaker 1:And how many?
Speaker 2:followers did you have on social media then at that stage? Um Probably around 80 or 90,000.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:They do think you're loaded and you've made it and you have the perfect life. And then you have a few people getting cross at you for not explaining what happened. And obviously you know how these things go. They take years to get resolved. You just can't come on your page bitching about it.
Speaker 1:You just can't do that? Or were people annoyed because they had ordered clothes and then they hadn't got the clothes but they'd paid for it?
Speaker 2:No, no, literally nothing like that happened. So we had a batch and we sold that batch and then the business came to close down then. So nobody was upset. I think people were upset because they liked it so much and then it disappeared. Yeah, okay, and then they were like what happened there.
Speaker 1:Alan said I'm never doing business with Adidas again. Teach me. But the shows now. Because from musicians that I've interviewed over the past couple of years, obviously CDs used to be where they made their money making albums, but now no one's buying hard CDs, hard copies, so it's the touring and the shows that's where they have to make their bread and butter. And is it easy to make a living from the live programs now?
Speaker 2:it depends on. Some venues make it very difficult for you. And then my shows. I hire in a lot of guests. I don't there. There are people who do these type of variety shows and they pay very little. And they might say look, you'll be on a stage in front of 2000 people. It's great exposure for you. That phrase absolutely drives me insane and I would never ask anyone to do anything for exposure. So I pay everyone and, like I said, I try to give good value for money. So I always bring in four or five guests. So you don't get rich from it. You definitely don't get rich from it. You definitely don't get rich from it. And then look at it it's Ireland, colm. You're paying 40% tax, you're paying VAT on every ticket. It's not as lucrative as people think.
Speaker 1:You're paying your insurance, you're paying for the sound engineer, you're paying for extra lighting that you might need, or, if you need the video projector put in, they might charge you for that.
Speaker 2:Everything, Everything is a cost. And then there was one venue, a small theatre. I'm not going to name the theatre, but I remember when I went to pay everyone at the end, one of the guests got more than me and I was just thinking like what is going on here? What's going on? You're?
Speaker 1:going to have to go to the Three Arena next.
Speaker 2:I don't know about that, I don't know but where do you think actually?
Speaker 1:you know what I want to get back to that at the end. But first of all, you're from Mayo, originally Castlebar in Mayo, yeah, born and bred.
Speaker 2:No, actually I was born in Galway and then we were living in Drumkearen for four years and then, at the age of four, I came to Castlebar and I'm here since and your mam and dad.
Speaker 1:I know your dad was a guard. What did your mom work out? Was she at home minding you?
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, my mom has had MS for the last 20 years oh no. Yeah, and a couple of other medical conditions. So she hasn't been able to work in the last few years, but when we were growing up she used to work in like a cab centre and then she worked in a few different places, like that, you know. She always had work in her, and then she was a busy housewife, of course, and she'd be powerhosing windows and powerhosing. She'd powerhose us if we stood still long enough.
Speaker 1:You know How's her health today. How is she doing?
Speaker 2:She's the longest surviving MS patient patient in mayo. Well, like she, she kind of holds this like as a badge of honor. Yeah, like I'm, I'm the longest surviving ms patient in mayo, I'll have you know.
Speaker 1:So she has good days and bad days yeah, well, that's so, she's a fighter, but it's a difficult disease yeah, it is. And your dad is his health okay?
Speaker 2:dad is yeah, he's fine, he's fine, he's, he's getting old as well, but he's, he's fine when you say getting old, what age is he? Uh, they're both in their 70s. They're both in their 70s, but I think when you retire I think retiring is a dangerous thing, you know. I think when you retire from from a job, you know you need to keep busy you need to keep, keep doing something.
Speaker 2:and I think at the time when dad retired I kind kind of thought this is great, now he can kind of enjoy his life. But then I think doing nothing then can catch up on you sometimes. You know it's a dangerous thing, it is a dangerous thing.
Speaker 1:The great philosopher Donald Trump once said to retire is to expire. He talked about some big bankers he knew in New York that were so fit and healthy and then they retired and then he watched them kind of deteriorate when they lost their kind of mojo, I guess. But have they come to the shows?
Speaker 2:No, no, they haven't been to any shows yet. Why is that? To be honest with you, I didn't allow them. I didn't allow them to come to a show yet you feel too?
Speaker 1:nervous having them in the audience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because they're. You know, they're just super proud. You know they're super proud and they I just. If my mother was in the theatre she would have to meet all 2,000 people. You know she'd be like the priest at the back door, shaking everyone's hand, thanking them for coming.
Speaker 1:That's so sweet. That would not be nice, but I'm sure they would love it to come and see you on the stage.
Speaker 2:Oh, they would, they would love it and people would love them. But I just wouldn't be able to relax. I I'd be just, I'd be just so kind like I would not be able to take my mind off them and what do they think of what you do and the success you've had?
Speaker 1:do they get it? The social media following and podcast, or what do they make of all of this?
Speaker 2:I don't know if they get it. To be honest, it's kind of it's a strange West of Ireland kind of thing. We don't really talk about it, Do you know? Like I love them and they love me and everything's great, but you don't really sit down and talk about it. Do you know what it is? It's a strange thing. My mum will go into hospital every now and again and then a nurse or a doctor or a paramedic will start talking to her about her son, Alan, yeah. And then then she comes home and it's kind of like how do the paramedics know who you are? And yeah, and how do they know that you were in Rome last week? And how do they know this? And then my dad will go into the chemist or he'll go into a shop in town and they'll see the name and they'll say a yenten talent, clark.
Speaker 2:And he'll go, yeah, I'm his dad, and, and then he comes home and he goes oh, we're asking for you in the chemist today. That's sweet, that's sweet.
Speaker 1:So that's the extent of it and alan, when you were growing up in castlebar, what did you dream about? What did you want to do when you were older? Was it something in communications and media, or what were you thinking?
Speaker 2:No, at the time I always wanted to be a guard Because of your dad. Yeah, dad was a guard and he spoke really highly of it and it was just something. And I was really proud of him because he was a detective sergeant and he was over at the drug squad and he used to give these talks to schools and we'd have a really good relationship growing up and I used to always admire dad because putting people in jail was always his last resort. And we'd meet somebody in town and I was only like 11 or 12 at the time and I'd say to dad, like how do you know him? And dad said I arrested him once upon a time for stealing a car and I used to be blown away by the fact that you were able to just talk to him in the shop. Like why was he talking to you? You arrested him and you put him in jail and dad had this, this unbelievable connection with people, and I just really admired that.
Speaker 2:I loved it about him, that he was he. You know, he wasn't driven by putting people in jail, you know. And he'd say to me I'd say what's that fella like? And dad would say he's a bit of a rogue, but he's a likable rogue, yeah. And he'd say to me I'd say, what's that fella like? And dad would say he's a bit of a rogue, but he's a likable rogue, yeah, and he always, he always saw the best in everyone. He was in the guards for the right reasons, absolutely. It was a different job back then, called a totally different job, yeah, and that's why I always looked up to him and always admired him so much and I always wanted to to join the guards um school then didn't pan out the way I wanted it to number one, and then what do you mean by that?
Speaker 1:you got kicked out or something, or?
Speaker 2:no, I actually left school. I used to get bullied in school quite a lot. Oh really yeah bullied for what? For two things one I was fat and two because my dad was a guard. Really, wow yeah. So the kind of good kids would bully me for being overweight and then the bad kids would bully me because my dad was a guard.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:They used to call me rat.
Speaker 1:Oh no, and is this primary school or?
Speaker 2:secondary school, no, all secondary Primary. I had no problems. Everyone was great in primary school, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so that made you.
Speaker 2:It was so bad it made you want to leave the school. Yeah, definitely I didn't want to go to school. Didn't want to go to school. I did okay up until junior cert and then after junior cert it all kind of went pear-shaped then. So I left then in transition year. Wow, and you never went back?
Speaker 1:or did you go to another school, or no? No, I never went back. Wow, so you skipped the leaving cert. You just decided solve this.
Speaker 2:I'm not doing it there was battles I mean like it didn't happen overnight. We were, I was battling with my parents and we were shouting and roaring, and there was this battle and that battle to get me to go to school, and I'd leave it for a week or two and I'd go back for a day or two and then I'd leave it for a week or two and then I'd go on the hop and then they'd find out. So it was a battle for months and months and months.
Speaker 1:You were a bit of a likable rogue yourself by the sounds of this. Yeah, I probably was, I know.
Speaker 2:During that time, I'll be honest with you I did put them through hell, like definitely, and I didn't care. I didn't care Just anything not to be in school.
Speaker 1:So your parents caved and they said all right, you don't have to go back.
Speaker 2:To be fair, my mother never gave me a day's bother, like she knew I was a worker and she'd always say, alan, I don't care, my mother knew she. She always said there's work in you. She said you'll never be stuck for work.
Speaker 1:But my dad obviously wanted me to be something and do something and kind of make a life for myself, so he was kind of pushing me on a little bit more was he worried that if you didn't get the leave insert and had some sort of papers that you wouldn't, you'd kind of be a near do well or something like that.
Speaker 2:The principal in school just said you'll never be anything without a leave insert. You know, and like I remember the meeting, I'll never forget it because it stuck with me for years and I had this chip on my shoulder for years and now you're like, look at me now, principal, opening up the shows.
Speaker 1:Oh, not so much, not so much. Flash the lights.
Speaker 2:I do think, like I did think about it For years, you know. I just think it's an awful thing To tell somebody that you'll never be anything Without a leave insert. I just think it's a shocking thing To tell somebody.
Speaker 1:And it just shows you how further from the truth it will be.
Speaker 2:And Look, don't get me wrong, I'd never encourage anyone To leave school, never, I don't. I'm not proud of it and it didn't do me any good. It didn't do me any harm. But at the same time, just to be so narrow-minded and think, because you're not going to go in and now read that book and then do that exam, you're never going to be anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we're built up to think that it's the end, all and be all and that your future will hinge on this. A couple of weeks of exams and even working in media everywhere. I've gone from working with RTE or the BBC or EWTN, who I'm with now, or short stint with Associated Press all these big networks. Not once ever did anyone ever say what did you get in Believe and Search, or even what did you do, what grade did you get in university? I don't think I've ever even been asked where did you get in university? I don't think I've even ever even been asked where did you go to to university?
Speaker 1:It's all well. Maybe it's just because it's media. It's like okay, what do you want to do? You want to be a cameraman? Show me what you filmed. You want to be an editor? Show me something you cut. You want to be a reporter? Get in front of the camera and make something. Yeah, but at the time you're just it's kind of drilled into you that this is it and the stress that that causes young people and the pressure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not for everyone. I mean, you're trying to put a square peg in a round hole and it's just not for everyone.
Speaker 1:So when did you get into radio? When did the broadcasting come about?
Speaker 2:Around the same time when I was 16 and 17,. I had decks in my room and I loved music, just absolutely loved music and just DJing in my bedroom and listening to the radio. I was obsessed with radio. So this is how obsessed with radio I was. We were here in the West of Ireland, we had 2FM and we had Midwest radio. There were our two channels. That's all you had. And then I think we had Atlantic 252 at the same time. But then my dad used to be brought to Dublin for meetings in Phoenix Park and I used to ask him could I go Just so you could hear the radio, so I could sit in the car in Phoenix Park and listen to the radio all day long. Wow, that's a fact. I would sit in the car and I would channel hop and the music I could hear, because we had no internet. Yeah, yeah, we didn't have YouTube. These songs I was hearing in.
Speaker 2:I couldn't hear them in Castlebar.
Speaker 1:Back streets, back, all right, and I'm only 39 years of age.
Speaker 2:I'm not talking like I'm a 60-year-old man and what were you thinking then, at that stage?
Speaker 1:Were you thinking, I want to be a musician, I want to be the guy on the radio, the person behind the scenes?
Speaker 2:At that stage. I wanted to be the cool dance DJ. I wanted to be the next Tiesto or I don't even know who I was looking up to. At that stage there was a guy on radio called Mickey Mack. Do you ever remember him, Mickey Mack? He used to have a dance show. I'm not sure was it on Atlantic 252 or on 2FM, but he used to start the show with Welcome, Welcome, Welcome and his name was Mickey Mack and he was a dance DJ, but I actually think he was a sheep farmer during the day. But he was like who would I describe him as now? Do you know Dick Pierce or Jenny Green?
Speaker 1:Mickey DJ, rt radio DJ, ex-rt2fm, now presenter of Living in the 70s on RT Gold.
Speaker 2:Mickey Mack, that must be him, must be him, but anyway he was the god. Then he was the guy doing all the big gigs and all the big dance gigs, and I wanted to be like him. And then I'd be in my bedroom and I'd be recording these mixtapes. And though, I went to actually a dj that played here in the tf royal theater and I went to him and I said will you listen to my tape? I want to be a DJ. And he said, yeah, I'll listen to your tape, no problem. And, um, he listened to it and he came back to me and he said Alan, do you want to make money or do you want to be cool? And I said I want to make money. And he said if you want to make money, go into downtown records and buy. Now that's what I call music. But if you want to be cool, keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Wow because you were, you were playing indie music or you were picking, like dance music, just just pure dance music, music that had no lyrics, do you know, and I was mixing it so well and I was doing all these cool mixes?
Speaker 1:wow. And when you were mixing the music, would you come on in the middle, like in between the songs, and say is alan clark here with you and we're doing this and that not?
Speaker 2:Not really no. But then that developed into I got a little show on a community radio station. So there was a community station here in Castlebar and basically anyone could just walk in and do a show. It was basically like how do we fill this hour?
Speaker 2:Can you, can you speak? Yes, get in. And I just went in and I started doing that and I started doing all the hours. I was doing all the shows and got loads of experience in there. And then I was picked up then by my regional station which is Midwest, started getting a little Saturday morning show in there and then kind of spiraled from there.
Speaker 1:But you weren't doing the club music on a Saturday morning. I mean, they weren't Midwest wasn't going that hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I went from. Yeah, I went from from playing whatever I was playing in the community station to Elvis and Shawadi Wadi.
Speaker 1:So then, when you went to Midwest Midwest Radio very successful there, local radio station. How long were you there for?
Speaker 2:The first time I went there. I was only there for maybe a year or 18 months because I was DJing at the weekends in nightclubs and things like that, and then I had to go in and do the breakfast show on a Saturday and Sunday morning at seven o'clock, so that didn't work out too long. So I left that. After a few mornings sleeping in I just decided I don't want to be letting anyone down. I was, I was sleeping in and I wasn't. You know, I just wasn't performing to the best of my abilities at seven o'clock in the morning so I left that Because you'd been gigging the night before.
Speaker 1:until what time?
Speaker 2:I might not be home. Sometimes I was going straight to work. I was going straight from the nightclub. I might be gigging in a nightclub in Carlow and going straight to Ballyhaunas from Carlow. Well, you, know what.
Speaker 1:Actually, maybe you've proven a point. When I first asked you, do you have the the bug? And you said I really don't think I do. When I was starting off, I would do those kind of things where you're doing a late night show and then you'd have I would have no problem sleeping a couple of hours, then coming in to do a breakfast show because you wanted it so badly. Yeah, and everything was about the broadcast and being in front of that microphone.
Speaker 2:I definitely wanted the radio badly. Yes, like, I will agree with you there. You know, the shows are just kind of, they just happen, but definitely the radio. I wanted it so bad. You want to be on national radio, don't you? Like? I always wanted to be the next Ray Darcy, but from the comfort of a studio, behind a microphone, not on TV or on a stage. And I got to meet him a couple of years ago at the Plough and you know, and I said it to him and I said you on a stage, and I got to meet him a couple of years ago at the Plough and you know, and I said it to him and I said you know, I admire you so much and I really, you know, you're the reason I got into radio. And he just kind of fobbed it off. He was very kind of like ah, stop, you know, don't be telling me that nonsense do you know, yeah, he's an interesting was.
Speaker 2:I had said something on my page the night before on Instagram, something about I was on my way to the plowing. Stuart Moyles, a friend of mine was, was performing there on the Ray Darcy show. Oh, I had said on my page the night before follow along tomorrow morning. Um, I might be taking Ray Darcy's job at the plowing. And when I met him in the hotel that morning he walked over to me and he shook my hand and he goes Alan, I hear you're looking for my job, wow. And I said how did you? Because I don't. I probably only had 70 or 80,000 followers at that stage, but you wouldn't think it would trend. You wouldn't think somebody in Dublin would hear you, yeah. So I said how did you? How did you hear that? And he goes. My wife follows you. Yeah, that's funny, jenny.
Speaker 1:But then and he pulled you and he said don't even think about it.
Speaker 2:Like jokes aside, stay away from my job.
Speaker 1:I'm as insecure as the next guy on air. I wish you well, but not that much, yeah, yeah. So what happened then? Why did you leave local radio? That would have been a great thing to keep going, and you could have been the voice of Mayo there.
Speaker 2:Is this another thing? You can't talk about um, is this another thing you can't talk about? No, it's not that I can't talk. I've never. I've never talked, I've never spoken about it. The podcast took off, yeah, and I felt like it wasn't going down too well at work because they saw you now as competition working from within unfortunately they probably did, but it wasn't.
Speaker 1:it wasn't competition at all Did they, in a way, look at you and think well, look, we're hiring you, we're employing you to create content for Midwest Radio. You're here creating content for yourself. Why isn't that on our radio station? Why isn't that being put up as a podcast under the Midwest Radio brand?
Speaker 2:to be honest with you, I was doing four or five different jobs at the time and I and I was doing. I was a really hard worker and and I don't think anyone would dispute that and I never let my podcast or my private life affect my personal life, no matter what job I've been doing. But I think when it all started to take off social media took off, I got a few viral videos, the podcast took off. Some businesses then were kind of talking to Midwest or talking to the radio station and saying is Alan available or would Alan be able to do that? And then suddenly it was getting a bit mixed and it was like well, why would you want Alan? Like he's not a mainstream presenter? And then I can completely understand. Then it's kind of getting muddled because one of their clients is looking for me to do something as me, not as the radio station.
Speaker 1:So I felt.
Speaker 2:I felt. Then I just said look, I need to, I need to pull out of here and give this a go, and the main work you were doing then was behind the scenes you.
Speaker 1:The main work you were doing then was behind the scenes. You were producing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was producing, I was doing everything. Colm, I'm sure you knew that's how we first got to know each other.
Speaker 1:You would ring me and say can I book you to come on a segment on the programme, talk about the Vatican or whatever.
Speaker 2:I was looking out for interesting stories for the Current Affairs show. I'd be filling in for the Breakfast show. I would be in production making ads scene at one stage at night time. Basically, I was doing the bingo, doing whatever you needed to do, doing the debt notices. I was going to ask you did you ever do the debts? Yeah, I had to do them a few times, yeah.
Speaker 1:They're difficult to do.
Speaker 2:It's one of my greatest compliments actually and I've spoken about this before A woman back the road here one day. She said to me Alan, you're brilliant at doing the debts.
Speaker 1:I don't know, when I started in claire fm, I had to do them. It was live. Was it live in midwest as well? Yeah, yeah, it's live. So you couldn't giggle. You couldn't not that you would, but you know, just think, if something was in your mind and you'd read the debts and say claire fm, you'd have to like you'd be playing a song.
Speaker 1:You song would end an appropriate pause. You clear your throat. Claire fm has been announced of the following deaths yeah, mary McNamara Nhi O'Reilly from Tubert Tascon died peacefully. It was like they only ever died peacefully or suddenly. And then at the end you pause. And now here's aha, take on me. And then you know it's like on to the next thing and you're like woof.
Speaker 2:You know the thing that used to drive me crazy, the. So you know the thing that used to drive me crazy. So there'd be a lot of debt. The Midwest Radio debt notices are probably Midwest Radio, I think were one of the first people in the country to do debt notices and then I think they were one of the first people to charge for debt notices and everyone thought, like this isn't going to work, like who's going to pay for them.
Speaker 2:So they were hugely successful. And then the debt notices on Midwest could go on for five or six minutes sometimes they could go on for ten minutes.
Speaker 2:No way everyone who dies in Mayo has to go on to Midwest, yeah, whereas now in other stations it's ripie or it's in the newspaper or whatever, but it's just so.
Speaker 2:The debt notices go on forever. And if you say a place name wrong, you're dealing with a grieving family who are at home and they're listening to it and you know, and I can understand, there's a lot of pain there at the minute and you might say a place name wrong or you might even read a surname wrong. Well, the phone rings and then it's straight away he said this, he said that, and I completely understand that I'm not having to go with the families. But for the seven or eight minutes you're reading them and you know it's a soundproof room but you can still hear the phone ever so slightly. Yeah, and you're you might be two or three minutes went into an eight minute broadcast and you hear the phone ring and you're thinking, oh, have I said something wrong? And then you have to keep going for the next five minutes, knowing, and you just see the back of the receptionist head going and and that's the thing that stood out to me the whole time was saying the place names correctly and you can't correct it.
Speaker 1:It's not like I mean I, I can't remember time I could ever go on and say, oh, you know, in between songs when the show goes on as normal. Oh, by the way, when I was reading the death notices, that wasn't. Mary o'reilly is very much alive and well, because she called me and uh, so sorry about that.
Speaker 2:No, no, you couldn't. You just had to plow on, and then you know yourself, you might be thrown in two minutes before you go to air. You haven't time to read them all.
Speaker 1:Yeah and some of the place names you'd never heard of before. You don't know how to pronounce you're like shit.
Speaker 2:I don't know how to pronounce this, but you have to do it so confidently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like nook a wool on and you just like plow straight through mario burke from nook a wool on and then suddenly the phone rings it's like it's a group from the gueltucht and you're like uh and from yeah, it is you just say it with confidence and you're fine, I'll let the phone ring. I'm not gonna answer that one. But when you left midwest, were you panicking. Then, in a way, the podcast was doing well, but were you thinking, oh, what am I gonna do next? How am I gonna? What's gonna happen?
Speaker 2:definitely. It's not something I thought about. It happened very suddenly um was it a bad exit?
Speaker 1:I know, look, ireland small, this isn't the e-network, hey.
Speaker 2:But was it a bad exit? I guess, like it was sudden.
Speaker 1:It was sudden, they didn't really expect it, I didn't really expect it put it this way they read you in the death notices the next day it was just kind of like ara, feck you, who are we going to get to do it now?
Speaker 2:kind of job it wasn't it wasn't like oh well, I hope you're not successful, you little bollocks. Yeah, successful, you little bollocks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and in this game you know the industry is so small in Ireland the road is long. People always say you know, go back to local radio stations or they come from local to national stations or someone you work with at a big broadcaster, then you then meet them in a smaller place. It's um, people have to be smart in this game and just stay on good terms with as many people as possible yeah, for sure yeah, what's your plan now, alan?
Speaker 1:you've a social media so successful, the podcast is so successful. What have you got your sights on next? What are you aiming towards?
Speaker 2:I'm definitely going to get this show out of the way on saturday night and then I would love to do another one later in the year, a big one. Then what I would love to do is scale it down, and I would love to go right back down to basics and do very small venues with maybe two people or three people, and I'd love to make them more intimate. I think I I think I peaked too soon, I think I did too much too soon.
Speaker 1:You think you went too big too soon yeah, yeah, definitely but you just mean that for yourself, in terms of um your appreciation of what you do, or do you mean that from the mechanics and the business side, or I think you know you set that.
Speaker 2:You set the bar so high then you've put so much pressure on yourself to keep exceeding and keep keep going above that bar again next time. What are you?
Speaker 1:driven by? Ultimately, if it's not the fame and being on stage, being under the spotlight, or the followers, is it the money that you see you can make from this, the bigger you get. Is it the travel around the country, or what is it what's giving you the mojo?
Speaker 2:I love. I love making people happy. I love I love doing a show and people going out the door and saying that was a great night, because I think I think everyone really needs that. And this isn't a sales pitch, this isn't me kind of going. Everyone's going to have a great night. Obviously, only you're only going to please 98% of the people, or 99% of the people. But I do get a real buzz out of putting on a show that gives people a break from reality for two or three years, or for two or three hours. Two or three hours, because I don't think there's anything like it.
Speaker 1:It's that good that you'll forget your worries for three years. Three years. Is that a money back guarantee?
Speaker 2:is there three years? Is that a money back guarantee? Two or three hours, and then what? What's my ultimate goal? My ultimate goal is to be self-sufficient and to be secure. I'm not looking to be rich, but I'd love to have a house. I'd love to be able to pay my mortgage. I'd love. I'd love a bit of security.
Speaker 1:I don't have that at the moment I'm going to ask you some questions, just very quickly, uh, because when I was a guest on your podcast, you asked me these questions and I was like alan, where are you going with this? Where I was trying to dodge it and slip and slide around you're asking me the exact same questions I asked you.
Speaker 2:I'm going to ask you about love you asked me about meeting people and dating.
Speaker 1:When you said in my house in dublin a few years ago. Now don't tell me the zoom line is breaking up or anything, because I know it's not. Uh, are you dating anyone at the moment?
Speaker 1:no put a polygraph on that man there. But you are 39 years young. You said, yeah, but you have the gift of looking younger and you have a vibrancy and you feel young. Not that 39 is old these days, I'm 36. Do you want to meet someone? Do you find it easier or more difficult to meet someone now that you're doing everything you do?
Speaker 2:Absolutely I'd love to meet someone. I'd love to meet somebody and settle down and have that security in a relationship and make babies and all of the above. I think the more successful I get, the harder it is why is that?
Speaker 2:because it's small town mentality. I think the ladies in small towns don't want to be with that fecking eejit from Instagram. It's a really strange thing because I'm kind of like I'm almost like two people my podcast is actually quite serious, where we can get into like real hard hitting topics and then I'm this fecking eejit on Instagram who has no problem soaking himself in the back garden to sell a few barbecues, so I don't know if people know what to make of me, you know. And then in the small town mentality, yeah, you have to appreciate, right? You're going to a restaurant and there's a woman sitting across from you and there are people looking at you and people some people might ask you for photos some people come over talking to you and then that can be quite difficult for a woman who's trying to get to know you.
Speaker 1:Some and then others might think this is great. He's a passionate person who works hard and has made it for himself and has has a deep, serious side and has a fun, goofy side.
Speaker 2:Well, those women are very hard to find, are they really?
Speaker 1:or is it just that you you don't want to commit yet, or you just find it.
Speaker 2:No, no, I think they are hard to find. I think they are. Yeah, that's just my own opinion, like I could be wrong, but I think it's very hard to find somebody that's going to be part of this world. It's a crazy world.
Speaker 1:It's a crazy world. It's a crazy world. Do you think about it? I know, for women it's different than men, but as you're coming towards 40, do you think about, ah, I want to hurry up with this. Or do you not worry about it at all?
Speaker 2:it's an interesting one. I did worry about it a lot and then I took a break from it for a year or two and then I literally wasn't with anyone for about two years and I was doing a lot of work on myself. I was going to counseling and trying to figure out in my own head what I wanted and who I wanted to be and what I wanted to be, and so I took a. I took a break from it for a long time. Then I was dating a girl for a few weeks and then I realized I really want this. You know, I fell head over heels about a girl for a few weeks and then I realised I really want this. You know, I fell head over heels about this girl for a few weeks and it all happened very quickly and it was this whirlwind kind of romance, and then it didn't work out. And then I just realised, you know what I really want, that I do really want that.
Speaker 1:And at the moment you live on your own with the doggie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just me and the dog.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's an interesting one, and the reason I ask is because you grilled me about it, um, a while back, and it's a reality that we face. And when I say we, I'm talking about our generation, because maybe, unlike our parents generation and our grandparents, we are now so career focused, maybe in a way that they were not. We have traveled more, probably, than they have, whereas in the past, maybe, they settled down with the person in their town or village and life seemed to be a bit more straightforward not without its problems, of course, but it was just a bit more simpler Whereas now we've more opportunities to go places, to do things, to have careers. But it does mean that, um, you sacrifice. Do you feel like you have you sacrificed your personal life for the growth of your professional life?
Speaker 2:definitely yeah, 100, 100 it's. It's kind of similar to a gea footballer, where they have to sacrifice so many things to be the successful footballer, like they can't go out, they can't do this, they can't drink, they can't do whatever. I feel like there's a bit of that involved in this game as well. I am looking for that security first. You know, I would like, I would like to find a little bit more security before I invite somebody into this world in show business what are you out of your mind?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you'll be golden grey. I'm waiting for the security, everyone. No, I have.
Speaker 2:I have a couple of business ideas in my head that might that might come off in the next 12 or 24 months, that that could allow me to take a step back from show business. Okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, that's for the next time, because I know I'm conscious that we kept a lot of your time. I wrote some notes today because I was listening to some of your podcasts, but I'm glad we just had a natural conversation. You're always so fun to chat to. There was one thing I'm obsessed because I'm here covering the Vatican and Pope Francis religious question mark. Am I?
Speaker 2:religious. Yes, I have belief. I don't go to mass. I definitely believe there's somebody up there. I definitely believe that when you say a few prayers at night time that you get a bit of comfort from that. But I don't believe that I have to go to mass and put money in the basket every Sunday morning to be a Catholic.
Speaker 1:Well, you go to mass and not put any money in the basket, you won't get kicked out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't, I don't. I find it hard to listen to the masses and I don't think I've found a priest that that um, I just I just find it very hard to listen to them I asked as well, because I saw saint bridget's cross on the wall behind you there.
Speaker 1:Did you do that? Did you make that, or was that a gift? I?
Speaker 2:definitely didn't make that. No, that was given to me, and I have holy water here from Lords, I have a Padre Pio, I have knock holy water. I get rosary beads from all over the world, so I definitely believe there's somebody there looking after us. Another thing as well that I have my. I have these medals here that I never, ever, ever, take off, and they're actually. The cross was given to me by my parents when I was about 15 or 16. And the other medal was my cousin. A cousin of mine passed away when he was 14. And I just feel like I feel like I have an angel on my shoulder and that he's looking out for me and sometimes I think, whenever things get a bit difficult, I just feel him there. I just feel him. I just think that he's there through some sort of religious portal.
Speaker 1:All right, take note of that. He will become a priest eventually.
Speaker 2:Yeah I might angel on shoulder. Okay, yeah, that into the vatican I've been celibate long enough, anyway, yeah you qualify for the priesthood now.
Speaker 1:So you might.
Speaker 1:You're just buying time yeah but uh, listen, it's been fascinating talking to you and I know you're so busy and I've been trying to grab you for a while to be the first guest on the new series of this podcast. And then it's just fantastic because I've admired everything you're doing and I just see you going from strength to strength and I know, from someone who does kind of a lot of the technical stuff as well, the work that you're putting into it. So I hope the success continues and you can find that balance in your life and you meet the right person and, yeah, since I spoke to you, you've met the right person.
Speaker 1:I have paula hey, paula, you there, come and say hello yes, look, there she is she's coming in on the podcast now, so come down a little bit.
Speaker 2:We're just paula, I, I have. I have one question for you, if that's okay let me, let me just get a seat here yeah, don't get nervous. Don't get nervous, colin, do you? Do you have any single friends? Do I have any? I have a single sister no, yes, yes. But I have very, very nice, very beautiful, very talented single friends as well. See how, see, see how she fought me off the sister straight away she's like oh no, you know she'd have to get to know you exactly, I would.
Speaker 1:I would honestly have to pass a big filter for you.
Speaker 2:We would have to have another interview for that you'd be like he wouldn't be good enough for my sister. But I have friends.
Speaker 1:Well, I have a friend she's a palace from el salvador and we're going to el salvador in july, so so you want to bring one of the live shows to El Salvador and then, yeah, look at that.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure if I have many followers out there, but I'll do it. I'll bring it. I'll bring it anywhere.
Speaker 1:Let me wrap up the podcast she's an on-air person as well, so this is what happens when two on-air people are dating.
Speaker 2:I'm good you can. It was so lovely to meet you. Lovely to meet you too, and I'm so happy for you, because the last time I was speaking to colin, when I was asking him about relationships or whatever, he was just like I'm a mess.
Speaker 1:He was saying I'm a mess. Let me tell you a story. Later I'll tell you a story about what one waiter told me okay, okay, that's it time to wrap.
Speaker 2:We're way out of time here we're out of time goodbye. That's what I want. That's what I want.
Speaker 1:I want some of that well, it's so funny, alan, when we last spoke, I was saying the same things to you that you were saying to me nearly almost word for word, saying oh, it's hard to meet someone, hard to meet the right person, I don't know how I'll do it, where I'll do it. And you know what I did, and I know this sounds, uh, maybe to you it might sound cheesy or corny, or, but I actually prayed about it and because you you know I'm here covering the Vatican and the Pope and I said, colin, put your money where your mouth is and pray that you'll meet the right person. And then, within a few weeks, we met and it's been going great ever since.
Speaker 2:I'll be sending you a photo from Castle Bar Church on Sunday morning, down on your knees. Please, god, find me a Paula.
Speaker 1:Sweating, that's so funny. Hey, listen, it's been great talking to you. Big news coming soon is the podcast. Everyone listen to it. And Alan Clark thank you so much. Thanks a million, colin. That was a good rehearsal, but record that now, alan, okay.
Speaker 2:You're going to be late for dinner.
Speaker 1:I know I have to run.