{"id":188542,"date":"2025-11-19T07:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T07:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/188542\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T07:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T07:15:10","slug":"i-was-like-ill-absolutely-fly-to-ireland-and-play-golf-with-bill-murray-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/188542\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was like, I\u2019ll absolutely fly to Ireland and play golf with Bill Murray\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joanne McNally<\/a> reckons she can spot them a mile off. It is, she agrees, like going anywhere in the world and being able to spot an Irish person immediately. An indefinable recognition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be walking down the street sometimes, and if they haven\u2019t seen me first, I\u2019ll see them and go, \u2018I bet she\u2019s one\u2019,\u201d says the Irish comic, nodding. \u201cThen she\u2019ll come up and she\u2019ll say she\u2019s a pod listener.\u201d She smiles. \u201cI\u2019m probably coming across as terribly stereotypical, I guess sometimes when you meet women who remind you of yourself, I\u2019ll be like \u2018Oh, I wonder if she\u2019s a pod listener?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Podcasting has been only the tip of McNally\u2019s success in recent years. My Therapist Ghosted Me, the weekly podcast she launched in 2021 with her friend Vogue Williams, now reaches 3.5 million listeners a month. She also launched her own podcast series, Joanne McNally Investigates on BBC Sounds last year, which sees her take an amusingly droll look at conspiracy theories \u2013 or \u201cdiet conspiracy theories, like nothing too heavy \u2013 I don\u2019t believe there\u2019s a paedophile ring of lizards running the world\u201d \u2013 including the one about pop star Avril Lavigne being replaced by a body double, and children\u2019s toy Furbies being used to spy on people. <\/p>\n

McNally\u2019s overdue success led to other opportunities, too. In late summer, she was pictured on social media enjoying a pint with actor Bill Murray \u2013 albeit with a camera crew in tow \u2013 after being enlisted to take part in a forthcoming BBC series Off Course. The six-part series, based on Tom Coyne\u2019s book A Course Called Ireland, sees Murray joined by \u2018celebrity friends\u2019 \u2013 one of which is McNally \u2013 as he tours Ireland\u2019s golf courses. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like a \u2018fake it till you make it\u2019 kind of thing, but they knew I was pretty bad [at golf],\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve only played crazy golf, so there was a lot of grass flying \u2013 but sometimes I do manage to hit [the ball]. So I was like, \u2018I\u2019ll absolutely fly to Ireland and play golf with Bill Murray\u2019. And he was really sound. I think at the start I was a little nervous, because it was three men playing golf, and then I turned up. The first thing Bill said to me was \u2018Are you contagious?\u2019 because I was wearing this floor-length Adidas raincoat and they were all in their golf gear, and I looked like I was wearing a hazmat suit.\u201d She laughs. \u201cHe\u2019s got something about him.\u201d She references the unconfirmed rumour that Murray had dated singer Kelis in recent years. \u201cThat makes sense,\u201d she says, raising an eyebrow. \u201cHe\u2019s got an energy about him: this attractive, elder, successful man energy.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Joanne McNally: \u2018I\u2019m allergic to romance. It makes me uncomfortable and embarrassed. Maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m Irish\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Then, of course, there is the comedy. McNally\u2019s stand-up show The Prosecco Express, first launched in 2019, and became a gargantuan success post-Covid, breaking records (including an incredible 78 nights at Vicar Street in total) and positioning the Killiney, Co Dublin native as a bona fide comedy star. The success of that tour meant that she felt initially daunted when it came to writing her new show Pinotphile. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very scary, sitting down to an empty page,\u201d she nods. \u201cI had forgotten, because I hadn\u2019t written an hour-long show in a while \u2013 it\u2019s a bit of a slog. I assumed if I did a new show that I\u2019d have loads of new content. I was like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019ll probably be married with 12 kids, and I\u2019ll have adopted a load of children, and I\u2019ll have all this new material\u2019. But when I went to write the new show, nothing had changed. Not a single thing.\u201d She shrugs. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had a couple more failed relationships under my belt, but no huge life changes. So I was freaked, because I was like, \u2018I\u2019ve nothing to say.\u2019 But I guess that in itself is something; as in I\u2019m still single, still no kids. And while that doesn\u2019t define me, they are huge parts of my life. So Prosecco was very much about my story, whereas this show branches out a little bit into the world and what\u2019s going on. Nothing too heavy, of course; I\u2019m not Nish Kumar, I don\u2019t do the highbrow things,\u201d she deadpans. \u201cBut there\u2019s a little bit more about pop culture and that kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She still wants children, she says, but \u201cit just hasn\u2019t worked out for me yet. I\u2019ll be leaning on science and sperm donors, I\u2019d say. I definitely want to do that, but I\u2019m a bit of a procrastinator and I do work a lot, so I have to be realistic about it. I\u2019d have to stop working really, because I\u2019d be doing it on my own, and I know that\u2019s definitely what will happen now. So that\u2019s the plan; that\u2019s my next two years, I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

She may claim that little has changed, but McNally is undoubtedly more recognisable than she was five years ago. Her new level of fame also comes with pitfalls, however \u2013 one of which she recently discovered when the finances and profits of her company were recently made public and picked up by news outlets<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe money thing bothers me,\u201d she says. . \u201cI mean, I don\u2019t even know what my brother earns. I\u2019m kind of half taking the piss, but I genuinely mean this \u2013 had I never made a penny from stand up and comedy, I would have done my best to stay in it. So making money out of this is like an extra bonus, but it\u2019s not the motivation. [So] I don\u2019t want to sound like an ungrateful bitch, but the public money thing is a bit scarlet.\u201d<\/p>\n

2025 was a big year for another reason, too: McNally launched her accessories line Anxious Preoccupied, which she cofounded with longtime friend Nikki Lannen and which includes various high-end bags, sweatshirts and tracksuits. McNally, whose pre-comedy background was in PR and marketing, has enjoyed wearing that creative hat again, while Lannen looks after the business end of things. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the start, I was a bit paranoid that I was going to dilute what I\u2019d worked very hard to do, which was establish myself as a comedian. I was like, \u2018Bill Burr isn\u2019t selling handbags\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, because I feel like I have done that, I can just enjoy the craic of building this bag business with [Nikki]. Now, I\u2019ll be honest: there are times where I\u2019m writing ad copy at 3am, going \u2018Why on earth have I taken on an extra job?\u2019, but we\u2019re a really good team [and] I\u2019m surprised at how much I\u2019m enjoying it, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been important to keep the range at an affordable price point. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s a business, it\u2019s a commercial venture, and people need to make money off it,\u201d she says. \u201cBut we\u2019re not trying to rip anyone off; we want to make them good value. I never want to look grabby.\u201d She admits that she is \u201cvery Irish\u201d when it comes to such matters: \u201cI accidentally complimented myself in a podcast the other day, and then rang them up after and said, \u2018Take that out\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

2026 is looking exceptionally busy, with the Pinotphile tour set to run until Christmas 2026. Work on her memoir, with the working title of Femme Feral, is also under way. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a memoir at the start; I got the book deal off the back of columns I was writing for newspapers in Ireland,\u201d she says. \u201cBut everything has shifted now. I\u2019m probably taking it a little too seriously \u2013 I\u2019m not up here writing Ulysses, I\u2019m not Marian Keyes, but I want to do the best job I can do, and that needs time, because touring really takes it out of you. And I don\u2019t seem to be the kind of person who can bang out 5,000 words in an airport lounge. I only have so many thoughts in a day, know what I mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just as well that she will be spending this Christmas at home in Killiney, as she promised her mum \u2013 \u201cit\u2019ll be me and Pat on Christmas morning, side-by-side in matching pyjamas\u201d \u2013 for some much-needed downtime before a busy 2026, in which she also plans to buy a house in London. It\u2019s little wonder that a much-needed holiday is at the top of her Christmas wishlist. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m dying for a trip away,\u201d she groans. \u201cI was on to one of my mates the other day, and we had this idea about doing some sort of witchy-woo-woo-woman circle weekend in Glendalough, to kind of re-engage with our feminine energy. I think I\u2019m getting… I\u2019m not going to say spiritual, because I\u2019ll never get to that point. But I\u2019m checking in with myself more than I ever did before. Like, I\u2019d love to do ayahuasca; I\u2019m ready to evolve in the woods. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s what I would love for Christmas: a girls\u2019 trip away, where there\u2019s some sage, but also brunch. Hang out with the shaman, but then also hit the bar later on. Surely there has to be a market for women like me? Women who are ready to kind of half-heal. Nothing too intense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joanne McNally tours Pinotphile nationwide until March 2026, including multiple dates at Dublin\u2019s 3Olympia Theatre. See joannemcnally.com<\/a> for full listings. Anxious Preoccupied is available online at anxiouspreoccupied.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joanne McNally reckons she can spot them a mile off. It is, she agrees, like going anywhere in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[16838,18,117,19,17,105619,68115],"class_list":{"0":"post-188542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-christmas","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-it-s-christmas-magazine","14":"tag-joanne-mcnally"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115575136206039953","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}