JOANNE MCNALLY: The Identity Crisis of Being Adopted, Finding Success In My 30s and Why I’m Single

Summary

Podcast Summary: Great Company with Jamie Laing –

"JOANNE MCNALLY: The Identity Crisis of Being Adopted, Finding Success In My 30s and Why I’m Single"

Episode Date: November 26, 2025
Host: Jamie Laing
Guest: Joanne McNally

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Episode Overview

This episode features comedian and podcaster Joanne McNally in a candid, funny, and often moving conversation with Jamie Laing. The discussion dives into Joanne’s experiences with adoption, her battles with an eating disorder, finding career success in her thirties, her approach to relationships, and the origins of her comedy career. Joanne’s trademark humor is present throughout, even when sharing emotional or difficult topics. The conversation is engaging, self-aware, and will resonate with listeners who have faced identity issues, late-bloomer success, and struggles with self-acceptance.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Adoption & Identity

Joanne’s Adoption Story

• Joanne describes adoption as “like just being spat out of a spaceship naked. You’re like where did I come from?” (00:00)
• Her adoptive parents always handled the subject with openness, turning her adoption story into a “bedtime story” filled with love and reassurance.
• As a child, she believed everyone was adopted, thinking “we were all just being passed around like little gifts” (07:51).
• Joanne acknowledges the sense of lacking context for herself, referring to adoption as a “kind of identity crisis.” (11:22)
• “There is a lack of context for yourself. And I think...that’s just part of the human condition. I think we all need that. It’s like...why everyone’s back into Jesus...everyone’s religious again. Because you need meaning and purpose.” (25:06)

Exploring Her Origins

• Joanne attempted to find her birth mother in her early twenties but was cautioned by a nun at the adoption agency: “Look, whatever you think about you...this is like throwing a hand grenade into this woman’s life.” (22:08)
• The reality of learning her birth mother’s name struck her deeply: “Up to that point, it had been a fantasy...then it was like, she’s a human being with a name. And the name just completely threw me.” (23:23)
• It took another ten years before Joanne pursued her origins further.

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Eating Disorder and Recovery

The Struggle

• Joanne openly details her long battle with an eating disorder: “I’d been tinkering around the plug hole of an eating disorder for years and then it really kicked in.” (01:05)
• It forced life changes: “I had to leave my job and move back to my mum’s.” (13:13)
• Joanne describes the ordeal: “Recovery had to be like my full-time job.” (27:48)

Openness & Humor

• She dissects her journey with her classic wit: “As I sit there in my white, one of those mental coats, you have straight jackets from eating disorder...‘Absolutely grand. This hasn’t affected me at all!’” (21:17)
• Talks about the ‘double life’ of someone with an eating disorder: “The lies involved in an eating disorder...We should work for the FBI.” (31:20)
• The onslaught of honesty after recovery: “Once I admitted it was a problem...I was telling everyone because I lied about it for so long...It was like a release.” (38:34)

On Using Her Experience for Others

• Joanne recognizes the impact: “So many women look up to you, by the way...and men who have been suffering, will go, ‘Oh my God, if I’m suffering, I can still be successful. I can still get through this because Joanne McNally has done that.’” (36:38)
• Tackles the burden of ‘being the voice’ for people with eating disorders: “I was like, this is actually a bit heavy now… you’re like in this gang, this club of women.” (37:09)

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Late-Blooming Career and Comedy

Becoming a Comedian

• Comedy was not Joanne’s initial plan: “I was a publicist...did sociology at Dublin...but then the eating disorder meant pressing pause on everything.” (26:03)
• Her blog “Eat the Pastry,” started during recovery, led to a magazine column and then a play, “Bite Me,” about eating disorders. (30:21)
• On starting stand-up: She did her first open spot in 2018, crediting someone else for giving her the push she needed: “I needed someone to tell me to do it...and then that happened.” (29:18)
• Joanne describes the comedy world’s tough love: “You’re not going down to do five minutes in the store...Those days are gone, you’ve made your bed, now you’re just gonna line yourself.” (29:13)

On Irish Comedy

• Joanne and Jamie discuss how her Irishness adds an extra dimension to her comedy: “I think Ireland...we do...we’re funny...culturally...UK audiences trust Irish comics because we have such a great legacy.” (59:22–59:47)

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Relationships, Love, and Single Life

Breakups and Intensity

• Joanne’s love life featured a series of intense relationships and dramatic breakups:
  • “I used to say, like, I don’t fall in love, I fall insane...the worst of times and the best of times, breaking up all the time.” (00:00, 45:29)
  • Recounting her first heartbreak at age 10: “I’ll never forget the pain.” (42:18)
  • On breakups during her eating disorder: “Three months in, they’re all like, you could literally set your watch by it.” (41:57)
• Humorously admits to tracking down an ex: “I got a train out to his house, I tried to doorstep him...His mum was like, he’s not here. Do you want to ring him off the landline? My eyes lit up because I was like, well, he’s never going to know that’s me.” (43:16–44:34)

Her Approach to Love & Independence

• On marriage and kids: “No, I wouldn’t...I realize now I was never going to be the person who got married at 25.” (46:40, 49:25)
• On dating: “I downloaded a dating app last night for the first time in I don’t know how long...five minutes in I was like...no.” (48:40)
• Potential for single motherhood or a “genetic collab” with her gay friend Ross. (49:25)
• On her type: “A little bit of trauma seems to be my jam. Where are your wounds? Let’s rub wounds together.” (51:21)

Sex & Dating Anecdotes

• Hilariously describes awkward one-night stands and post-sex dynamics:
  • “He didn’t take his anorak off the whole time...That is so lazy!” (52:20)
  • On being judged for going home with a date: “He was like, ‘I’m just hoping this isn’t how you normally behave.’” (54:14)
  • “A man are like...I call the ejaculate—they ejaculate, they hate.” (56:16)

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Career Highs: “My Therapist Ghosted Me” & Touring

• Joanne recounts how her hit podcast with Vogue Williams began – from a tanning video to the globally successful “My Therapist Ghosted Me.” (57:03)
  • “I was making small talk with the programming dude, and I said, my therapist ghosted me. He was like, oh, let’s just call the podcast that.” (62:12)
  • On the viral title’s visual mishap: “Global put us on these posters...and it was just me with ‘rapist’ over it in the tubes.” (62:20)
• Discusses her stand-up tour “Prosecco Express,” and new show “Pinofile” (named after a funny Peloton username story). (63:41)
  • “Pedos can’t own file. File just means you like something...they’ve ruined File for the rest of us.” (65:00)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Adoptee Identity:
  “Adoption’s like just being spat out of a spaceship naked in the woods. And you know, you’re like, where did I come from?”
  — Joanne (25:04)

• On Recovery and Self-Acceptance:
  “You’re just a product of everything that’s happened to you...if I didn’t have that eating disorder, I wouldn’t be sitting here.”
  — Joanne (32:40–33:03)

• On The Importance of Openness:
  “Once I admitted it was a problem...it was like a release. I was telling everyone because I lied about it for so long.”
  — Joanne (38:34)

• On Breakup Insanity:
  “I don’t fall in love, I fall insane.”
  — Joanne (00:00, 45:29)

• Comedy Career Origin:
  “I think there was a creative side of me that was not being met at all...I needed someone to tell me to do it, and then that happened.”
  — Joanne (28:39, 29:18)

• On Resilience:
  “I’m very like, let’s get on with it now...If you pull a string the whole thing will fall apart. It’s just like, keep going.”
  — Joanne (15:11–15:29)

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Timestamps to Important Segments

• [00:00] — Joanne's introduction; adoption and early experiences
• [05:33] — Raised as an adopted child; bedtime story approach
• [11:22] — The “identity crisis” of adoption
• [21:17] — The humor and denial around her eating disorder
• [25:04] — The search for belonging and meaning
• [28:39] — Creative dissatisfaction and finding comedy
• [31:20] — Living a double life with an eating disorder
• [36:38] — Inspiring others by public honesty
• [41:10] — Relationship patterns and earliest heartbreaks
• [52:20] — Awkward and hilarious dating stories
• [57:03] — The podcast origin story: My Therapist Ghosted Me
• [63:41] — New tour and the “Pinofile” show title story
• [67:32] — “Quick Fire” life questions — best compliment, turn-ons/offs, guilty pleasures

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Tone and Style

Joanne’s style is authentic, unfiltered, and self-deprecating, using humor as a coping and storytelling tool. Jamie Laing’s warmth and openness allows the conversation to be vulnerable and free-flowing. Even in darker or heavier moments, laughter is never far away.

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Conclusion

This episode offers an enlightening, irreverent yet insightful look at the way formative experiences—adoption, loss, eating disorders—can shape but not define a person. Joanne McNally’s journey to self-acceptance, career fulfillment, and independence culminate in comedy that is as compassionate as it is hilarious, making her story both relatable and inspirational.

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For More

• Joanne’s tour dates for "Pinofile" at joannemcnally.com
• Her podcast: “My Therapist Ghosted Me” (with Vogue Williams)

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Note: Advertisements, intros, and non-content sections have been omitted for clarity and conciseness.

Transcript

[Joanne McNally]

Adoption is like just being spat out of a spaceship naked. You're like where did I come from? And I've had a very happy adoption. I've been very, very lucky. But there is a lack of context for yourself. So I went in and then on she's like, look, whatever you think about you and this, this is like throwing a hand grenade into this woman's life. So just be aware of that. Hello, my name is Joanne McNally and I'm in great company. Will you please welcome Joanne McNally. I used to say like I don't fall in love, I fall insane. These very intense relationships where it's like the worst of times and the best of times and you're breaking up all the time. It's always of. I like got a train out to his house. I, I tried to doorstep him basically and his mom was like he's not here. So he wasn't answering my calls. She said do you want to ring him off the landline? My eyes lit up cuz I was like, well he's never going to know that's me. So he answers his what he thinks is his mother. Joanne, Joanne, Hiya, it's me.

[Jamie Lang]

So you then decide not to meet your mom for 10 years and then you decide to make that decision.

[Joanne McNally]

Up to that point it had been a fantasy.

[Jamie Lang]

What happens? Okay, that's just what the whole thing is. Wild.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, it is kind of crazy when I think about it. I've been tinkering around the plug hole of an eating disorder for like years and then it just went, it really like kicked in.

[Jamie Lang]

How bad was the eating disorder?

[Joanne McNally]

It was pretty well. I had to leave my job and move back to my mum's.

[Jamie Lang]

Really.

[Joanne McNally]

I think I was deeply unhappy in my life choices. Recovery had to be like my full time job if I was to really break it down. Dr. Jamie.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, here we go. Can't wait. Give this to me. This is what I love. Give this to me.

[Joanne McNally]

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[Joanne McNally]

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[Joanne McNally]

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[Joanne McNally]

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[Joanne McNally]

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[Jamie Lang]

Hello everyone. My name is Jamie Lang and this is Great Company. Okay, guys, we have a really exciting episode for you today. I'm. I'm super pumped for it. I know you're going to love it. We have Joanne McNally today. Joanne is a friend of mine. She's one of the funniest people I know. She's a comedian and today is so many amazing things that you would never know about Joanne McNally. This is a different side of her. So I know you're gonna love it. Before we start it, I just want to ask one quick favor. The only thing I ever ask for you is that if you can click that subscribe button, it's completely free. It does us wonders. It helps us create the show, get the guests that we want, and keep delivering on the content that you love to watch. So if you can do that one thing, I will love you forever. Okay, here we go. Enjoy this episode of Great company with Joanne McNally.

[Joanne McNally]

My name's Joanne McNally and I'm in Great Company. You would have a facelift a hundred percent. Wait till you see me the next time. My eyes be on the back of my head, depending where I go, if it's a good one or not. Of course, I'm a product of my generation. We're lifting. I'm 42. What age are you again?

[Jamie Lang]

36.

[Joanne McNally]

36. Yeah. So we're kind of similar.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, Kind of similar.

[Jamie Lang]

Kind of similar.

[Joanne McNally]

You always look younger in real life. I always forget you're actually quite babyish.

[Jamie Lang]

Is that what you're noticing right now?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, you're. You're a little pocket rocket because when you see people on telly, they've. They. Because you're, you're very charismatic, but in real life, less so. No, I'm going to say.

[Jamie Lang]

Growing up in Ireland.

[Joanne McNally]

Yes.

[Jamie Lang]

Confident or not confident?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, I was, I was confident in. In different, like, not across the board, but I liked. I was a little show pony baby and I had lots of friends, so I never struggled in that regard. But I wouldn't have been like, I suppose kids don't think about being hot, but I was a hot baby, Jamie. I'm not gonna lie.

[Jamie Lang]

Were you really?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. Well, my mom, I remember because I'm adopted. Mum said when I arrived that obviously she was mad about me because I was this new baby in the house. And it sounds like I kind of let myself in my own keys. But she like. But she said that I asked her once what was it like as a child, and she said you were very flirtatious. And she's like, with men and women, actually. And I was like, oh, my God. I was just like a gamey bi baby. Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

Really?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

So you were aware that, like, I think I just.

[Joanne McNally]

Attention when. As a kid. Who doesn't.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah. You like to. I remember I. As a kid, I like to be cuddled out by all those different things.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

Do you know what's interesting with you, though, is that like there's two things which you've mentioned, and this is probably because I notice it myself, two things that you mentioned which are huge topics, but you just, you make it almost. You use humor to brush over them. The fact that you were adopted.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

And the fact that you had an eating disorder.

[Ad Read Announcer 2]

I know.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

And so you do. You just go, and I was adopted.

[Joanne McNally]

I. They're so. I'm just like, you know, when you start your own thing, you're like, I don't. They don't stick with me anymore.

[Jamie Lang]

But being adopted, that's a huge thing.

[Joanne McNally]

It is. You can make it a huge thing if you want.

[Jamie Lang]

You didn't.

[Joanne McNally]

Well, I think it was handled very, very well. So there was never any big reveal. So my thing is now as a woman in her 40s, you can decide now, I probably get Rinsed. This is going to be one of Those Molly Mathers 24 hours in a day.

[Jamie Lang]

But I would say, yeah, but this will go number one.

[Joanne McNally]

Get over it, move on, Stop making a big deal out of it. But you can deal with your shit or you can choose to not deal with your shit. It's kind of my angle on it. So, yeah, I've dated men who were also adopted and very much leaned into that and kind of really struggled with it. I never really struggled with it. Now maybe my adoption was handled differently to theirs. I don't know. I was adopted into a very happy family. Like, so there was no. It wasn't like I was adopted out of something magic and adopted into something terrible. They were actually kind of quite equal, the two families. They were just kind of normal, regular working families. My birth mother and my adopted mother actually look a little similar, which is kind of strange.

[Jamie Lang]

Okay, but when you say it was articulated to you, when was it said so?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, I asked the same question because I always knew. So it was never for me. It was. I just assumed everyone was adopted because when you're a child, child, you assume your normal is everyone's normal.

[Jamie Lang]

No.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, I just assumed everyone was. We were all just being passed around like little gifts. And then whoever. Whoever was the last to take the rapper off kept the baby kind of vibe. Yeah. Because my brother was adopted. Now, I knew my cousins weren't adopted, but I was like, one for them because it was sold to us that we were loved so much that we were passed around like. So my mom said that basically what happened was that she turned it into a bedtime story. So every night she'd say, you know, everyone loves you so much. There was never any rejection. My thing was that I was too lovable, that no one, Everyone was just, like, fighting to keep me.

[Jamie Lang]

So there was so much love.

[Joanne McNally]

Everyone loves you so much. You're so loved. So loved. It's probably why I'm a comedian. The confidence. You're so loved that.

[Jamie Lang]

That's amazing.

[Joanne McNally]

They wanted someone who could give you everything that you deserve. And they worried that they, you know, it was all really positive. So it was a bedtime story. So I just landed into school thinking I was really special and that everyone was adopted. And it was only when I got in there and it was like, oh, this is like a thing. Do you know, like, do you said.

[Jamie Lang]

To the people at school, hey, by the way, I'm adopted? And they were like, well, what do you mean you're adopted?

[Joanne McNally]

I don't remember I do, I do have one very clear visual memory of. I do remember when the penny dropped that I was like, oh, this is an unusual thing. This isn't like common now. It was fairly. I mean, in Ireland and I was adopted in 83 out of Ross Common in Ireland. So, like, there were. There's. I know a lot of adopted Irish kids, to be honest.

[Ad Read Announcer 3]

Really.

[Joanne McNally]

Well, we know access, we know abortion and we. And it was keep. We were very. It was a pretty religious country at the time. So keeping it away, I've never put.

[Jamie Lang]

Of course that's what it is.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, of course, yeah. Yes. There's loads of us. That's what I was saying in Ireland, it's like just fucking Snapple. It's pretty common practice.

[Jamie Lang]

I, I had a crazy. You know this better than me, apparently, before the referendum in Ireland. Wasn't it? If a. If a woman was sexually assaulted by a man and she fell pregnant.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

And if she aborted the child, she would get a longer prison sentence than the person who sexually assaulted her.

[Joanne McNally]

I don't, to be honest, I don't know. But there's always archaic laws. Any. Any law that stays in place from centuries ago. There's always going to be archaic parts to us. But like, I remember when I was growing up, I was really anti abortion. Cause I saw myself as like an abortion survivor. Cause I was like. Like I've been wriggling around, dodging hangers. Do you know what I mean? Because I was like, oh, God, I'm so lucky. Because my take on it was having no life experience of my own. Had abortion been readily available that my birth mother would have. I was absolutely gonna. That was. I was certainly a person for that job. Do you know what I mean? I was a candidate for it. So that was my thinking when I was growing up. I was like, oh, no, no, no, let them. If women wanna have abortions, let them go to the uk. Hopefully the sea will stop them. Hopefully they'll be like, I'm ferry and they'll keep the babies. Because I was like, well, I could have easily, you know, been aborted because I wasn't, I wasn't planned.

[Jamie Lang]

So was there a sense of like, the fact that you felt grateful to be alive? 100.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. But then you grow up and you realize that's not the real world. And I, I value the women, the lives of women who are alive. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

Get me into that mindset. Because if you, when you as you're young, naive, and you kind of go like, okay, yeah, I'm adopted. Whatever. I think everyone's adopted. And then slowly. So you get school and you grow in that, like, awareness, and then suddenly you realize you are adopted. That doesn't change anything within you. You. You don't have questions. You don't want to seek things. You don't.

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, God. I'd love. I do think now as an adult. So I was so determined that there would be because I had a lovely, happy adoption.

[Jamie Lang]

Right.

[Joanne McNally]

I'm very lucky. But I did absolutely feel like there was something amiss for sure. It's. And now I would call it like a kind of a identity crisis of sorts. And that, you know, there's. There's also a lot of adopted comics, which I'm sure probably isn't that much of a coincidence. There's this kind of need to prove yourself or need for validation or. Yeah. I mean, there's all these books on it now, which obviously I have not read. But, like, my fur. I do remember standing.

[Jamie Lang]

This is fascinating.

[Joanne McNally]

I do remember standing in the schoolyard when I was a girl. I don't know, I might have been like eight or nine kind of thing.

[Ad Read Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

And there was like a little gang of girls standing around me. And I was. So once. Once I realized there was currency in being adopted, and because I was a little show pony baby, then I was like, I'm going to use this to my advantage. So then I was coming up with all sorts of stories. I didn't know anything about birth parents, but in school I was like, they're like, where are they? And I was like, plane crash, car accident, like, rinsed by a truck. I come up with all these, like. Because it gave you storytelling.

[Jamie Lang]

Because it was storytelling. So. And then it would be a woman.

[Joanne McNally]

Show standing the Ironton, everyone. And I think it was.

[Jamie Lang]

It would make you more exciting.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, of course. And I loved it. And then I remember I was. There was one story I think I was in on the plane, and I was a cell survivor. There was all sorts.

[Jamie Lang]

That's because. What. Because you felt that you. If you were going to say that, that would make you far more exciting and so you could storytell. Then people would be talking about you. You'd love telling stories.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. It's more interesting saying you're a cell survivor of a plane crash that your parents died in and they had to give you up for adoption.

[Jamie Lang]

Then, I don't know, you wanted to impress everyone.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. Storytelling.

[Jamie Lang]

Did you ever get caught out for saying that?

[Joanne McNally]

Well, I'm pretty sure the reason it's Such a strong memory is. I must have at some point. Yeah. Mom's like, will you stop killing everyone off and plane crashes, Joanne, for sake.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah. Okay, so. But then your. Your parents close to never with your parents, right? Not your biological parents, but your parents who adopted you.

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, my father's dad, he died here. Like, he died again.

[Jamie Lang]

You brush over these things.

[Joanne McNally]

He's so long dead. No, but Joanne, you.

[Jamie Lang]

You can't.

[Joanne McNally]

It's like when someone goes. Someone goes, oh, sorry. I'm like, no, no, you're Grant. Don't worry about it.

[Jamie Lang]

Because this is.

[Joanne McNally]

He was amazing, actually.

[Jamie Lang]

This is Frank, right?

[Joanne McNally]

Frank. He was actually English.

[Jamie Lang]

Really?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. He's from Lancashire, Preston. But he. Do you know what's really sweet about Frank? And my memories of him are a little shifty, obviously. Well, I was 16 when he died, but he was sick for a very long time at a stroke when I was 11, so then he was kind of in and out of rehab and he never walked again and that kind of thing. But he was from Preston in Lancashire, and my mother is from Cork in Ireland, but she was training as a nurse in London. And my dad had a real horn for Irish women, so he was just determined that he was going to meet an Irish woman. He just loved Irish women. So he'd go to these Irish dances and, like, it's so funny because now people call it like a king or something. People. He'd be on field or something. Do you know what I mean? He'd be like, irish women only. But back then it was just. It was what it was. But anyway, so we met my mum at an Irish dance and then he moved back to Ireland with her. But then he learned to speak Irish, which I thought was really sweet because the Irish education system, the primary school education system in Ireland, we need to. And for our leaving, so we need to be able to speak Irish. But our father spoke better Irish than we did because he. He really went to the truth. He's like, well, if I'm going to raise Irish kids, yeah, I need to speak the language that they're never going to speak themselves.

[Jamie Lang]

Why do they. Why did they choose to adopt?

[Joanne McNally]

They couldn't have kids, really. Yeah. Just couldn't have them. Yeah, whatever. The two bodies were wired. My mother had endometrial, but then. So that brings its own. Fertility issues.

[Jamie Lang]

But anyone. And I don't want to get too deep because I know maybe you don't want to say, but having finally your doctor, then Frank, your dad passing away. When you're 16 years old, that's quite a lot to handle. I know it's a lot to handle.

[Joanne McNally]

I'm just. But I'm 42 now.

[Jamie Lang]

I know.

[Joanne McNally]

I'm very like, let's get on with it now.

[Jamie Lang]

Really. So you're just like.

[Joanne McNally]

I'm like, okay, that's that now. Let's move on. Yeah. If you pull a string, the whole thing will fall apart.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, it's just like, keep going.

[Joanne McNally]

It's just like, I'll leave here and have a full mental breakdown. No one will see me for 10 years. I do. I am a bit like old school like that. I'm like, you can.

[Jamie Lang]

You think that's the way to do it.

[Joanne McNally]

You can dwell or you can just. Some people are different. I've just been a. Okay, let's just get on with it now. I mean, like, I've done.

[Jamie Lang]

Is your mom like that as well?

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

There you go.

[Joanne McNally]

She's. She's like, what do you mean you're depressed? Just have a shower. Bit of nature. You be grant.

[Jamie Lang]

Okay, so. So when did you go? I just. Because I want to know about your parents. So then when did you decide to go and, like, search for your actual biological parents?

[Joanne McNally]

So then I was. I knew I was always going to do it because I definitely. And there was that show, like, I loved acting. And I was like, ta da. And tap dancing. And I was the kid who's, you know, knock around to the neighbors to.

[Jamie Lang]

Always wanted to perform.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. And that wasn't in my family at all. So when I. So when I said, like, I call my adoptive family. My family, obviously, but that wasn't there. So that was. So I felt that that had. I'd inherited some sort of panto dynasty, you know, that I was like, going to be the child of Twiggy and who else? Julian. Clary. It was like I felt like this was. There was something big coming my way, because I was.

[Jamie Lang]

That must be a weird moment, right? When you suddenly think in your head, you're like, right. There's something more out there. Because you must have that sort of realization where you're like, okay, hang on. These are my parents. I love them. But I want to understand my history. Right? My roots, in a way. Even though you've got your roots.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. You don't have your roots.

[Jamie Lang]

You don't.

[Joanne McNally]

Well, it depends how you look at it. Like, I've had this conversation with my mother before and I. You're. You're rooted. You are rooted, but you're rooted in your family. But I would have. I have. I have an interest in kind of like, history and DNA and all that kind of thing. And that's obviously a big missing piece. So that, to me, was. And physically, you don't look like anyone and stuff, so. And I always had a huge amount of hair as a child. Like, loads of hair, which I still do. Obviously, have lasered all the dolphins. I'm like a dolphin now. But growing up, I was like. I was like a little bear. And so hair everywhere. Everywhere. Yeah, everywhere. I think we shaved my legs at five. Yeah. Just a little hairy baby.

[Jamie Lang]

Okay.

[Joanne McNally]

And loads of thick, like, loads of hair in my head. And then when I found these, like, these documents that when you're adopted, they come. You come with a little pamphlet of, like. It's actually quite cute. It's all very 80s. It's kind of like clip art in the front. Like, you know, this is what you.

[Jamie Lang]

Get as a kid.

[Ad Read Announcer 3]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

So when you. When they collect you from wherever they get you. I thought. So I thought my idea of adoption, which was completely false, was that my parents went in. I obviously saw a TV show or something, and there was a big glass.

[Jamie Lang]

Like Annie. You would have seen Annie. And, like, you.

[Joanne McNally]

Well, I knew I was a baby.

[Jamie Lang]

Okay, you were a baby fine.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. I knew it wasn't. I wasn't full, Annie.

[Jamie Lang]

Okay.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, Yeah. I wasn't mopping floors or anything before I got to them.

[Jamie Lang]

You thought it was like a screen and there were, like, a Babies in the room.

[Joanne McNally]

Loads of babies.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. And that they. They'd go through them and they picked the baby that they wanted, which isn't at all what happens. You're matched with the. With the baby. It's like a blind date. Wow. Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

And then you're given, like, a little leaflet.

[Joanne McNally]

And then when you. Like when they finally. When all the paperwork is signed and it's all done and just a deal, they obviously collect you, which must be so mental. And, yeah, they go in and they collect the baby and then the baby. I'm the baby. And then you come with a pamphlet, and you're a little late, fish. You're just like. So they still kept it at Lightfoot that I came in, and then this pamphlet of, like, watch while I was eating, like, feed her this and feed her that and whatever. Wow. Yeah. With a lot of sugar. Teaspoons of sugar. I was christened Katrina.

[Jamie Lang]

Nice.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, I like Katrina.

[Jamie Lang]

I like Katrina.

[Joanne McNally]

I think I could have pulled Katrina off.

[Jamie Lang]

I like Katrina.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, so do I.

[Jamie Lang]

So with all these thoughts in your head and with this leaflet, you were like, I want to go and find my biological parents. Because I had this acting and everything within me.

[Joanne McNally]

Sorry. I was saying when I read the little pamphlet thing, it said that my father had loads of hair. So I, so I became kind of very hyper focused on him. And then I remember there was an, there was an Irish whiskey ad at home or thrown up and there was a guy with hair like he. Loads of hair playing the bear on him because he was on the tv. I was like, hello, Daddy. Yeah, and so anyone on the tv? I. Yeah, I was. Because I was like, I'm obviously from a famous acting family because it made it more exciting. Again, horse, you don't be from a normal family. How boring you want to be Anastasia. Wow. From the Russian family. I mean the age. But that's what you.

[Jamie Lang]

I didn't even think about that. So you're making. So not only you at school, like making up these scenarios how you survive plane crash, which makes it exciting in your own brain. You're thinking, well, my real parents are out there and there's something famous and exciting in Hollywood and one day I'm going to go and find this and it's going to be amazing.

[Joanne McNally]

I think because I had, I showed an ability for like acting and writing when I was young. Right. So.

[Jamie Lang]

And you were super smart.

[Joanne McNally]

I don't think I'm.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, you are.

[Joanne McNally]

I'm like, I'm not thick, but my brother is really good at maths and drawing. So like, I didn't have those abilities. But my, my father Frank was also really good at maths and drawing, so my brother could kind of see himself in that, whereas my little skill set wasn't reflected back to me at all. So that's why I think I was looking for it elsewhere.

[Jamie Lang]

I need to know what is the moment when you suddenly go, right, I'm going to go and try and find them.

[Joanne McNally]

I was seeing a guy at the time who was adopted and he'd found his.

[Jamie Lang]

I think you're like one of the only people I know who's adopted. Like, I don't. You seem like.

[Joanne McNally]

No, yeah, we trauma bonded. What can I say? But he was the same as me. We were like, oh, it's done. It's had no impact on our lives. And then the more we spoke, we were like, actually, hold on. As I sit there in my white, one of those mental coats, you have straight jackets from eating disorder and all. And I'm like, absolutely, Grant, this hasn't affected me at all.

[Jamie Lang]

You just go in the whole time. You go in the whole time.

[Joanne McNally]

Educated comedian. I'm like, what's ever going on?

[Jamie Lang]

I just don't think about it.

[Joanne McNally]

As I'm handcuffed to a padded wall. I think about things. It's working fine for me, actually. But he'd already done it.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

And then he was like. I think he was a little bit older than me and I think speaking to him. And I knew I was going to do it at some point.

[Jamie Lang]

Okay.

[Joanne McNally]

And do you know what actually happened? I did try to do it when I was quite young. I tried to do it when I was about 20, 122, because the place that I was adopted out of was actually down the road from a university randomly, and I wasn't really committed to my studies. So one day I was literally like, instead of going to this lecture, I'm going to. I'm going to make an appointment and go down and see.

[Jamie Lang]

And that's wild.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. So I went in and then on, she. She kind of annoyed me. She. She was very much about the impact this would have on my birth mother. And very. She, she. She actually said. She was like, look, whatever, whatever, whatever you think about you. And this, this is like throwing a hand grenade into this woman's life. So just be aware of that.

[Jamie Lang]

And your mum is aware you're doing it. Not your biological mum, but your mum.

[Joanne McNally]

That adopted my adoption. Yeah, she. No, no, no, she didn't know at that stage.

[Jamie Lang]

No, she didn't know.

[Joanne McNally]

She didn't know. No. Because I was like. As much as she. She would. She was always of the ilk that she was. She was always very. She's like, if ever you want to do it. Like, I knew what I was getting myself into when I adopted kids, like. Yeah. But she also says the fact that you didn't come out of me blows my mind. She's like, I can't get my head around because obviously, you know, of course, she's like.

[Jamie Lang]

And she's. She's yours and you're. You're hers. Yeah. Which is the most beautiful thing.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. But so I didn't tell her. I didn't tell her. Then I was really. I went down and. And then the nun told me my birth mother's name. And I was so overwhelmed by the whole thing because as we've since established, I don't think about. I don't think about things. I'm just like, just do it. Get it done.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

And then suddenly it was like, she oh, my God. It was like she just came into.

[Jamie Lang]

Focus because it became a thing.

[Joanne McNally]

She was like a human being with a name. And then I realized I was like, oh, no, no, I'm not ready. I'm not ready for this at all. Why?

[Jamie Lang]

Because what did it make you feel?

[Joanne McNally]

Up to that point, it had been a fantasy. You just let your imagination run wild. She could have been, you know what I mean? She could have been Helen Mirren. No, that was unlikely. She was. The sound like Helen Mirren lived in Ross combat in the 80s, but you know what I mean? Whereas, oh, this is a real woman with a real life and a name. And the name just completely threw me. Knowing her name completely threw me. And I realize then, oh, this actually deserves some thought, Joanne. This is one of those times you're gonna have to actually think about something. So I, I, I left it then for another 10 years.

[Jamie Lang]

Wow.

[Joanne McNally]

But I have, but they had contacted her because I had made contact. So she did. There was an initial contact from the, from the orphanage, hospital, whatever you call them, the nuns. My mom said, she told us we came from a hospital, and when we found the pamphlets at orphanage, and she was like, oh, orphanage, it's just such a terrible word. It's like, yeah, you're actually dead, right?

[Jamie Lang]

Actually. Terrible, terrible words. Terrible words.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. Oliver gave it a terrible press, didn't he?

[Jamie Lang]

He ruined it. And Annie, that's funny that when it becomes. It's almost like a fantasy in your head, and then when it's not a fantasy anymore, it becomes too real to handle.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. You're like, oh, this isn't pretend anymore. And I was like, oh, no, no, no, I'm not ready for this.

[Jamie Lang]

But, Joan, that's the interesting thing about the connections between, like, mothers and kids, right? Even though your adopted mum is your mum. Yeah, that's your mum. That's who, that's who you love. That's you. You guys are like that. But for some reason, is it storytelling throughout lives? What is it that makes you have that connection to someone that you've never met? Do you know what I mean? This person. I just need to understand that. Maybe there isn't a way to understand it.

[Joanne McNally]

I think it's, I think the human condition needs to have a sense of belonging.

[Jamie Lang]

It needs to have a sense of belonging, doesn't it?

[Joanne McNally]

I think the one thing from my experience of adoption is, and I've had a very happy adoption. I've been very, very lucky. But there is a lack of context for yourself. And I think when you look behind you and see your parents and your grandparents, and you know, there's a physical resemblance or you. That's. I, I. Adoption's like just being spat out of a spaceship naked in a. In the woods. And you're. And you know, you're like, where did I come from? And I think that's just part of the human condition. I think we all need that. It's like needing. It's like, why everyone's back into Jesus. Have you heard Jesus? Everyone's religious.

[Jamie Lang]

Everyone's religious again. Because you need meaning and purpose.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, exactly. And I think that is part of that piece.

[Jamie Lang]

Why did you decide to go into comedy? What was that moment that you were like, I want to go and do this.

[Joanne McNally]

I was in a play and a commit. I was in. I. So I was in treatment at the time for eating disorder, so I'd had to quit my job. I was a publicist. You know that. And.

[Jamie Lang]

Because you did sociology at Dublin, right?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, and I did a master's in pr, as we call it now. Pr.

[Jamie Lang]

Pr.

[Joanne McNally]

I'll never forget when I moved to London, trying to order butcher. It was one of the most embarrassing, humiliating. I was like, butter. They're like, whoa. I was like, butter. And I'd be like, acting it out and all. I never felt so Irish was. Anyway, pr. I was a pull. I did a master's in pr, went into prison, worked in youth brands for a while. And then I'd been tinkering around the plug hole of an eating disorder for, like, years, and then it just went. It really, like, kicked in because I was under. I was overwhelmed at work and all the usual shit. Then I had to leave my job. We've backed my mom's blah, blah, blah.

[Jamie Lang]

How bad was the eating disorder?

[Joanne McNally]

It was pretty. But, like, to leave my job and move back to my mom's.

[Jamie Lang]

Really?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. Like, I was in. I was. I was never an inpatient. I was an outpatient, but I was in a treatment program, so I had to kind of. But it was actually the best thing that ever happened to me. That's not true. That's it. That's an exaggeration.

[Jamie Lang]

That's what I like to say.

[Joanne McNally]

Change the thing. Some of the happiest days of my life were getting weighed in that hospital.

[Jamie Lang]

No, but it's hard eating disorder because it completely takes over your mind.

[Joanne McNally]

Well, this is the thing, so. And what I mean is I think there's in a way a blessing that it was as serious as it was, because I think a lot of people can tip through their whole life with an eating disorder and it go undiagnosed or they just keep it to themselves. Whereas mine got to the point where it was. You could. No one could ignore. Ignored anymore. If people have to kind of like, you know, take over.

[Jamie Lang]

Well, because you became too thin.

[Joanne McNally]

Well, it was still. I was just too sick. But so, so that was in a way good because then I had to press pause on everything. I couldn't, I had to just deal with it like full time. It had to be like my full time gig, like recovery had to be like my full time job. It wasn't like I was doing a job and then just like going to meetings in the evening.

[Jamie Lang]

How old are you at this point?

[Joanne McNally]

32. Wow. 31, 30 30s. Around that.

[Jamie Lang]

It's a prime time in the life, right? Yeah, that's, that's. So your, your twenties is sort of. You're meant to be figuring out yourself, like deciding what you're doing to do. And then 30s, they sort of say this is when you, you know, you should start be like finding what you want to do, but actually you're in the mix of an eating disorder.

[Joanne McNally]

What I wanted to do was be really, really thin. That was what I realized. I was like, this is my goal, my purpose. I think I.

[Jamie Lang]

Was it a lack of control in your life to begin with?

[Joanne McNally]

I think I was. Look, it's so hard. Who knows?

[Jamie Lang]

Who knows?

[Joanne McNally]

They're so complicated. And like I've already said, I think everyone kind of has one in a way. Mine did escalate, but I think I was quite unsatisfied if I was to really break it down. Dr. Jamie.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, here we go. I can't wait. Give this to me. This is what I love. Give this to me.

[Joanne McNally]

I think, yeah, I think I wanted to perform and I think there was a creative side of me that was not being met at all.

[Jamie Lang]

And I think your soul wasn't being fulfilled.

[Joanne McNally]

I think I was deeply unhappy in my life choices and I didn't have the confidence or the kind of contacts or the, the. I wasn't in the world of performance or comedy or anything like that. Just wasn't in that world the confidence.

[Jamie Lang]

To do it either.

[Joanne McNally]

No. When you, once you hit your 30s.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah. You're stuck.

[Joanne McNally]

You're not going down to do five minutes in the store. Do you know what I mean? That's just.

[Jamie Lang]

You're not.

[Joanne McNally]

Those days are gone. You've made your choices, you've made your bed. Now you're just gonna. You're just Gonna line yourself.

[Jamie Lang]

But it's looking. It's not.

[Joanne McNally]

Some people would do it. I wasn't gonna do it. I was too. I was too, like, shy, I guess, or. I didn't. I needed someone to tell me to do it. And then. And then that happened. Someone told me to do it and kind of pushed me to do it, so I did it.

[Jamie Lang]

And so then when you. You have your eating disorder.

[Joanne McNally]

Right.

[Jamie Lang]

And so then you have to look after yourself.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

You come back from that, and then you. You write a show. Bite me. Right.

[Joanne McNally]

Yes. So let me remember what happened. Yeah. So basically, got the. Gotten the. Got the eating disorder. Grant was like, okay, let's deal with this. But I was still. Because I. I was an outpatient. I was still very free to, like. I had all this free time to just be mental and then. But I knew something had to change, and I started writing a blog, which I'm pretty sure still exists, called Eat the Pastry, but I've lost the login details, obviously, so I have no idea. And then someone sent it to a Irish newspaper, and. And then I got a column out of that, which wasn't. The column wasn't about eating disorder. But I realized then.

[Jamie Lang]

Are you being very honest in it as well?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, but the. It was. It was. That ended up becoming Bite me. See, I always wanted to write, and I always liked writing, and I was always a good writer, even in school, like, even as a kid, you know, you'd like. I could spell, like, just that. That little muscle was there. And then suddenly, I had nothing else to do, so I was like, okay, all right. And then the second I got rewarded quite quickly with that, I got that little column, and then I was like, oh, hold on, let's. There's a bit of traction here now. And then I got cast. A friend of mine, Una McEvit, who's a director, she cast me in a play that she's doing called Singlehood. And then from that, I met a comedian who was like, actually, I think you should do standard comedy. So I got Joanne.

[Ad Read Announcer 3]

That's wild.

[Joanne McNally]

I was.

[Ad Read Announcer 1]

So.

[Jamie Lang]

It's still online, by the way. Eat the Pastry.

[Joanne McNally]

Is this.

[Jamie Lang]

But that's funny that you would. You would. Like. You were. But you were documenting it.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, but.

[Jamie Lang]

So there was we with the insurance at the beginning. Were you. Were you embarrassed about it and shameful about it, or were you just quite open with it?

[Joanne McNally]

No, no, no. So the lies involved in an eating disorder. I mean, we should work for the FBI. Like, really? Oh, yeah. You're living A completely double life.

[Jamie Lang]

Explain that to me.

[Joanne McNally]

Until people start. Until the cracks start showing. And then the problem with an eating disorder, Well, I mean, there are obviously many depending on the kind of eating disorder you have, because some people could have severe bulimia and their weight stays the same, whereas I was bulimic anorexic. So ultimately, you get to the stage where it's very visible there's something wrong with you because you're obviously, you know, not looking well. You don't look great. And I always say it's. It's like if anyone knows anyone going through eating, sorry, never say you look too thin. Just say you look really unwell. Because too thin is a good thing. Of course. That's like, ah, this is like, I'm great.

[Jamie Lang]

I'm doing what I'm trying to do, is now succeeding.

[Joanne McNally]

I'm meeting my girls. Wow. Where it's just, look, you look really unwell. For me, that was the first kind of when people started going, using that kind of language around me.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

I was like, what do you anovate? I look, you're just jealous that you don't have my discipline. I've got a bot. Blah, blah, blah. More absolute carnage coming out of my mouth. But. So that was the but.

[Jamie Lang]

It's amazing. But it's amazing how that. No, but it's amazing how something so tragic then leads into something so amazing. Right. Because without all of that stuff that happened, you wouldn't have been. You wouldn't. Life being put on pause. You wouldn't have written that blog. You wouldn't have done that terrifying moment and then moved into what you're doing.

[Joanne McNally]

So when I say wild. When I say I wouldn't change the eating disorder.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

I'm too nerdy. Like, you can't. We're just a product of everything that's happened. It's like when people say, what's it like to be adopted? I don't know. It's all I know. Like, it's like if you mix colors of paint, you can't take those bits. You can't, like, separate them again. You're just a product of everything that's happened to you. So I have no idea. Like, if I wasn't. If I didn't have that eating stored, I wouldn't be sitting here.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

So in a way, I'm like, well, everything's happened for a reason, I guess. Even though I don't believe in like.

[Jamie Lang]

But with buy me. So buy me. So buy me happened then. When was your first time you ever did stand up. When was the first time you walked onto stage and went in front of a mic by yourself? And we're like, right, I'm gonna go.

[Joanne McNally]

I'm pretty sure it was 2018. Dude. That's crazy. I'm pretty sure my first open spot was in 2018. I think I did five minutes in 2018.

[Jamie Lang]

Nervous.

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, yeah. Like, I'm not gonna pretend I wasn't nervous, but because I'd been doing. So what happened was when Una cast me in the play called Singlehood, which was a play where we were just talking about our love lives, and I. I. When I was. When I had an eating disorder, I had more boyfriends than I knew what to do with. And I don't know what that says about me or them, but I had men swinging out of me. I was on fire. But I also, I think, was immense. I think I was also actively looking for it because I was like, oh, a man will fix this now. I. I knew that things were not good with me. Yeah. And I knew. And I. I was looking for something outside of myself to fix it.

[Jamie Lang]

Were you feeling unhappy?

[Joanne McNally]

Well, I was. I knew I was. I can't. It gets.

[Jamie Lang]

There's a difference between, like. There's difference between actually, like, feeling. There's actually a difference between, like, I think. Think really being unhappy and just like.

[Joanne McNally]

Well, I knew I'd lost control of my detox.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

I knew my fitness journey was.

[Jamie Lang]

It's not even going.

[Joanne McNally]

It's spinning out of. Spinning out of hand at this point. Yeah. And I was like, oh, okay.

[Jamie Lang]

But maybe I'm a little.

[Joanne McNally]

Isn't everyone. Oh, not everyone's doing this. No. I mean, I'm probably making light of it, but, like, I definitely. I. You become so possessed by it.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

I remember speaking to a therapist once, and I was like, okay, fine. I accept this isn't normal behavior and it's not sustainable. Right. There's obviously some issues here, but, like, why do I care so much about my weight? Like, what I don't understand, like, why do you. Why does Aisling not care? Or why does Carol not care? Like, why are they eating sandwiches in the park? Like, why am I? And she said, because basically when you.

[Jamie Lang]

Your.

[Joanne McNally]

Your brain's broken. Really? And so she did this diagram of a brain. She's like, imagine you use, like, 100% of your brain. You've now let 89% of your brain fill up with these thoughts.

[Jamie Lang]

Wow.

[Joanne McNally]

So she's like, well, we're going to work at reducing. Reducing, Reducing, reducing those thoughts. And so that was, that was. For some reason that diagram really worked for me because I was like, oh, okay, it's. I need to learn how to control my thoughts or think less of these things. And then she was like, and soon when we do the work, you won't, it won't have the same, what am I trying to say? Priority. It won't, you won't, it won't feel like the priority. It feels like at the moment, but we just have to do the work.

[Jamie Lang]

It's. It's a cruel, cruel disease. It's really cruel.

[Joanne McNally]

It's a pain in the hell because ultimately you have to rework your whole relationship with food. Because look, I've never given up alcohol for any length of time. I mean that's probably in, probably coming down the road for me as well at some point. Oh, that's another problem. Every day stops the thinking. But like people who give up booze, I think there's some, some piece in the fact that you don't have to like micro dose booze, whereas with food, of course, you have to, you have to eat. You can't not eat.

[Jamie Lang]

Oh, it's constant, isn't it? So you've got, and alcohol is kind of hidden away like alcohol is, I think food. You have to constantly do it. So you're constantly, you're constantly remembered that.

[Joanne McNally]

This is a thing that you reprogram how you eat. Wow.

[Jamie Lang]

But I suppose what I think is so amazing about you is that the fact that you've been open about it.

[Joanne McNally]

Right.

[Jamie Lang]

And also so many women who look up to you, by the way, so many women who look up to you who without a doubt, and men who have been suffering with it will go, oh my God, if I'm suffering right now, I can still be successful, I can still get through this because Joanne McNally has done that. That 100%.

[Joanne McNally]

I hope so. Someone without anything out of it, without.

[Jamie Lang]

A doubt, they will. 100.

[Joanne McNally]

I still do get messages when I was doing Bite Me because it was a show about eating disorders, obviously there would be like a lot of women coming in and it's, I was like, this is actually a bit heavy now.

[Jamie Lang]

It becomes heavy. I get it.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. And like you're talking to them and all and like you just, you're like in this gang, it's like this club of women because you, you see them and you understand almost immediately what's happening, you know, behind closed doors for them and how isolating it is and how lonely it is and sorry for them. You empathize massively. You're like, I understand. I see you. You know. But then we toured Bite Me for a while. Me and Una McKevitt directed it. But that was Eat the Pastry. We turned that blog into a play. And that was what Bite Me was. But what I was going to say to you was when you were saying, were you open about it? I. The start, obviously, no. And then once I cracked and I had my, like, I was like, right, this is unmanageable. Now I kind of, you know, hand myself over to whatever it was, the professionals, and I was not God. It's not. I. I don't. I. I couldn't. I don't. I don't believe in any of that stuff. It's terrible, isn't it? I don't even believe in star signs. I'm like the worst white woman alive. But once I admitted it was a problem, once I'd kind of decide I was like, okay, fine, I'm. I'm. I'm over pretending like I. I'm mentally unwell. I'm mentally unwell. Then I couldn't. I. There was no one could walk past me in the street. How are you on mentally ill. I was telling everyone because I lied about it for so long.

[Jamie Lang]

Oh, it was like a tap. It was like a release.

[Joanne McNally]

The release was like, I'm out of my mind.

[Jamie Lang]

Wow.

[Joanne McNally]

Harry Johan. I'm out of my mind. How are you? So then. And then a friend.

[Jamie Lang]

Wow, what a release that is.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, yeah. It was unreal. But then, of course, you kind of lean into that role and you're like, of course.

[Jamie Lang]

Because that becomes your identity.

[Joanne McNally]

Yes. And then a very close friend of mine spoke to me once, and she's. She's so funny. She's probably the funniest person I know. She said to me one day, okay, enough now. Start. Like, she was very honest. She was like, people only have a certain amount of sympathy in them for you. So. So you're, You're. She. It was maybe a bit early for the conversation. That's what she's like. She's kind of hardcore like that.

[Jamie Lang]

She's like, you've just been.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, I was like, it's been two weeks. I mean, can I not enjoy my new role for a little bit? She was like, let's move on now to start. Start getting better now because don't. Don't stay in this patient phase for too long now. How does F1 turn data into insights at 200 mph? AWS is how fans get inside the strategy. AWS powers next level innovation for millions of businesses.

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[Jamie Lang]

When's the worst breakup you ever had?

[Joanne McNally]

Well, to be fair, I've had loads. Really? Yeah. Because I'm, I'm, I'm very like, when I'm in, I'm in. Not anymore. Now I'm quite out.

[Jamie Lang]

Do you, do you do the dumping or can you get dumped?

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, I can get dumped. It's quite a skill.

[Jamie Lang]

Really.

[Joanne McNally]

Oh yeah. I think, I really don't. Yeah.

[Ad Read Announcer 2]

No.

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

Do you see it coming?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

Oh boy.

[Ad Read Announcer 1]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

I'm never one of those women who's like, it came out of nowhere.

[Jamie Lang]

One.

[Joanne McNally]

One did. One came out of nowhere. But like, I wasn't that into them. It was more of a relief because when I was sick and I. These string of men when they break up me because it was like three months in the button, they were like, oh, she's, she's Matt. Do you know what I mean? Like you can get away with it for three, three months. Then you're like, you're staying over, you have to eat dinner. Like it's.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, you can keep it together.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. Three months in, they're all like, they're right. Like you could literally set your watch by it.

[Jamie Lang]

Really?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. And. But it was like a release. I was like, oh, grand. I'll just Go back to meeting sort of night full time. Thanks. You were kind of holding the whole thing up to be honest. You were in the way of my weight loss journey. Thank you. Yeah, but no, I have. I used to like I remember my first breakup up.

[Jamie Lang]

Oh, how old are you?

[Joanne McNally]

My God, I'll never forget the pain. Like I remember breaking up with the guy when I was 10 years of age and get out of here. Joanne, I swear to God I'm gamey. I've been going a long time, Jamie. I was an early starter. I loved boys, I was boy mad.

[Jamie Lang]

But you can't be ten and be broken hearted.

[Joanne McNally]

Oh my God. Do you remember the song I Swear by the moon?

[Jamie Lang]

My God pipes.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, I know because I've listened to it 60 billion times. Crying, holding his not Numb Chucks dog tags which I'd engraved our names in myself with the compass. He didn't even, he didn't even know I had his. No, no, not Numb Chucks cold tags, dog tags. Just self flagellating myself just hitting my arm back. Why did he leave? It's your fault. But then I remember my first serious breakup when I was. I don't know, I must be in my 20s I'd say.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

And I like obviously because your first serious relationship like I guess this is me now. We're gonna just get married. Which is hilarious in hindsight, you know like I've girls coming to my shows now and they're in their early 20s and I'm like are you gonna marry him? She's like yeah. And I was like I'm. I don't think you are. You know what I mean? You need to speak to Angela. You're not. This is, you're too fucking young for this. But I was so devastated. Oh my God. I remember I like got a train out to his house, I tried to doorstep him basically and his mum was like he's not here. And I ended going in sitting and waiting for. I remember, I remember I rang so I ran, I went. I was heartbroken and I was like I just need to see him, he just needs to see me and then everything will be fine. Like I was quite a needy girlfriend and got the train out to his house. He was living with his mom at the time, we were only like young and his mom was like he's not here. And she could see that I just wasn't going to go anywhere. And she's like do you want to come in and wait for him? I said yeah, so. And he wasn't answering my calls. I was ringing him off my little pink flip phone and she said, do you want to ring him off the landline? My eyes lit up because I was like, well, he's never going to know that's me. Yeah, I'll ring him. So he answers his. What he thinks is his mother. It's me.

[Jamie Lang]

I murdered your mom.

[Joanne McNally]

Your mom's strapped to a radio if you don't come home the next 10 minutes. I've got a specific set of skills.

[Jamie Lang]

That is so nuts. You. You took a bus to the. Took a train.

[Joanne McNally]

I got the Dart.

[Ad Read Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

He lived in Shank Hill at the time.

[Jamie Lang]

He took a train to the mom's house.

[Joanne McNally]

But that was just a bonus that she let me do that. I could never have anticipated I'd get a hotline straight to his mobile, but I remember sitting on the dark on it. So you know when you're broken, you know when you're heartbroken and it's like. Like I've learned a lot. Like I. I fall. I used to say, like, I don't fall in love, I fall insane when I'm in love. I'm. I'm so. I have these very, like. It's deep. Deep, deep, deep. Yeah. These very intense relationships where it's like the worst of times and the best of times and you're breaking up all the time. It's always that kind of never anything like. No. Right.

[Jamie Lang]

Is it because it's the type of person you go for or what I say?

[Joanne McNally]

It's a bit of me and a bit of them. It's always. You can't remove yourself from all accountability. I know myself that it's probably that dopamine thing, you know, that kind of ADHD brain vibe. It's like the.

[Jamie Lang]

You chase that. The highs and the drama. And also when something's still. It feels boring.

[Joanne McNally]

Exactly.

[Jamie Lang]

And so you want it to be. Feel exciting the whole time.

[Joanne McNally]

It's quite a juvenile way of going about things as well. I hope that I don't behave like that anymore. I've had some very boring relationships in. So hopefully that's a good sign that I've evolved. Board off my tits. This must be what it's like. But I remember sitting on the dark, going out to his house and feeling like at peace because I was going to see him. So it's. They say it's like a drug and you've just gone. Your drug's just been ripped off you. It's cold turkey.

[Jamie Lang]

So you felt calm that you knew.

[Joanne McNally]

You were going there because they're grinning like an absolute fruit loop on the train. I never remember I was in a lawn style top and a denim skirt and my. My furry boots. Wow. Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

Do you think there's a.

[Joanne McNally]

He didn't. It didn't. Didn't work out. Would you believe that? Can you believe I didn't marry that man? It's not shocking.

[Jamie Lang]

Do you. Would you like to get married?

[Joanne McNally]

No.

[Jamie Lang]

Really?

[Joanne McNally]

I wouldn't. So if I met someone tomorrow and I was again mad about them, because I do have it in me.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, I. I do have it in me to go. To go mad, to get mad about them. And I think I've hardened up in the last couple of years. I don't think I'm the way I was like. I think it's. I'm more for men. I'm way more. I'm not. I don't fall the way I used to fall as often as I used to fall.

[Jamie Lang]

I think you're quite tough.

[Joanne McNally]

I am quite tough.

[Jamie Lang]

You are tough.

[Joanne McNally]

I still have three rides and I'm like, would you love me if I was a worm? But like, at the start, I'm very tough. I'm too tough, actually. I've kind of hardened up a bit too much, I think, with the job as well. The job became, I realized, pretty hard pretty quickly. The job is a bit of a block, really.

[Jamie Lang]

Why? Because you have to be married to it.

[Joanne McNally]

No, that man, no man, no man is going to walk out of my show and be like, I'll slip into her DMs.

[Jamie Lang]

I disagree.

[Joanne McNally]

You're a different beast.

[Jamie Lang]

I disagree.

[Joanne McNally]

I think because we know each other. And also you, you kind of dabbled in a bit of comedy at one point. But like, man, I know the average person. I was, I was doing a show in Plymouth recently and there was three straight men in the front row. And the whole show I was like, why the fuck are they there? And then after, I was like, maybe one of them fancied me from like a TV show or something. And he came and I was like. And I was saying it to my tour manager and she was like, oh, why didn't you see? And I was like, no, no, no, because I know now he will leave cured. There's no. He's not gonna be like, he'll be leaving now and be like, ah, you're Grant. I'm not taking that on. Even Vogue. Vogue. Our mutual friend, she was like. She was trying to set me up with someone before and he asked my Instagram and she's like, no, no, you're not having it. And I was like, why? Because you're hostile. You're hostile. But I think the job has kind of toughened me up and I think there's a certain amount of resilience required and I feel like I'm very independent now and I'm financially independent and yeah, I'm not willing to like, you don't need.

[Jamie Lang]

You only need it for the actual. Which is love.

[Joanne McNally]

That's. You don't need it.

[Jamie Lang]

Financial support, anything.

[Joanne McNally]

You don't. My own. My own little beast now. But I would. And also like, I actually. Do you know what I went. I actually downloaded a date nap last night for the first time in I don't know how long.

[Jamie Lang]

Tom. Which one was it?

[Joanne McNally]

Hinge. And then five minutes in, I was.

[Jamie Lang]

Like.

[Joanne McNally]

I was like, Joanne, this is not the energy to bring to Hinge. You've rolled your eyes 19 times. You've been on it 30 seconds. Seconds.

[Jamie Lang]

I also think with. There's a. There's a weird thing which the question is always ask women.

[Joanne McNally]

Always.

[Jamie Lang]

It's always about kids. And I don't know why they always ask that because. And women get to a certain age and it's like, well, wouldn't you want to have them?

[Joanne McNally]

Would you want. I'd love to have kids.

[Jamie Lang]

You would like to have kids?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, I'd love to have kids. I might adopt kids. I might just pay it back. Yeah. But like my problem is I Forget like I'm 42 and like life just sneaks up on you and. Because it didn't happen for me with a man, because I think I'm way more self aware now. And I realize now I was never going to be the type of. I just was never going to be the person who got married at 25. That was just never what I was going to do. And now I've gotten to 42. I. I think I call myself a little problematically independent at this point. So the kids thing, I assume it'll be something I'll probably do on my own or my friend Ross, he's gay. We were kind of maybe something. We'd kind of genetically collab.

[Ad Read Announcer 3]

Really?

[Joanne McNally]

Maybe. Yeah. But like then I'm like, I'm fully. But I'm. I'm touring until next Christmas.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah. And there's a tricky thing which, especially with being a comedian, it's like, where do you put the baby out of any job? I think that's the hardest because the way you make your living is touring. You have to go around the country and Meet different people. So then where do you put the baby?

[Joanne McNally]

Well, then you have to prioritize. That's the thing. It's like, well, if you're going to do it, you need to prioritize. Putting time aside to raise the baby. Joanne, you can't just have the baby and pick it up when it's 18.

[Jamie Lang]

But you're not in a relationship.

[Joanne McNally]

No. Oh, no.

[Jamie Lang]

Hence the download of the dating apps.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

What is your type for anyone listening?

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, great question.

[Jamie Lang]

You need funny.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. I mean, the line, it's criminal. Criminal. Isn't criminal. Necessary. But it seems to be.

[Jamie Lang]

A little.

[Joanne McNally]

Bit of time somewhere along the line. Seems to be a thing for me. White collar. It's always white collar. Which barely counts. You know, maybe an old addiction issue, but they've recovered. But they're probably, you know, maybe one sausage away from a relapse kind of vibe. Any. I stay away from spiritual vegans now because I always.

[Jamie Lang]

You like a little bit of trauma.

[Joanne McNally]

They're trying to hold a lot of shit behind them. Do you know what I mean?

[Jamie Lang]

But you like a little bit of trauma.

[Joanne McNally]

I seem to. Yes.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah. Okay.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, yeah. There seems to be. That seems to be my jam. Yeah. Where are your wounds? Yeah. Let's rub wounds together. Yeah. I actually think for the moment I'm actually, I would. My concern for myself would be that I'd close down shop completely because I am quite content. And you have to be open.

[Jamie Lang]

What, so no sex forever?

[Joanne McNally]

Well, no, I'd have sex, yeah. I'm willing.

[Jamie Lang]

You're willing to have sex?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. To let a man have sex with me? Yeah. Yeah, I am willing, yeah. I leave my doors open every Saturday afternoon between 2 and 3. Any delivery drivers. I'm like, come on in. Not going to give you the code. I'll give you the code after. Come on.

[Jamie Lang]

I interviewed Lou Saunders. Lisa is the funniest thing she ever told me. She said she once had a one night stand with a guy and he didn't take his anorak off the whole time. He just wore his jacket. Jacket.

[Joanne McNally]

Oh my God, that is. That is so lazy. Like, talk about. Just get a wank sleeve. Why am I even here? I know one of my mates, road lady, kept his hat on the whole time.

[Jamie Lang]

But I was like, what, like a troopy.

[Joanne McNally]

No, like that would be hot. That's very Justin Timberlake, isn't it? And just one white glove. He kept his hat on. I was like, yeah, because he's bald. She was like, oh. I was like, oh, come on. It's classic 101.

[Jamie Lang]

Have you ever had a strange one night stand?

[Joanne McNally]

I mean, they're all strange. I remember one guy, I went on a date with them, and I was again, I was in the aftermath of a breakup.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

And I fancied this guy. And it was probably the first guy I fancied after the last guy. And you know when you've kind of broken through that wall, you're like, oh, amazing. And I just moved to London and I was like, like, gonna. You know, I'm gonna be like Carrie Bradshaw. Well, you know, living my London life, and I'm just gonna date. And because I. I was never particularly promiscuous, I was very much like, I'm not giving you this. My flower. Yeah, she's gonna ruin us. Tell your mace that you took it. I was always like that. So. But I was like, I'm gonna. I'm just gonna, like, you know, I'm gonna be. Gonna have that, like, really promiscuous day, whatever. But I don't think I'm really equipped for that. But anyway, I went to the date with this guy and I really fancied him, and I was like, thank God. So I was like, I'll go home with you. And he was like, oh, okay. So I was sitting in the black cab with him because I just assumed all men wanted you to come with him. I never thought that. He didn't. Never crossed my mind. And I was sitting in the taxi and. But then I realized his. His attitude toward. I was like, oh, you're. You're like, a little. You're a little sexist, actually. Because he was like, well, look, I'm assuming you don't do this a lot. And I was like, oh, what? Yeah, he was judging me for going home with him.

[Jamie Lang]

Are you?

[Joanne McNally]

What? Yeah. Oh, Jamie, come on. Let's not be surprised.

[Jamie Lang]

I am surprised by that.

[Joanne McNally]

And I think I. In my heightened state of, like, my new London life and I fancy someone, was like, truly, this man of me. I'm sorry. And of course he was like, I'm obviously going to have sex with you, but I'm just hoping this isn't like, how you normally behave.

[Jamie Lang]

So you then have a weird, like, argument in, like, the taxi.

[Joanne McNally]

I just remember very clearly that stuck in my mind. And I was like, like, oh, he's judging me. Followed through anyway, obviously, because I was like, I'm new to London. I don't know where I live. Having a clue what she'll blind him on. I'm stuck in this Taxi now. And went back and the next morning, yeah, was ice cold. What I mean, had his back to me. And I remember saying to him, he was on his phone. And I went, are you back on handshake? I said, ian ish. Anyway, no man through mouth. And I was like, I was taking the piss. And then I obviously hadn't a clue where I was, so I said, listen, I don't know where I am. And he told me I was in, like, wherever, you know, there's like Wolford Shire or something. And he said. I said, can I. I said, is there a train station nearby? And he goes, yes, down the road. And I said, do you drive? And he said, yeah. And he goes, no. And he looked at me like, as in I was going to do something really cheeky. And he goes, I'm not Juwan. I'm not giving you a lift. And I said, oh, okay. And he said. I said, why, Just out of interest. He goes, because that would be. I'll never forget it, an unprecedented act of chivalry. And I just don't think I feel that way about you yet. Welcome to London, Joanne.

[Jamie Lang]

His wrong.

[Joanne McNally]

And I started laughing. He's like, what's so funny? Because I was like, ah, you're like, you're.

[Jamie Lang]

You're too much.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, this is ridiculous. So I was like, I'm gonna go now. And he's like, being like that. And I was like, I, I.

[Jamie Lang]

You're you.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, exactly. I was like, I know. You're Grant. Yes. That's the end of. I thought I was like, giving this gift to this man, me, for 12 hours. Oh, you lucky bastard. Yeah. But a man are like. I call the ejaculate.

[Jamie Lang]

Explain.

[Joanne McNally]

They ejaculate. They hate. Really. Ah, come on now, Jamie. I can see it in your eyes. You know exactly what I mean. They get what they want. Not all of them now. Not all. Not all men. Hashtag blah, blah, blah. But, like, there's a pursuit there and there is that post, not clarity of like, oh, you're still here. Don't rob anything on your way out. You're like, wow, you were all over me last night.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, that post, not clarity.

[Joanne McNally]

The ejaculate.

[Jamie Lang]

Your career is like insane, right? Because you. You do comedy. You're kind of bubbling on the surface. You then go and do. My therapist ghosted me with. With Vogue, and everything just goes boom.

[Joanne McNally]

Do you know how it started?

[Jamie Lang]

Well, yeah, tell me.

[Joanne McNally]

So I was. So, yeah, Vogue was known. Vogue was already known. So she. She had established herself in the UK already. And I had not. But I was like, I was.

[Jamie Lang]

You know, you were working. I was.

[Joanne McNally]

I was. It was kind of trickling over. I was getting bits of, Like, I was getting bits of TV work here and there, and. And then I was down in Vogue's one day because I know her years from home, and she asked me to do a tan video with her for her. And I was doing. I was tanning her, and we put the video up and whatever our rapport is, some people were like, oh, we'd love to see more of that. That. And because Vogue is such a smart little business bitch, she was like, let's do a podcast. And that's literally how it started. It started from me rubbing a rattan, and then we started doing the podcast. And then I realized when I was in the clubs then there was girls coming to the club gigs because I was listed in the clubs back then, so you'd have your name on the posters and all. And they were coming from the podcast. And I remember saying to Vogue, oh, you can't see it because you're not out. You're not out. And about the way I am, like, in the. In the clubs. But I said, something's happening with this podcast.

[Jamie Lang]

You could feel that it was just building momentum.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, there was something going on with that. I was like, something's happening with this podcast. We started in Covid. So by the time Covert finished, everyone was dying to go out. So then the Prosecco tour, it just benefited from. It was just this perfect timing of the pod starting, the pod doing well, and everyone bursting to get out of their houses after Covid.

[Jamie Lang]

You know, I've seen you on stage. I've seen what it's like, mesmerizing. You're so good at it.

[Joanne McNally]

Thanks, Jamie.

[Jamie Lang]

But do you realize that as well? Do you realize that that's your skill?

[Joanne McNally]

I think I do think I'm a good performer, even though it kills me to say it. And I almost asked you to cut that. But I do think I am a good performer.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, that's the Irish, and you hate it. You can't. The Irish. You have to, like. It has to be a constant, like, digging to each other. You can't ever compliment it.

[Joanne McNally]

I think I'm a good performer, and I think. Think. I think I work hard and I. I like. And because I don't have a family, then I'm. I can afford. I do. I do all the. Everything that comes in. Not everything, but, like, when I started, I was, you know, doing the workman's clubs. I was up in Grimsby. I was dating Peterborough. I was on the trains. I was doing it all. But like. But I like, what a job. What am I gonna give out about working an hour a night?

[Jamie Lang]

Do you think. Do you think the fact that you're. You are Irish has that little bit of extra, like.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

Twang to it, Right?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, I think so. I think Ireland, we. We do. We're funny. Yeah, we're just funny. And we have a great sense of humor. Like we just do culturally. And so because coming to the uk, they trust Irish comics because we've such a great legacy of Irish comedians. It's very rare you meet a Irish.

[Jamie Lang]

Comic because they're just funny.

[Joanne McNally]

So when I go out, they hear the accent. They're like. Immediately they're like, they're. They feel.

[Jamie Lang]

You feel comfortable.

[Joanne McNally]

Okay, she's Irish. Grant squad.

[Jamie Lang]

That's funny. It does that, doesn't it?

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, same with Scottish, I think. Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

You suddenly feel safe.

[Joanne McNally]

You're like, okay, I trust these guys. I mean, clients.

[Jamie Lang]

One question. I need to know. My therapist ghosted me, right?

[Joanne McNally]

Yes.

[Jamie Lang]

Did your therapist really ghost you? Yeah. Get out of here.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

Joanne.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. So the reason. So what happened was I was in the. In the swirling around another breakup. I was very sad and I went. I started seeing this guy in. In the UK actually, and he was a bit witchy. Woo. Woo. And there was like incense. And I'd never had a therapist like that before. Usually they're quite like clinical and. And really good. But it was just a different vibe. It was more kind of like, you know, hippie dippies.

[Jamie Lang]

Okay, hippies.

[Joanne McNally]

And I was like, this is great now. And then lockdown happened and he went cold on me. I just couldn't get hold of him. And then I emailed, rang, and then.

[Jamie Lang]

I went to his mom's house. And then.

[Joanne McNally]

John, I'm on the way. Sam. Sam, I'm on the way over. I'm going to ring you off your Maz landline. That's my usp. It's my calling card. I will find where your mother lives and I will turn up. And, yeah, I couldn't get hold of him. And then I was. Then I was kind of worried about him. And then I thought something had happened to him. And. And then I emailed him one day, a very kind of like, abrupt, like, let's just. I need answers, Sam.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

And I said, sam, it's Juan again.

[Jamie Lang]

I've left you a lot of messages and you haven't responded. I'm guessing you don't want to do any more sessions. I'm willing to pay.

[Joanne McNally]

I was like, sam, do you still work in mental health? Like, that's not a qu. Like, that's not saying, can I see you? That's just like a broad question. And he said, joanne, yes, I do. And here's who I'd recommend for you. Burn. So then literally a couple of weeks after that, I was on a zoom with Vogue and Global, and we were just. And we were literally making small talk. Remember the zooms? And he'd be like, how are you? Because you're waiting for someone to jump on.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

And I was making small talk with the programming dude, and he's like, any news? And I said, my therapist goes to me. And he was like, oh, let's just call the podcast that.

[Jamie Lang]

It's a gray name. It's a gray name.

[Joanne McNally]

I actually don't think it is. It is a good name, depending on how it's written. Sometimes it's like my rape has hosted me and they put me in Vogue on these. On these. Did I not tell you the story? They put us on the global, put us on these posters in the tube. Right. But it's these three tiered posters. So there's one podcast and then there's two posters kind of slipping out from behind. Yeah, yeah. So obviously Vogue is invisible completely. And it's just me with rapist over it in the tubes. How no one spotted it is bizarre to me, folks. Like, I'm not on it. It's like, well, I'd rather not be on it than my face with rapist over it. Whatever way the poster fell, just you.

[Jamie Lang]

On the poster and all the Jeeves.

[Joanne McNally]

They're like, wow, she's really owning it, isn't she? Must be part of a recovery or a punishment. Yeah, like in the olden days when they'd make you walk around with signs of your crimes. She looks so happy.

[Jamie Lang]

You started your new tour. Pinopile.

[Joanne McNally]

Pinop file.

[Jamie Lang]

Such a good name.

[Joanne McNally]

It's a good name, isn't?

[Jamie Lang]

It's good.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah, I think it's grace.

[Jamie Lang]

It's really good.

[Joanne McNally]

Do you know where that came from?

[Jamie Lang]

No.

[Joanne McNally]

So there's a. There was a video going around, you know, peloton, the people who. They pedal the bikes, and there was a video going around. The American Peloton instructors are, you know, they're very American and they're very enthusiastic and it's all like a kind of a therapy session. They're all screaming at you and everything. And There was a video going around where. Because you have to come up with the Peloton name. So it was like, spin for gin and all this, you know, mummy's drinking wine and blah, blah, blah. And there was an American instructor and. And she was looking at the leaderboard while she was on doing the class, and she went, no. And she obviously saw a name that she was like. She go, we don't do that here. And then she was screaming up to the office, they're like, ban him, ban him. And of course, I was watching this clip and I was like, what was the fucking name? And the name was Pedal File. And I was like, that is so funny. That is so funny. Come on. Now she's gone right at home when his name was Pedophile. That's brilliant. I go so far as that's genius. Like, pedos can't own file. File just means you like something. They've ruined File for the rest of us. Like the Brexit. There were like Euro files. And like, File has its files, its own thing.

[Jamie Lang]

It does. For some reason.

[Joanne McNally]

Pedophile File's a little close on the nose, but that's what's so funny about it. But anyway, she obviously thought he was just calling himself Pedophile. So she. She has since now said she's like, look, I apologize, it was a little overreaction because she was trying to get him banned from Peloton for the rest of his life for being a pedophile. So anyway, I was talking about it online. It's so funny. It's so funny. And I was talking about online and a woman messaged me. We've been in contact since, but she messaged me saying, your Peloton name should be Pinophile. And I was like, that is such a good idea. And I said, it's not gonna be my Peloton name. It's gonna be my show name. That is so it was that her Pino Psycho. So I went Pedophile.

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[Jamie Lang]

Hey, listen, you're the best.

[Joanne McNally]

You're the best.

[Jamie Lang]

No, Joanne, honestly, I. I want everyone to go and get your Tickets. Penophile Joanne McNally dot com. We're going to leave the link in the description.

[Joanne McNally]

I have two new Apollo dates.

[Jamie Lang]

Let's go.

[Joanne McNally]

Because the others are sell. So the 5th and 6th of February.

[Jamie Lang]

It's mad. It's a lot of people.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. Do you want to come?

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

Well, you can't. The sell date.

[Jamie Lang]

No, I've already. I got the email. I got the email saying I can go.

[Joanne McNally]

Of course you can come.

[Jamie Lang]

I can't wait. I promise.

[Joanne McNally]

Promise me you'll come.

[Jamie Lang]

I swear to God. I'll come. I swear to God.

[Joanne McNally]

But when, Sophie?

[Jamie Lang]

Due December.

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, yeah. Well, maybe the Feb. You might be able to come to one of the FEBs. We can do the Feb. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She won't be there. I wouldn't say. Jamie, I don't think you know what's coming your way even, like.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, I do.

[Joanne McNally]

You're going to be nipping out the night after for pint. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

It's going to be fine.

[Joanne McNally]

He's like, we'll be there. She is not going to want to go to that.

[Jamie Lang]

Three of us, we'll be there at the farm. We'll be there. You're the funniest person I know, Jamie. That's funny. You really are. I adore you to bits. Thank you for coming on. Listen, we end the podcast with eight questions. You ready?

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, my. What the hell have I just been on?

[Jamie Lang]

Here we go. You ready? Okay. What's a saying or phrase that makes you smile or cheers you up?

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, Silly Billy. It's what we dismiss all bad male behavior. Like, we're like. If someone. If someone dismisses Silly Billy and we're like, oh, Silly Billy. Yeah, he's off trafficking again. Silly, really?

[Jamie Lang]

Best compliment anyone's ever given you.

[Joanne McNally]

I remember. What? I remember one guy, I was mad about him at the time and he said, I think you're very beautiful, but it's the least interesting thing about you. And I remember being like, wow. I know, I know. I was like, wow, what a thing to say. I was like, did you date him? Oh, yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

How did it end?

[Joanne McNally]

Well, he's not here, is he? It ended like. They all end, Jaime. Like a bin fire. Yeah. Yeah. I think someone's. I think something's still smoking in Dublin from the end of that.

[Jamie Lang]

What scares you most about yourself.

[Joanne McNally]

Then? I'll forget to have a kid and then I'll regret it. Oh, okay. Next. Firing through these, aren't we?

[Jamie Lang]

When was the last time you cried?

[Joanne McNally]

Oh, I don't know.

[Jamie Lang]

I can't imagine you crying.

[Joanne McNally]

I'm not an easy crier.

[Jamie Lang]

I bet you're not.

[Joanne McNally]

No, we had some bad health news in the family and I cried. Really? Yeah. But it's actually. I think it's gonna be okay.

[Jamie Lang]

Okay.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

So. Okay.

[Joanne McNally]

Touch wood. Yeah, that'll do it. That does it. Fuck the treatments. Just touch the wood.

[Jamie Lang]

That does it.

[Joanne McNally]

Just touch the wood. That does it.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah. What's something you can't let go of?

[Joanne McNally]

I would say brunch.

[Jamie Lang]

Great.

[Joanne McNally]

Because it has your friends and wine and gas and vapes and chats.

[Jamie Lang]

There's nothing better when someone says it like a brunch. Should we have a drink?

[Joanne McNally]

My. My thing, our code is when someone sends the weather report into the girls group and it's like sunny the next day, and you're like, I know what she's saying. We're going to brunch the shit out of tomorrow. Wake up at 6pm in a blackout with your fucking eyelashes on your chin. Let's go.

[Jamie Lang]

What's your guilty pleasure?

[Joanne McNally]

Well, I don't believe in guilty pleasures. Okay. I think if it's a pleasure, it's a pleasure. But now that I've made my diplomatic point, I would say love is blind.

[Jamie Lang]

It's good.

[Joanne McNally]

Ah, it's very good. It's good.

[Jamie Lang]

It's very good.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah. I love it.

[Jamie Lang]

Have you seen the American one recently?

[Joanne McNally]

Love ain't blind, Jamie. I don't know if you've realized.

[Jamie Lang]

Have you seen the.

[Joanne McNally]

There's a woman on it who was going blind, and the lads are like, I'm not having it. She's literally meeting the brief and they're like, no.

[Jamie Lang]

What's your biggest turn off?

[Joanne McNally]

I was with a man recently and he pretended he didn't know who I was for ages, but it turned out he did anyway. I was like, you're pathetic. You're pathetic. That was a turn off. Yeah. He let something slip then. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very. It's all very dominant, you know, kind of like power. It's all. Everything's power, Jamie.

[Jamie Lang]

It's all power.

[Joanne McNally]

And I think they're like that male instinct to kind of hold on to that 100 upper positioning, you know? Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

Biggest turn on men who know who I am.

[Joanne McNally]

Laughing. Oh, God. All day. You look like a gremlin.

[Jamie Lang]

I wouldn't care what do you like most about yourself? Come on.

[Joanne McNally]

I. I like my. I love. I love laughing. Yeah, I love laughing. And I'm a real cheap laugh. I laugh at pretty much everything. Yeah, I'm. And I. Yeah, I love having. I love a good laugh.

[Jamie Lang]

Last one. Favorite swear word.

[Joanne McNally]

No, I've actually moved around, you know.

[Jamie Lang]

Okay.

[Joanne McNally]

Because sometimes I feel like. Am I just saying cunt for dramatic effect? Do you know what I mean? But, like, it does feel. Because of the. Because it's like female genitalia and the fact that it's so bad, I think I find it empowering to use it. I also like Tosser and Silly Bit. I like Wanker.

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah, it's good.

[Joanne McNally]

Yeah.

[Jamie Lang]

So if you were gonna shout it.

[Joanne McNally]

To someone, I swear a lot, which I'm trying to work on, but then I wrestle. Reese says it's a sign of intelligence, so I'm obviously Rain Man.

[Jamie Lang]

Joanne, I adore you. The best. Thank you for coming. I really hope you enjoyed that episode with Joanne McNally. Man, she's so funny. She's one of the funniest people I know. And sometimes with. When you meet comedians, they're not actually as funny as they are when they're on stage, but Joanne is one of those people who actually has funny bones. What I found interesting about the episode today is how so many things have happened to Joanne in her life. So many tough things. One could argue being adopted is a pretty tough experience to find out. Or going through an eating disorder. And what she seems to do is she firstly covers it up with humor, and she has this attitude, which is. She could lean into it, she could worry about it, she could suffer from it, but actually, she tries to just move forward and get up and go and have this get up and go attitude. So I really hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you really liked this episode as well, you can go back and listen to my episode with Joe Brand. It was one of our first episodes, and it was so amazing, so incredible, so funny in so many different ways.

[Joanne McNally]

I mean, I personally always wanted to do anti adverts, so I wanted to come on after an ad and go, can I swear?

[Jamie Lang]

Yeah.

[Joanne McNally]

That product's shit. I've tried it. And I don't know why that person is saying, it's all right. I do that, like, for no money, you know?

[Jamie Lang]

But aren't we all selling throughout our lives? Selling ourselves to our partners or our husband, selling comedy tickets?

[Joanne McNally]

Selling.

[Jamie Lang]

It's just a different sort of selling.

[Joanne McNally]

Well, I see that as, like, a job, you know, and I think that's very different from I don't think of myself as a product.

[Ad Read Announcer 3]

I mean, maybe I am, but I.

[Joanne McNally]

Don'T see myself like that.

[Jamie Lang]

You're definitely a brand.

[Joanne McNally]

No one's made that joke.

[Jamie Lang]

Clever of me, wasn't it? Yeah, really go and check that out. And of course we'll be back next week for another episode of Great Company.

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[Ad Read Announcer 1]

This holiday season, millions of families will pack their bags, load up the car and head off for a family vacation. But not every trip is going to be somewhere fun. The American Red Cross responds to about 7,000 emergencies during the holiday season alone, from home fires to natural disasters, providing families a safe place to go when the unthinkable happens. But they can't do it without your support. Please [e-mail] how does F1 turn data.

[Joanne McNally]

Into insights at 200 mph? AWS is how fans get inside the strategy. AWS powers next level innovation for millions of businesses.