Interview: Jarlath Regan on the success of his An Irishman Abroad podcast

London-based Kildare-bred comedian Jarlath Regan’s An Irishman Abroad has enjoyed enviable popularity since the podcast first debuted in 2013. The notion first came to him during that difficult move out of Ireland. “I was an early adopter of podcasts, they kept me company when I was sleeping on airport floors, and travelling at ridiculous times of night, and, as any shift worker will tell you, the intimacy you establish with these podcasts is real and genuine. I was going through this difficult move to London and I guess I had the idea to document that, and maybe these people who have conquered the trip abroad could help me and others in the journey, so the idea was to talk to Irish people about their experience of life abroad,” is how Regan remembers it. “ I am the Irishman abroad, it’s also about my experience, but the common connection among the guests is Ireland.”

Regan counts himself lucky that he found an audience straight away. “I guess I was blessed in that there were very few Irish-themed podcasts then as compared to now so I got an immediate response. The Irish Times carried it in their emigration supplement and we went straight to number one.” This success lit a fire under him. “I knew I would do an episode two, but I didn’t think I’d have to do it right away! It was clear that the listeners wanted it, and I was in Edinburgh at the time, surrounded by Irish comics, so I just went right ahead. From there, we’ve been putting out an episode every Sunday for the last six years without missing a single week.”

One of the series strengths is that it’s not just a parade of famous faces. The story being told is key. “That's true. In the beginning I knew celebrity driven content would earn the goodwill of our listeners and once they believed in the ability of the  show to sustain a conversation and tell a story that we could introduce people like Mick Finnegan, who suffered horribly with his mental health and was about to throw himself off a bridge but he turned his life around, or Billy Hedderman who moved  to Australia in 2014 and was paralysed three months later but he regained the use of his legs within a year and ran a 10k.”

Innovation is also paramount, and the concept has branched out in several directions. “I love true crime podcasts,” Jarlath enthuses, “that's why Irishman Behind Bars came about, I was kind of reacting to how voyeuristic some true crime had become - ‘and then the blood!’. Men Behaving Better emerged from the MeToo period where it felt like a lot of guys were lost, well-intentioned but flying blind, unsure of how to act and what to do. These are big questions that I wanted to kind of unravel for myself as much as anybody else. Can we enjoy the work of fallen men? Is that allowed? We looked at the Paddy Jackson trial, and a bunch of other stuff. The Irish Man Abroad Coming Home deals with coming back to Ireland but as it grows, it's also about recovering from disgrace, coming back from failure.”

Regan isn’t just in it for the good of his health either, and has endeavoured to find ways to make the enterprise pay for itself, with extra content available for a modest fee through Patreon, and a dedicated app. “You've got to get clever,” he reckons, “you’ve got to look at what avenues are available. These things are often viewed as dirty commercialism but there's nothing like having a child with a hungry belly to force you to figure out how to monetise this good stuff that you're providing to the world. I'm also very grateful to our sponsor CurrencyFair. It’s about aligning with what they do and integrating it. Together, we came up with a plan to bring someone home, to give a listener to the show €30,000 to move back to Ireland. The competition has blown up with Irish communities worldwide, and the entires are flooding in because that's a monster prize.”

One might suspect that he would save the all the best stuff for his paying customers, but that’s not the case. “I know people who do think that way, but my approach is pretty simple in that I separate it completely. We finish the interview and then we record the bonus content - usually about  half an hour to forty five minutes extra - for the super nice Patreon people who keep the lights on. It’s the cup of tea at the after party!”

Given the hard work he has put in, Regan is loath to pick a favourite episode. “It's like a Sunday newspaper in some ways because every aspect of cultural life and human experience has been covered across 300 episodes. If you’re a rugby person, I would recommend the Ronan O'Gara episode, it’s probably his most honest interview ever.If you’re a music person, I'd point to the Hozier episode. It's hard to pick one because every episode is so unique, in some ways it’s like earwigging in on an intimate conversation.”

Podcasts Are The New Pints

Regan’s open-handed approach has allowed him to steer clear of any mishaps. “I adjust when people aren’t enjoying an aspect of it, but the hardest ones are the professional individual, athlete or entertainer who has a lot to lose.” When asked, he expands on this notion, “Everyone's got a lot to lose, we are all aware of how quickly things can flip on you nowadays. As the last six years have gone by, that's become more of a concern for a lot of the guests who aren't retired. Once someone has retired, that's the sweet spot! I try to avoid disasters by explaining that I'm not really the media, and I will offer them the final cut and allow them to listen back. Of course I've had times when I’ve had to edit things out, you tend to say things that you regret, and I've had to cut out things that I've said. I think it's a relief for a lot of guests to be told ‘whatever happens here can remain between us’. I often include that in the invitation, because securing guests is the work. I'm often asked by new podcasters ‘when does it get easier?’ The answer is, it doesn't. Your audience expects more, you expect more, the guests become harder to get as more podcasts appear. You have to work harder.”

Talking of new podcasters, Jarlath has doubtless been asked many times for advice by those starting out. “I really believe that you need to go niche. What is it that no one else is doing but loads of people are looking for? I think it has to be ‘what do I connect with? what am I passionate about?’ There is room for you, there are people who want your podcast, it's just a matter of finding them.”

Asked about the growing appeal of podcasts in general, he is quick to respond. “The luxury of podcasting is the space and time that it gives you to delve deeper, and smart phones allow us to listen without having to break for traffic or sport. This is  how we're consuming content and media today. Podcasts haven’t reinvented the wheel, I think the road on which the wheel is rolling has just become much more conducive to this type of listening.”

It’s all about our fabled gift of the gab. “I find Irish listeners have a unique connection to podcasts because of our love of conversation. We have an apprenticeship in talk that we all did either in pubs or over cans in fields. I think I coined the phrase that podcasts are the new pints in that you used to have to put four pints between two lads to get them to open up, now you put down two microphones and say it's going on iTunes on Sunday. No one talks like us, Irish people will sit anywhere and have a conversation.”

Once an Irish mouth has been opened, it can be hard to close it. “Yeah,” he laughs in agreement. “It's one or the other: you can't get them to talk, or you can't get them to shut up!”

Jarlath’s Dublin Fringe show Notions Eleven is on in The Abbey Theatre from September 7 to 14