{"id":371842,"date":"2026-03-29T19:46:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T19:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/371842\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T19:46:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T19:46:21","slug":"we-were-surrounded-by-brits-who-werent-as-funny-as-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/371842\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We were surrounded by Brits who weren\u2019t as funny as us’"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a longtime fan of Kevin Twomey and PJ Kirby Galang\u2019s hit podcast, I\u2019m Grand Mam, interviewing the two Cork \u2018legends\u2019 is a treat.<\/p>\n

We are on Zoom. PJ is in his sitting room, a beautiful coffee machine visible just behind him. \u201cI love \u2018her\u2019 so much,\u201d he says of the birthday gift. He\u2019s still perfecting his latte-making skills, but says his creations are \u201copen to interpretation\u201d. Perhaps he could make a career out of abstract latte art?<\/p>\n

We chat about my recent travels and whether I \u201cfound myself\u201d in Southeast Asia, while we wait for Kevin. \u201cIf you came to my apartment and I made you a coffee, the latte art would have a plane on it,\u201d says PJ.<\/p>\n

Kevin joins from London, where he is \u201cfiring on all cylinders\u201d, he tells me with a smile.<\/p>\n

\"PJPJ Kirby and Kevin Twomey of I Am Grand Mam. <\/p>\n

I remind them of the first Instagram message I ever sent them, when they started out: A DM explaining how becoming a fan cost me an iPhone.<\/p>\n

Trying to rewind an episode of their podcast, I had pulled my phone from my pocket by the headphone wire; it disconnected and plummeted down through a roadside grate into a puddle below. My devotion had been sealed with a sacrifice.<\/p>\n

A sickly origin<\/p>\n

The idea for the podcast, which their devoted fans will all be well familiar with, came on a wine-fuelled flight to Budapest, the two scribbling notes on the back of an airsickness bag. They arrived in the city drunk, sans local currency or a travel adapter, but with a plan. To quote PJ:<\/p>\n

\n We were ambitious, and we had a sick bag full of dreams.\n <\/p>\n

The duo, who first met at a dance class in Cork, became housemates when they both found themselves in London, recording episodes between auditions. \u201cWhen we moved in together, we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to take on the East London queer scene. We relished in any opportunity to have people over for pre-drinks and stuff,\u201d says Kevin fondly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were surrounded by rooms of British people who just weren\u2019t as funny as us, and maybe that worked in our favour. We leaned in to it,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt like we weren\u2019t being creatively fulfilled,\u201d says Kevin, encouraging everyone to give podcasting a go. \u201cThere are so many barriers to entry with so many other different forms of entertainment\u2026 we\u2019re not nepo babies here. My mom worked in a card shop, and my dad was a salesperson for Tatty Teddy for Carte Blanche. We kind of made a direct route for ourselves in to what is essentially considered a revered form of broadcasting now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PJPJ Kirby and Kevin Twomey of I Am Grand Mam. <\/p>\n

They invested \u20ac50 in to the podcast in its first year \u2014 along with their time, of course \u2014 and the dividends have paid off. The show has grown from a kitchen-table recording to a multi-platform success, boasting over 50k weekly listeners, and they\u2019ve gone on to score brand deals, television appearances, and have even written a book together, The I\u2019m Grand Mamual.<\/p>\n

Their live shows \u2014 which sell out venues across Ireland and the UK \u2014 combine stand-up, storytelling, and theatrics. Having been to many of them myself, I can tell you they\u2019re a hoot.<\/p>\n

I spoke to them a couple of weeks before their new tour, Happy Campers, kicked off. \u201cI was just pulling raw vocals from Nelly Furtado\u2019s Maneater, because, in the show, we\u2019re saying she\u2019s kind of chasing us through the forest,\u201d says PJ. \u201cI think the unexpectedness of that kind of sums it up a small part.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PJPJ Kirby and Kevin Twomey of I Am Grand Mam.<\/p>\n

Unlike other live podcasts, where co-hosts sit on a nice couch and have a chat, their shows can only be described as raucous. \u201cWe come from performing-arts backgrounds. We both love dancing and performing. So it\u2019s just an opportunity for us to have a laugh,\u201d says PJ.<\/p>\n

Life in London<\/p>\n

PJ moved back to Ireland in 2022, while Kevin still lives in London. \u201cWe tried remote records over Zoom when I first moved away, but we talk over each other too much. We couldn\u2019t be coping with that!\u201d says PJ. \u201cThankfully, we can still do it together, because London and Dublin aren\u2019t that far away.\u201d<\/p>\n

A bit more planning is needed, but that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. \u201cWhen we were living together, it was easy for work to bleed in to the evening\u2026 doing it this way allows us more time to meet up.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Kevin is content in London, though he does \u201cnaturally prefer Irish lads to British boys\u201d. The thought of moving to Dublin, where the pool of eligible bachelors is smaller, stresses him out, he jokes. \u201cI\u2019d end up going on dates with half the lads my friends have already dated!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really, really do love London,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s only been the last few years, when I haven\u2019t been working in a restaurant, that I\u2019ve been able to enjoy London.<\/p>\n

My first five or six years here, I was kind of living paycheque to paycheque, and that\u2019s not to say that I\u2019m living a lavish lifestyle in bloody Kensington or Mayfair, but I\u2019m seeing more of London now that I\u2019ve found my footing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Dublin, PJ keeps busy with a myriad of creative outlets, including hosting dance classes at The Liffey Trust Studios, alongside his husband, Jose. His only rule is that people can\u2019t be mean to themselves. \u201cJust dance around the gaff like you would when you were five years old, and you sat your parents on the couch, and you were like, \u2018Watch me do this routine\u2019… don\u2019t overthink it, because I do think we\u2019re our worst enemy sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PJPJ Kirby and Kevin Twomey of I Am Grand Mam. <\/p>\n

The podcast resonates with international audiences, Kevin says, because it\u2019s like everyone is \u201cin the same WhatsApp group together\u201d. Listeners feel like they could be the third person in the conversation, whether they\u2019re au fait with the Irishisms and humour or not.<\/p>\n

Much of the appeal lies in Kevin and PJ\u2019s own dynamic, too, which sways from fond friendship to merciless slagging \u2014 always with the easy rhythm of two people so close they could be siblings. Listening in is almost like playing a long voicenote from an old schoolfriend.<\/p>\n

Managing fame<\/p>\n

Things have naturally evolved with them over the years, but despite a growing audience, they still share as much from their personal lives as ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worry less now than I did at the start,\u201d says Kevin, who admits to being \u201creally anxious\u201d back then. \u201cOver the course of the last seven years, I\u2019ve realised that people aren\u2019t necessarily listening to me as their only source of information.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re not looking for me to say something profound \u2014 even though I might do, on occasion,\u201d he says, a mischievous sparkle in his eye.<\/p>\n

\"PJPJ Kirby and Kevin Twomey of I Am Grand Mam.<\/p>\n

But listeners\u2019 familiarity with them can come with its own downsides \u2014 particularly when they\u2019re out and about. \u201cSometimes, when I\u2019m in Dublin, particularly when I\u2019m with my friends, I find it a small bit overwhelming.<\/p>\n

Especially if there are a few people coming up and I\u2019m trying to have a catch-up with my friends, who I don\u2019t see that often. But, for the most part, I don\u2019t mind it. We\u2019re still at a level of fame that\u2019s manageable,\u201d says Kevin.<\/p>\n

With great power…<\/p>\n

They\u2019re just two lads from Cork having a skittybang, but they\u2019ve also become leading voices in queer Irish culture \u2014 something they never take lightly. \u201cI think we both felt that responsibility, basically, from the second episode we did,\u201d says PJ.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ended up telling our coming-out stories and the amount of messages we got from that\u2026 yeah, we\u2019re having a laugh, but we are also normalising conversations that people are kind of afraid to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n When I moved away to London, I thought I\u2019d never come back, because I thought Ireland wasn\u2019t a safe space for queer people.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the \u2018yes\u2019 vote happened, it was like a love letter [telling me], \u2018Oh, it\u2019s safe to come home. We accept you.\u2019 It was a public vote, so that meant a lot to me when I was away. I didn\u2019t come out until I was 20, until I had left the country. Last year, I married the love of my life in West Cork.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dream podcast guest?<\/p>\n

As for their dream podcast guest? It remains fellow Rebel, Roy Keane.<\/p>\n

\u201dLook, there are a lot of straight people who end up listening to us by way of their girlfriend or just randomly coming across us on Instagram, but I feel if we were to have an episode with Roy Keane, we could have a laugh, we could take the piss, and it would also encourage some Roy Keane followers \u2014 some of the lads, lads, lads \u2014 to come over and give us a listen,\u201d explains Kevin. \u201cI reckon they\u2019d be listeners for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should that crossover ever happen, PJ says he\u2019ll wear the famed Pellador \u2018Roykini\u2019 (a bikini with the Irish footballer\u2019s likeness emblazoned across it) in honour of the occasion.<\/p>\n

I await that most iconic of Cork reunions patiently.<\/p>\n

Limited tickets for the \u2018Happy Campers\u2019 tour are available via box offices and ticketmaster.ie<\/a>.
\n You can follow Kevin and PJ on Instagram, @kevin2mey<\/a>target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”> and @pj.kirby<\/a>, and listen to \u2018I\u2019m Grand Mam\u2019 wherever you get your podcasts
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