{"id":670745,"date":"2026-10-31T09:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/670745\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T09:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:52:12","slug":"young-hot-guys-were-not-an-antidote-to-the-manosphere-im-just-having-fun-with-my-friends-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/670745\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Hot Guys: \u2018We\u2019re not an antidote to the manosphere. I\u2019m just having fun with my friends\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sheer, sprawling cosmos of podcasting<\/a> is a difficult thing to get your head around. According to the literally-named resource podcaststatistics.com there were 4.58 million podcasts worldwide as of January 2026, with 480,692 of those shows launching in the previous three months. <\/p>\n

By the end of this year, there are projected to be 619 million listeners spending, on average, seven hours a week with their favourite shows. Take-up of digital audio is especially pronounced in Ireland, with research from IAB Ireland\u2019s Digital Audio Council and Red C reporting that the equivalent stat for Irish adults is 12.6 hours per week.<\/p>\n

As with all matter, scale begets complexity, and the horizon for new topics, themes and formats narrows further every day. In the interview podcast space alone, dazzling innovations abound.<\/p>\n

Former Blue Peter presenter Matt Baker hosts Petcast, in which light entertainment figures enter his caravan to tell him about their furry friends. On Street You Grew Up On, Scandal actress Kerry Washington invites celebrity guests to tell her, you guessed it, what street they grew up on. At least two podcasts \u2013 Mel Gideroyc\u2019s Where There\u2019s A Will, There\u2019s A Wake and Brett Goldstein\u2019s Films To Be Buried With \u2013 begin each episode by telling their guest they\u2019ve died.<\/p>\n

Last Meals with Josh Scharer stops just short of this, inviting mega celebs to merely spend a few moments before death eating a huge spread of all their favourite foods. (This is not to be confused with The Last Meal, a true crime podcast in which our hosts discuss the crimes of infamous death row inmates, while sampling the food each subject requested before their execution).<\/p>\n

For those who tire of celebrity guests, true crime horror stories and high concept conceits, there exists those genres\u2019 polar opposite; the loose and lively hangout show, in which some funny friends sit around and talk about nothing in particular. <\/p>\n

In this niche, it seems, Irish podcasters excel. <\/p>\n

Vogue Williams<\/a> and Joanne McNally<\/a>\u2019s perennial favourite My Therapist Ghosted Me is a familiar gab between two old pals, even if its title has the ring of a show that might involve couches and psychoanalysis (for that, you may wish to seek out Bella Freud\u2019s Fashion Neurosis, or Peter Crouch and Abby Clancy\u2019s The Therapy Crouch).<\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s great behemoth The 2 Johnnies is, at root, pub chat elevated to prime-time radio (and the occasional massive stadium show), while The Tommy, Hector and Laurita podcast transposes this format to a shed.<\/p>\n

\"YoungYoung Hot Guys: The trio began recording together three years ago. Photograph: Movember <\/p>\n

Tony Cantwell<\/a>, Shane Daniel Byrne<\/a> and Killian Sundermann<\/a>\u2019s Young Hot Guys<\/a>, too, sits firmly in this latter camp. Shot on video in a bare studio, it features no interviews, no theme, no film reviews or transfer gossip, just a rangy hour-or-so of very funny ad-libbing from three Dublin-based comedians whose rambling, absurd, improv-heavy comedy has built a huge audience over its three-year run.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government brought in the legislation that all male comedians have to have podcasts,\u201d Sundermann tells me, when I ask how the show got started. \u201cIt was a surprise to all of us, but we got our microphones and, you know, like miners and their pickaxes, we went to the mines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cantwell and Byrne are both native Dubliners, from Marino and Harold\u2019s Cross respectively. Sundermann, the most exotic of the three by several degrees, was born in Reading to a German dad and an Irish-German mum, before his family settled in Greystones and finally Dublin during his childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d just had a kid in lockdown,\u201d says Cantwell of how he first encountered his co-hosts, \u201cand Killian\u2019s stuff was popping up loads. And … I did find it funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

I note that he speaks this last line with some reluctance, and ask if he realises he\u2019s said this like he\u2019s admitting to a terrible crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I didn\u2019t like it,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI didn\u2019t like him. My own feeling of obsolescence is the formation of the group because I saw Killian and Shane having this success and being young and attractive and funny, and I felt overwhelmed being a new dad during Covid and I literally looked at their earrings and got my ear pierced.<\/p>\n

\"ShaneShane Daniel Byrne (bottom): ‘I think it\u2019s good to all be in it together.’ Photograph: Tom Honan for The Irish Times <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I was brazenly honest about it online. \u2018I got my ear pierced because of Killian Sundermann and Shane Daniel Byrne and their success.\u2019 Killian then posted that he\u2019d like to introduce me into the Young Hot Guys community, so it is literally my jealousy of their success and handsomeness that was the formation of the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d met Killian before because he lived in the house share with my boyfriend,\u201d Byrne says. \u201cI was gonna say \u2018my then-boyfriend\u2019. He\u2019s still my boyfriend. Before that, there were only girls in the flat. So suddenly a cute boy moved in so we were like, \u201cwho\u2019s the cute boy?\u201d That was all. That was my initial impression of Killian. Long since gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be another two years before the show found its feet, but their first appearance as a trio was in a different medium entirely. \u201cWe did a sexy calendar,\u201d Sundermann recalls, \u201cand that was the first time we met all together. I was literally holding Tony\u2019s nipple between my fingers five minutes after we met. I felt very comfortable with the two of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

All three hosts began pursuing comedy in their 20s, and each gained fame through online skits that have become staples of the Irish internet \u2013 Sundermann\u2019s whip-smart surveying of differences between Irish and German culture; Cantwell\u2019s incredible listing of increasingly ludicrous names for students in Clongowes Wood College; or Byrne\u2019s divinely inspired portrayal of the Virgin Mary phoning a friend to tell them Jesus has just risen from the dead.<\/p>\n

Each has parlayed their phonescreen fame to telly work with RT\u00c9 \u2013 Byrne in offbeat priestly comedy These Sacred Vows, Sundermann in sketch show No Worries If Not and Cantwell his own sitcom, Good Boy.<\/p>\n

As an audio threesome, however, they took a little while longer to coalesce. After some guesting on Tony\u2019s own podcast and a successful live gig at Electric Picnic, Young Hot Guys arrived in November 2023, beginning the journey that has earned them millions of downloads, a slew of live shows and the project we\u2019re here to speak about today, their partnership with Movember, the global charity event held in November every year to raise awareness and funds for men\u2019s health issues.<\/p>\n

\"KillianKillian Sundermann, Shane Daniel Byrne and Tony Cantwell, aka Young Hot Guys. Photograph: Movember <\/p>\n

The trio are ambassadors and have written sketches for this year\u2019s \u201cGrowmittment\u201d campaign, spotlighting male friendship and mental health. Research carried out by Movember last year found that 28 per cent of respondents believe men are still expected to cope with difficulties without asking for help. Only 11 per cent of men said they would hug a friend. One presumes the figures for those who\u2019d hold a friend\u2019s nipple are starker still.<\/p>\n

The campaign\u2019s themes of men opening up and sharing vulnerabilities were thrown into harsh relief last week by two stories from men\u2019s sport in Ireland. Snooker player Mark Allen announced he was considering retirement in a remarkably vulnerable interview following his exit from the Northern Ireland Open and spoke of his ongoing treatment in a mental health facility. His announcement was greeted with overwhelming warmth from his fellow players, who issued heartfelt messages of support. <\/p>\n

It was, perhaps, testament to shifting views of vulnerability in male sports, albeit in stark contrast to comments from footballer James McClean just a few days earlier. Criticising the idea that any of his team-mates might seek therapy, he told the Sunday Independent: \u201cAs a man, I see it as a weakness that I\u2019d have to speak to someone about my feelings, my emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it can be easy to scoff at this stuff,\u201d says Byrne, of awareness campaigns for such issues. \u201cPeople love doing that. But then at the same time, we need more men having conversations. And I do lots of jokes in my stand up about the ineptitude of men. I do those jokes, but I think these conversations are another way of doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think,\u201d adds Cantwell, \u201ceven though I would view myself as quite an outgoing person with my emotions, I probably still struggle to be genuine. Like even if I told a friend that I was grateful for something they did, I\u2019d immediately have to undercut it with some hilarious joke. And I feel Movember has been able to push past that, and every single year get a conversation going about men\u2019s health and mental health<\/a>. When they asked us to do sketches, they were very open to our vision. It was also just something I thought would be nice for all of us to do together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also happy as a gay guy doing it,\u201d says Byrne, \u201cbecause sometimes when we talk about men, gay people are left out of the conversation altogether as if we\u2019re not men. We\u2019ve myriad issues of our own as well, and separate ones. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think it\u2019s good to all be in it together. Sometimes there\u2019s this illusion that gay men are great with our emotions and we\u2019re just much more open and, actually … not really. I mean, that\u2019s just the mental health side. Gay men have been looking after their health and their sexual health very openly together for decades. So I think there\u2019s knowledge and attitudes that can be shared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cantwell started going to therapy regularly last year. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t what I thought,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of men might think that therapy is you go to a place with anxiety or depression and they fix it. They don\u2019t, you basically just go with the issue to talk about how you have the issue. And I remember saying to my wife, \u2018I feel I\u2019m going to a doctor with a hammer up my arse to talk about how I have a hammer up my arse. You could fix it, right?\u2019 But then I realised now that being self aware of how you feel is the thing. It isn\u2019t getting rid of it. You might just mitigate it, live with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each says the specifics of their lifestyles as gigging comics have highlighted their own issues with things like friendship, loneliness, and human connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cA nice element of our show is that we are friends,\u201d says Sundermann, who\u2019s speaking to me separately from the other two because he values his weekly five-a-side game more than the convenience of either of those friends, or one gently humorous lifestyle journalist. \u201cIn a career like comedy, you\u2019re on your own. I don\u2019t have a gig today, so I\u2019m going to spend the entire day on my own, bar this beautiful conversation with you. What happens with the podcast is manufacturing co-workers and friends, so it\u2019s a nice thing to have.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI do get a bit jealous of things like Killian\u2019s five-a-side,\u201d says Cantwell. \u201cWhen I was younger, it was very \u2018I have my mates, who would want to talk to strangers?\u2019 You never really had a plan, you just knew that people were out and everyone\u2019s going to be there. And when it\u2019s gotten now into actually having to plan to see people, I\u2019ve fallen by the wayside there. I was just looking up a community college lock-picking course recently, and I literally thought [laughs] \u2018it might be nice to meet people\u2019. Beforehand, it would have been \u2018oh, strangers, I don\u2019t know if I want to talk to strangers\u2019 But for the first time in my life I\u2019m like, meeting new people and sharing experiences? I need that!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FromFrom left: Killian Sundermann, Shane Daniel Byrne and Tony Cantwell of the Young Hot Guys podcast in Dublin. Photograph: Tom Honan for The Irish Times <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a comedian,\u201d says Byrne, \u201cyou can trick yourself into feeling like you\u2019re a social person and you\u2019re catching up with mates, but actually you\u2019re just having conversations in the back of a pub whispering while someone else is on stage. I think that can trick you into thinking your needs are being met, but they\u2019re not really, because you\u2019re also hyperactive and gigging and about to raise a lot of adrenaline to make people laugh, or try to, and you all do that together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd weirdly,\u201d adds Cantwell, \u201cwhen it\u2019s your own gigs and your own tour, which is the big shiny poster and the biggest rooms, and people just coming to see you, you\u2019re still leaving Cypress Ave or the Limelight by taking things off hangers and putting them in your car. As you get offstage, you realise you\u2019ve not talked to anyone, and you\u2019re hoping maybe there\u2019s a Supermac\u2019s open on the way home. It goes so quick from being centre of attention and surrounded by people to leaving the gig on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Sydney, I went out with the audience,\u201d says Byrne, \u201cI was like, right, I am lonely \u2013 just plain lonely. And I was like: I\u2019m going out with them. A group called the Sydney Queer Irish were in. I said, \u2018I\u2019m going out, where are ye going?\u2019 We didn\u2019t even go far, but I was delighted with it. Just had a night full of people, who came to see your show, which is a bit weird, but it felt like a normal social evening. And it didn\u2019t feel like it was about me, which was good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a normal social evening where he\u2019s holding court and everyone\u2019s listening,\u201d observes Cantwell.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kept the dynamic that I was the only one speaking,\u201d Byrne replies, \u201cand then it was all good fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Are you saying that I\u2019m providing a function for the capitalist machine, the role of friend for these humanoid workers?\u2019<\/p>\n

The world of podcasts has, itself, been cited as a vital source for men desiring human connection \u2013 Byrne says they\u2019ve had several men contact them to say that laughing along with the show helped them during \u201ca dark night of the soul\u201d \u2013 but podcasts have just as frequently been identified as a fetid swamp leading men toward hateful and bigoted rhetoric, the sort that seeks to turn their isolation into something darker. When I suggest, perhaps clumsily, that warm and silly shows like Young Hot Guys seem like an antidote to the manosphere\u2019s dour drabness, Byrne quibbles with the description.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis comes up for us every now and then,\u201d he says, \u201cand I find that really strange because isn\u2019t it miserable that we think, \u2018oh, it\u2019s men, it must be manosphere and it must be negative and it must be hateful and misogynistic\u2019 and we just jump to that. But also, an antidote is something made on purpose, as if we\u2019ve said \u2018we must find a way to be an antidote to the manosphere\u2019. I\u2019m not in relation to the manosphere! I\u2019m just a comedian having fun with my friends for the audience. That\u2019s what I\u2019m doing. We\u2019re not deliberately trying to be some shining light in amongst the bold boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the manosphere,\u201d says Sundermann, \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a thing and it\u2019s definitely something to worry about. But I think that there\u2019s a level of influence there on young people \u2013 and maybe not even that young any more. It\u2019s been around for long enough now that some of these people are probably in their early 20s. But someone like HS TikkyTokky [the manosphere influencer recently profiled by Louis Theroux] is really just a mid-level YouTube channel. <\/p>\n

\u201cIs it worth talking about constantly? Sometimes all this talking about it creates a dynamic of \u2018oh, you boys shouldn\u2019t be doing that!\u2019 And then what makes a young man more likely to do something, than society telling them they shouldn\u2019t? There\u2019s an element of ragebait, of \u2018we\u2019re not supposed to be doing this\u2019, and the hyper focus on it is almost the thing that creates the beast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to the listener to decide,\u201d says Cantwell, \u201cbut specifically when it comes to manosphere comedians, it feels like they\u2019re on some sort of mission. They take themselves very seriously, like they\u2019re truth-tellers pushing through the bullshit. And the three of us, just in general, just as friends, as men, we hate that. We are lucky enough to be paid to be silly clowns. And we will always prioritise silly. We don\u2019t take anything too serious. This idea of superiority, or that you have some extra insight on the world, we are just lucky enough to have the broadcasting ability to get our silly chats out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is crazy how we do it,\u201d says Sundermann of the process by which those silly chats are produced. \u201cIt literally is just \u2018sit down and go\u2019. A vague structure to it is \u2018how are you?\u2019 The show is just us checking in with each other, but it ends up in places so far beyond the answer to that question that it\u2019s very hard to justify that as the topic of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wonder if one of the reasons so many listeners enjoy structureless chats between engaging and funny hosts is that it provides a simulacrum of hanging out with pals, at a time when people have less time to do that with their own friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like that,\u201d Sundermann laughs, \u201cI don\u2019t like that at all. Are you saying that I\u2019m providing a function for the capitalist machine, the role of friend for these humanoid workers?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, I suggest. A corporate-sponsored men\u2019s shed but with mics. \u201cI lived with a guy who was in a men\u2019s shed,\u201d he says, by way of conclusion, \u201cand it was really good for him, but he\u2019d do the men\u2019s shed for two hours and then he would come in to the kitchen for dinner and spend the next two hours complaining about these other guys in the shed like \u2018they just wouldn\u2019t shut the f**k up\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought it was so funny that there\u2019s some guy somewhere else telling their friends, \u2018I feel really good that I got that off my chest\u2019 and all the other guys are like \u2018he\u2019s wrecking my head\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n