Life Uncut - A Chuckle F*cker, Career Cockblocks and Mid Life Audits. Uncut with Joanne McNally

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

Today’s episode is going to have you in a belly laugh. We have had Joanne McNally on the pod before and if you listened to that episode you already know that she is one of the funniest, most chaotically brilliant people we have ever had on this show. In that episode, “The art of riding a lover to sleep” we spoke about what led her to comedy, being adopted, her non-existent pelvic floor and wild dating past. Since we last spoke, Joanne's life has changed a lot. On the career front, she's absolutely on fire. Her current tour Pinotphile has already sold across the world and she is about to make history as the first Irish female comedian to headline the 3Arena solo. She has come to the conclusion that she is, possibly, in the middle of a midlife crisis. Or as she now prefers to call it, a midlife audit. We chat: Dating younger men and how it’s different How she got the name ‘Pinotphile’  The fake Instagram account she shares with a friend  Whether men are genuinely intimidated by funny women, and the power shift that happens when someone makes you laugh Deciding she wants to have a baby with her gay best friend and why she doesn't want to do it completely alone Finding her biological dad on Facebook, her half brothers in Melbourne, and what their relationship looks like now What it actually looks like to run a friendship and a business with Vogue William and why being professionally obligated to each other makes the friendship deeper You can follow Joanne on Instagram at @joannemcnally You can listen to My Therapist Ghosted Me Get tickets to Joanne's Pinotphile tour here You can watch us on Youtube Find us on Instagram Join us on tiktok Or join the Facebook Discussion Group Hosted by Britt Hockley & Laura Byrne Produced by Keeshia Pettit Video Produced by Vanessa Beckford & Lachy Pugsley Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friend and share the love because WE LOVE LOVE! Xx  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of Life Uncut. I'm Brittany. I'm Laura. And strapping baby, one of our favorite guests of all time, Joanne McNally is back with us. She's on Australian soil. Well, actually she's on Kiwi soil at the moment, but she's coming to Australia. You might know Joanne. She's now one of the biggest female comedians in the UK. Definitely the biggest to come out of Ireland. We've had her on the podcast a few years ago. She hosts her own killer podcast, My Therapist Ghosted Me, with Vogue Williams. She hosts TV shows. There is nothing this woman can't do. Totally. She's Ireland's biggest export.

Well, Vogue might be upset about that. I don't know. It used to be potatoes and now it's Jerome McNally. Who? Who would be upset? Vogue. Vogue. Would she? oh sorry sorry oh yeah oh god yeah don't tell her she doesn't listen to this podcast anyway no no no no I'm joking I'm only joking no no we are very supportive of each other also she doesn't really travel as much as I do anyway sorry sorry sorry no she she does travel as

much as this that she goes to like the fancy five-star like Bahamas and stuff and you're a bit more yeah where you are now yeah you're a bit more humble yeah yeah yeah poor is what you poor. Oh, please. Joanne McNally, everyone. She's here again. It's so nice to have you back on the pod. Thanks so much for having me back. Now, obviously I'm Zooming in from Christchurch. I don't even have a bra on me. Today's my first day off in, I don't know how long, maybe three weeks. Wow. Do you know, I don't work that hard and I don't have a bra on either. I don't wear bras either. I love it. So I was like, I can't wait to catch up with the girls, but it will be an understated moment that's why I'm wearing my sunglasses and I'm sitting in the window

in the hope that the reflection will cover the greys how do you manage the workload at the moment like I feel like things just seem to be escalating and escalating for you like how do you manage everything that you have going on and also having some semblance of sanity and normal life as well well this is the thing it's actually I'm not even joking when I say I do take a lot of Adderall yeah it wasn't a bad one before we saw it it was on the tape Brittany was like there's a big tube the medication behind you there as I'm frothing at the mouth and kind of like I blink twice if you need help yeah yeah yeah yeah I'm on a drip I've adopted Michael Jackson's doctor is just beside my bed keeping me barely alive my honest take on it is if you're getting the work you take

the work you never say no to the work and like every dog has its day and there will be a time when I'm not getting this work and so at the moment I'm just trying to do as much of it as I can. And also, and again, I don't mean this to sound sad. It might sound a little sad. I've nothing else to do. I've no husband. I've no kids. It's just me. I've nothing else in my life. I've put everything into this. So I'm certainly not going to start turning down the jobs and work that I've been trying to get for 10 years. Do you know what I mean? I know, but it's one of those interesting things because like you are in this very like specific period of life, right? Where like you don't have any other responsibilities except to yourself right now. But like, you know,

But you get fed all the crap, which is like around balance and like, you know, finding a good work-life balance and mental health and everything else. And I'm not saying crap, mental health is crap. Don't cancel me right now. But when you're in this industry. It's a strong opener, Laura. I like it.

Great Joe Rogan. I did say I was going to get myself cancelled in 2026. I don't even think they went to the moon. I actually questioned that. I love a conspiracy. I'm not convinced, but it's for another day maybe. I don't know. No, what I mean by that is, is I think in this industry,

all of that tends to come second when opportunities present itself like you just got to ride the wave as hard as you can I speak to women about this all the time this absolute farcical lie that women can have it all it's horseshit yeah women get two things at a time but we're told we can balance seven and you can't if I had a family I couldn't do I couldn't do this to the extent I'm doing it I don't think I could anyway maybe I could I mean then maybe then that's horseshit because like This comedian is much bigger than me of kids like Ali Wong and stuff. Maybe I'm just using as an excuse. I think you could also throw everything into work and then at the expense of your personal life, which is certainly what I have done.

But in saying that, the plan is 2027. Start going out again. I'm starting to ride again. I'm going to ride into the sunset. Yeah, I'm going to start going back. I'm going to put the shifts back in hinge. I'm going to start living my life again. So this year I'm just going to work my tits off

and then next year it'll be a more chilled year. Well, we're going to get into all of that because I want to unpack so much of it, but you can't escape completely. We start every episode with Accidentally Unfiltered, your most embarrassing moment. And I know you have shared a killer one last time you were on the podcast if you guys have not heard that. To summarise it, Joanne rode a man to sleep.

She jumped on insects and she was so good that he fell asleep. Do you have another one? I rocked him to sleep. very memorable twinkle twinkle little star vibes yeah we're not together now

isn't that mad that's crazy yeah shocking what happened he's still asleep rumour has it he must wake up

some other woman had to ride him back to life I'd say that's what happened in my defence because as a single woman

I can't have bad Yelp reviews going around about me riding men to sleep he was very Very tired. And I think he had an iron deficiency. It was nothing performance based. I won't take responsibility for it.

I think he'd had a couple of those melatonin gummies before he started and it was just, you know, he couldn't help himself. He was an undiagnosed narcoleptic in my eyes. There's no other explanation for it because like, I'm very excited. It's a much better story. But I was trying, I was racking my brains for embarrassing stuff that's happened to of late one thing happened which I mean is it it kind of it certainly gave me the closure that I needed I was isn't it so funny even at my age 42 years of age an independent woman very mentally

resilient I'm still at the stage in life where I'm checking my stories to see if some loser that I had a crush on three years ago watched it like does it ever end no it never ends does it ever end I think it's the most relatable thing ever right like or are you the type of person that still checks on their ex's profile every so often just to check in see what they're doing I don't do that I might google them yeah check out the profile do you not now I'm really good at set and forget I'm like wham bam thank you ma'am I haven't reached that state of nirvana yet I still every so often just have a look it makes me feel good about myself so I'm gonna I'm gonna tap into that every so often well me and a very close friend of mine have a fake instagram account

that we share because well I work in the public eye she works in the public eye we don't want to be seen to be watching do you get me? You've got a finster

is it just you and Vogue? Is this like you're trying to like lead us astray it's just you Vogue no Vogue will just choose violence Vogue will just go in

and watch anything she wants Vogue doesn't care she's hilarious I'm way more sinister I'm way more underground I'm going in Vogue will just have her name flashing up in someone's story

he's not a bother he's like I don't care I'll have a look with another friend of mine we have a fake account and we just go in and we will check also

the truth is I've blocked a lot of exes that they've blocked me do you know I don't block exes there's a lot of blocking going on wow you're intense

you're yeah it doesn't end well for you does it I think going back over my relationships two ended amicably and I

and I will say out of the other 60 billion that I've had I will say this it's not always my fault honestly it's not like there's been a couple

recently where I was like I'm not taking responsibility for them they were nuclear endings and that was not on me this is me taking no accountability for anything like no no the therapy is working really well so I'm glad that we got to that sort of resolution everyone else is insane I'm absolutely fine so go back to this story I was seeing a gentleman but now because of the modern way things are working are you ever seeing anyone I don't know is monogamy out the window who knows I don't know also because I've started not I've started dating but he was a little younger than me so of course the younger generation they're all very open nothing's nothing's too serious it's

all a situationship yeah exclusivity whereas i am an elder millennial i like things closed how much younger are we talking set the tone 14 15 no i'm joking um for me i was like i don't know if it's legal in the uk it's definitely definitely illegal here The minimum age is 14. No. And she still swipes out of the age range on Tinder. She's like, fuck, I've run out of people again. Oh, God.

Can you leave that in? I don't know. Yeah, Joanne McNally mocks pedophilia. Come and see me in Perth. When you call your entire show pedophile, I feel like people are going to expect it. It's okay. I'm kidding.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I realise that is not, that's not my vibe. I'm actually very age appropriate. But what does happen, and I talk about this in the show, when you hit your 40s, because the men my age, they're dating down now. They're dating women in their 20s and 30s because they can, because they're out for the fertility.

They're like, because they're fucking men. And they can get away with it. And they like fertility. And when you hit your 40s as a woman, you're for men. They don't get the same sense of certainty. They're just wired to want to Bang fertile women Because they're truffle pigs for eggs

They can smell the fertility No I was about to say They smell the ovulation And I feel like it's like It's like stale truffle over 40 That's how they react to you Brittany it's the same as dogs Have you ever been in a park

And a dog has come over I don't know how graphic to be here And smelled your crotch Sorry you think a dog can smell your fertility Why else do they stick their nose in your crotch I don't know if it's your fertility that they can smell. It's something else that's going on. But is that what dogs are sniffing out?

Are they like, this one's going to give me a litter of puppies? Well, do you know, they say you can smell pregnancy. They say dogs smell pregnancy, so maybe they are. I remember reading about this years ago. But when a woman is fertile, she has a kind of a sexier walk. That's just because her ovaries are hurting. Yeah, she's bending over, yeah, screaming in pain. That's endometriosis and some guy was like, she's flirting with me.

She's hot. We haven't even got what you did with your ex yet. sorry so the situationship guy he was he was kind of like late late 20s early 30s i would say that's what's happening now because we're in a kind of a new more i don't know expressive sexually open culture there's a kind of generation of those younger men who are very sex positive very sexually experienced and they're interested in older women now and i am that now i actually remember asking him I was like why are like what is the appeal this was before the appeal ended and he said um he said my first year I didn't know what age you were when I saw because I met

him in a bar he's like I hadn't I didn't know and he's like and secondly you don't need anything from me like if I wasn't sitting here your life would carry on regardless you don't need me at all and I find that very attractive wow that's interesting yeah that's very self-assured from him that's like I feel like that that's quite wise on his own years as well I agree he doesn't have to take you out and spend a lot of money on you you got your own money he probably thinks he can't risk getting you pregnant little does he know but like I don't know maybe it's just a safety net for them as well you know what's up you've lived a life yeah he's like you're not gonna want anything from me maybe that's what he's saying yeah ultimately yeah I reckon sorry

yeah yeah no that's fair yeah I've realized what was happening there thanks I was um the reality of the situation just hit me there yeah so anyway as I do if I kind of am with someone for a while I end up I just kind of fall for them it's just a hormonal thing I don't know

like I would never be able to have regular hookups with someone and not develop some sort of emotional attachment to them I don't know how people do it

I don't know how they do it I get that anyway it kind of ran its course what I'm saying is I sent a text about him to him

and I thought I'd left myself with a bit of dignity and the text was something along the lines of still no word from him he's obviously lost interest oh no

he's left me on read for a week now yeah yeah and it was supposed to go to one of the girls and it went to him and then he wrote back going sorry

something like you know I just think it's coarse blah blah blah but he had left me on read and I do think that is rude so in a way I'm kind of even though it was humiliating

because you never want them to think you care you always just want to pretend like you don't care about anything ever I had a bit of dignity and I texted my dignity away I just handed my

I handed my dignity back to him but like whatever whatever once it's coarse yeah and there's also nothing you can do come back to me when you're 40 talk to us about pinnifile so pinnifile is what you have named your tour now I am told that this

is a big deal but we do not know what the arenas are like over in Ireland in the UK but you are the first female comedian to sell Irish comedian to sell out the three arena which apparently is a huge arena set the tone for us is that true yeah so in the first Irish one yeah it is a big deal it is i've two of them i've two of them yeah now obviously as an irish person i i don't i don't i don't i even here see how awkward i don't i i i don't i can't i'm not i it's not my place to say if it's a big deal or not any positive talk about myself and my career makes me want to brillo pad my insides out i just can't do it so it's grant two in the arenas how do you how do you take compliments in your normal day today but like imagine me going i know it's insane

isn't it like I just can't I think there's a way around well you know what Aussies are like that as well Aussies it's pretty ingrained in us like you get so awkward with a compliment and you it's not in our culture to like toot your own horn but that's why you have people like us to toot your horn it's a big deal and you were with us a couple of years ago on this episode when you were doing tours you were still killing it but to see the growth from then to now is huge and you're not going to say it but it's amazing so well done thanks Brittany thank you you're welcome First of all, how has Pinophile, obviously that's a play on wine and pedophilia. I don't know.

That's a weird, it's a weird concept. How did the title of your show come up? How did you sit there and think, I know what's a good name? Well, so all my tours have had alcohol puns in the title. So I had Wine Timer was the first one. Prosecco Express was the next tour. And so it made sense to have something alcohol-y based in this one. I was going to go with Sauvignon Slut

That has a ring to it as well That was me in my 20s Well I think the next show I think I'll call it Sauvignon Slut I do feel like a lot of women Will be able to relate to that Everyone's had a period in their life Where they've been a Sauvignon Slut

Exactly So there was a video going around Of Joe Peloton The bike Yeah Yes So there was a Peloton instructor One of the American ones

Their video went viral Of her You know they have all the names On the board in front of them as they pedal away and they kind of call people out you know spitting for gin 100th class whatever and um she she saw a name on the board and obviously she didn't like what she saw and she was like no we don't do that here and then she was asking the people up in the office or whatever that are looking down the control room she said i think she called it she goes control room ban him

ban him we don't do that here we don't disrespect and i was like obviously everyone was like what was the name and then i turned it the name was pedophile now that is genius as far as i'm concerned i was like that is so funny for anyone with a sense of humor obviously this woman now i think she might have misread it i don't know i don't know i don't know her story i didn't wait around to hear i just went off laughing and sharing the video i shared the video to my insta and i can't take credit for the name because there was a woman who followed me messaged me I think her name was Claire. And she went, oh my God, your Peloton name should be Pinophile.

And then I went, do you know what? That's too good for Peloton. I'm taking that on the road. So that's where the name came from. It was going to be Sauvignon Sleuth. What was the reaction when you first called the tour and you announced what the name was? What was the overrush?

If that was the reaction that the Peloton instructor had to Pedophile, did you get a little bit of that backlash or was it fine? I did. No, I did. I got a little bit of backlash. But like my take on it all is, I like to set the bar low morally

so no one can expect honestly so no one can expect anything more from me do you know what I mean because then you can only surprise them it can only go up

and penophile in fairness the vast majority of the reaction was actually very positive there were some people for sure who accused me of

advertising pedophilia and I was like come here name I think the lads are doing a good enough job without themselves I'm pretty sure the islanders and all

do you know with everything that's going on I yeah I said my room is just all women it's just a giant pussy parlour so don't be blaming us for the for the peedos we get blamed for enough I want to take you back for a second I know you said you hate compliments but like obviously your life has changed dramatically and you are now the queen of Ireland so it's quite like I can only imagine no I knew that would make you feel great no but like how do you cope with someone when you self-proclaimed that you hate compliments and you also don't want that type of attention do people like obviously people come up in the street and

be like we love you Joanne like I'm sure that happens but how do you kind of I guess navigate the shift in your life and the shift in like how people perceive you now yeah it has been a bit of a wild ride to be honest but when I do meet women out and about who either listen to the pod or they've been to the shows they're so normal like they're just kind of like us you know what I mean so you know I'm not like Harry Styles level of you know they're not like screaming or anything they're just like oh hi I'm like hey yeah yeah you're relatable now sometimes after the shows we've all had a drink and it could get a little messy sometimes at the stage tour but like not really like there was there was there was one woman I think her name was Sharon she was hilarious

the tour manager had to unclasp her arms because she just wouldn't let go I was like Sharon Sharon I gotta go I have to get in the car Sharon

I have to go oh my god Sharon I think she's in Glasgow just don't be Sharon Sharon yeah but no but be Sharon I don't care

it doesn't bother me we just have to go because the car was there or whatever so but usually it's just very normal I don't know

I haven't and I also do think where I am there's still but there's still an anonymity there like I'm not like I'm bubbling away and I and there has been a lot of growth and this tour is bigger than the last one and thank god that will you know that's the way you wanted to go every tour that you kind of recruit more and you kind of you build until of course you start coming down the other side which is also an inevitable part of the comedic journey

but I'm still not you know a household name as such now in Ireland yes I would be at this point I think although probably still a lot of people in Ireland are like they think I'm quite annoying but like America like when I'm going to the States like I'll have no tour manager I'm just going around on my own I'm going for two months and I'm doing like 200 theaters and stuff you know so there's still more build to happen it's not done so it's not like I'm being papped outside my house or anything you know there's nothing like that it's all very it's still all very feels very normal do you find that you have to change your comedy in terms of the content or the way you deliver it and the way you present depending on what country you're in because you know the UK is very different

to the US and very different to Australia yeah but no because so if I'm in Ireland I would do more material about Ireland

you know like because it's kind of like that's what you know we kind of love talking about ourselves but I don't really lean

on the Irish thing that much outside of it because I am trying my best to be like an international act sometimes I will find some audiences

a little more sensitive than others so for example if I'm in a more well-off area it can be a little more sensitive

of to stuff or they feel they might maybe they're like I don't know if we're allowed to laugh at that but mostly because it's mostly just about the female experience not a lot has to change for people who are coming who want who want to engage in it I mean obviously there's people who come and they'll leave and go that was dog shit couldn't couldn't understand a word she was saying and I think she's wildly inappropriate that's just part of the system that's always going to happen there's always going to be people who come who really get it and there's going to people who come who are like i never want to see or hear from that woman ever again and that's just the nature of it but and not much changes about because like i say it's very much focused around

the female experience and that is i think you know a very much a universal experience or seems to be anyway because you know there's a lot of women coming to the show so there's obviously something relatable there that's outside of nationality yeah absolutely and also what do you think it is about i guess like you know you said it's people who are more affluent or have more money that might find something a bit more on the nose or struggle to find the humor in it why do you think that there's that disparity i don't know i'd say chachi bt would tell me almost immediately but i think there's there may be kind of watching their p's and q's but they don't want like some of the jokes are you know i like i like a little some some dark darker stuff but i think it's more the

permission it's maybe they don't feel they have the permission to now this is maybe they just don't think it's funny do you know what I mean there's that too but it makes sense when something works everywhere else and then you take it to a kind of a more affluent area and it doesn't work in the same way you're like that's a cultural like there's something in that I think yeah and also the fear around like there's a big conversation that happens at the moment around being politically correct and like what you can and can't joke about and even sometimes you know we talk about it on our podcast because you're you're putting this content out to such a big community you can't cater to every single person's life experience or the way that they

interpret something. And so sometimes I find ourselves like falling over backwards because I don't want to say something in a way that offends someone. So you say something, then you're like, Oh God, you know, I didn't mean it like that. Like, how do you, especially with on the podcast itself, like with Vogue, where you guys are just talking about your life, how do you know where that line is between not getting yourself cancelled and being able to still keep the humor in it? Well, so I'm not joking when I say I don't present, I know I'm a good person and anyone in life I think friends and family but as a comedian I've always tried to poke the bear like from day one I've been poking the bear yeah again not massively do you know what I mean I'm not like

I'm not like trying to make fascism funny I'm not I'm not that dark but I do poke the bear so people don't expect like so for example there's stuff that I could say in the podcast and Vogue would be like I could never get away with saying that yes and I'm like you're right you couldn't but because but we're different jobs and we're different people and we've different personalities and Vogue probably has a little more of a like you know she's presented as a more

wholesome kind of person whereas especially as a comedian as well they know I don't fucking mean half the stuff I say do you know what I mean but there is that

I think I have managed it quite well in that regard you know no one was surprised when I called the show Penophile yeah it checks out

if Vogue came out with a clothesline called Penophile I think there would be some backlash do you know what I mean Vogue launched something a book

or whatever it's what's expected of you like exactly that we have it here in Australia with a couple of big personalities you could say the exact same thing as them but the expectation is you don't usually say that so we're going to cancel you but it's expected of that person so we'll let it slide and it's yeah we have this all the time we make jokes that we're like oh that was so funny but we're gonna have to edit that out like that just can't make it and it's not that

it's like it's like you said it's not that it's dark it's just that you're so worried about offending anybody but you absolutely cannot please anyone totally comedians as well like there's flexibility there there has to be or what's the point you know what i mean otherwise you're just going to a ted talk i think you also nailed it when you said it earlier on and you said you know you set the tone and the expectation for what people are listening to right and so like if you do come in with a high sense of morality or a high sense of judgment or explaining to people how they should or shouldn't think about things then you say something that's not congruent with that the fall from grace is so far so like that's why vogue can't get away with saying some of the

things that you can whereas if you come in and that's the base level that you've built from yeah Joanne you already came in on the ground set the bar low baby that's what we're learning I came in and I was like expect nothing from me I started very much at the bottom but that was an intentional that was a strategic decision on my part yeah I don't speak about politics I don't get involved in anything like that because I think once you start kind of like I'm privately obviously I do all the things that I need to do and have all the conversations and but publicly I think if you start going down that road there will be an expectation

of you to have a theory on Joanne have you nothing to say about Venezuela do you know this kind of stuff if you start going down that road like have you nothing to say about the refugee crisis yeah privately I have plenty to say but that's not my lane you know so I keep

my lane weird dark comedy as best I can well you do obviously utilise a lot of your own experiences and a big part of your show is your dating experiences and your situationships and men in general now that you've grown so exponentially have you seen like a direct correlation between that the content you're putting out and your ability to date or the way you date like are men just turning up thinking fuck I don't want to be another piece of your story another piece of your comedy yes the larger

the comedy gets the smaller the man gets and I don't mean physically I mean in numbers I would say currently like when I do you know what it's so funny I speak to comedians about this I speak to female comedians and male comedians about this on the regular male comedians when I say cleaning

up they are that we call the women and this isn't a derogatory term because I am one a chuckle fucker a chuckle fucker like a group a comedian groupie I love this chuckle fucker and I am also like I am so drawn

to funny men honest to god I have been laughed into the sack more times than I can even remember by men who like

to be diplomatic they're not you know traditionally you know lookers you know what I mean they're hideous

but the only thing they can give you is they make you laugh they're a full bit of personality I know what you're trying to say Joanne yeah

they fell out of the ugly tree and had every branch of the way no I'm kidding I don't mean that but what I mean is for me

and I think a lot of women are the same the personality like I will be very drawn to personality and funniness in men to me is like it's the pièce de la résistance

it's everything so regardless of whether he's traditionally attractive or whatever I'm all over him I'm like a rod up a drain pipe however

it doesn't work the other way round I have male comic friends who are just regular looking lads but they're very funny and they're good at their job and they're going out with

like these elite models. Like, I mean, it's hilarious. And it doesn't work the other way around. I think, now, also, I also kind of have to accept I'm in my 40s now. So maybe the dating thing is shifting for me because of that as well.

Like I'm not, you know, I'm not the hot young thing I once was. But you still are the super hot young thing though. Like you are hot. I'm not really. I'm not. As if you're not hotter I feel like women get hotter in their 40s than they are in their 30s.

I feel like women like improve. There's been like this false lie that we've been told that like you reach this peakness and then you kind of like disintegrate. Every woman I know who's like had her second lease on life in her 40s is fucking hotter now than what they were in their 30s. I feel like I'm better looking now at nearly 40 than I ever was in my 20s. Yes, that's because I discovered Botox in the world of salmon sperm. I didn't know about that stuff in my 20s.

I do put more effort in But like There is something to be said For just coming into Who you are as well Oh big time And I talk about this In the show

I say when you hit your 40s Like they scare you Into thinking you're Going to hit a wall And what you actually hit Is your stride And so I'm probably

So there's more going on Than just Like I actually do think You know I'm the same Like I do the Botox Well I haven't done the gym In about two weeks That does need to be

I put that in the journal That's on the to-do list Move your body You lazy bitch anyway I do all the bits and the bobs but I do think the pool does get smaller

as you get older now in saying that I've also just told a story about that younger gentleman yeah so it's not like I'm completely dead inside but the pool gets

a little smaller the job gets in the way I do think the job is a bit of a cock block I've spoken about that before and I think I'm more guarded as well to be honest

I'm less willing to just meet whoever whenever like before I suppose I'm a little more guarded now do you think that men are intimidated and this is a very generalized question but do you think men are intimidated by funny women yeah yeah so i was seeing a guy another guy you'd swear

like you'd swear i had lads falling out of the cupboards i don't i saw one climbing behind you just a little while ago in a gimp mask get back in there darren it would be a Dazzer in Australia too Dazzer yeah oh yeah the abbreviations you guys crack me up

he was saying he was from the UK he openly said to me he's like I find your texting difficult I said what do you mean

he goes it's like texting one of the lads it's like just banter and I was like oh I'm sorry I'm sorry why

you just want me to send ass shots is it with no personality like I was like look I'm Irish so this is kind of how we roll so I don't know

I don't know what the solution here is but he said to me he used language like I want you to be softer will you be softer or kinder will you be kinder to me

I thought we were enjoying ourselves but he used the terms softer and kinder I think he in particular probably wanted to be the kind of dominant male and I guess

I wasn't you're not a pushover yeah and that's not to say that whoever he's dating since was a pushover he just he was looking for something different but I do think yeah the funny woman thing some men are like they're obviously it also says a lot about the men themselves because when you make someone laugh I think they kind of have to give themselves over to you in that moment there is a

kind of a power shift and I think sometimes with men they're just not willing to do that they don't like it they don't like the feeling of it so when I see men at my shows and they're laughing and they're getting involved I really enjoy it makes me really like them because I'm like they're progressive modern men when you get the you know the odd one in with the arms folding

just staring at you and you're like dude I don't care like just go like it doesn't bother me I don't need you here but they

so men now back maybe back more in my club days dude they would want to make it very clear that they weren't they didn't think

you were funny and yeah and they had to make it clear and it felt like it's a real power play do you know because as a woman of course I'd be fake laughing

the whole way through just to make sure the person on stage felt comfortable. Whereas these guys, it's a power play. It's a power play. So a lot of it's to do with power. And I think the humor side of things is part of that because a lot of men just aren't willing to give you that. They're just not willing to let you have it. I've heard you talk a lot recently, just in other interviews and on your own podcast, My Therapist Ghosted Me, about being 42 and deciding that you do want to have children in your life. Talk to us a little bit about that. Like, where are you at and how do you see that

happening? I'm having a bit of a, not a moment, not having a moment. There's a little shift in my thinking at the moment because this career is, I'm doing this 10 years, right? So for the first 10 years, I just put the head down and just like, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Which means at the expense of a lot of other stuff, relationships and having kids, right? So, and now that I feel the seeds that I planted are popping or growing. They're growing. They're sprouting. Is that what we'd say? The seeds are starting to sprout, which I think is giving me the freedom now to start making some big decisions and kind of getting on with my life outside of just stand up. So that's why now I'm like and unfortunately as we all know for a woman we are on a timeline sadly now I do

think with the IVFs and all that jazz and women are having babies later because culturally everything has just shifted and women are working and they're more financially independent and all that jazz so I was like right it's time to have a baby I thought about it loads and I was like I just know deep down in my soul that I'd love to have a baby for my future self I mean now it would be a bit of logistical nightmare let's be honest but I just know who I am I know what I'm like and I'm a bit of a softy really and I just know if I'm 55 I just think I'd regret it I just think I'd really really regret that I didn't do it or try to do it so that's where my thinking is this tour finishes Christmas 2026 and I would look at trying like I try like I'm 42 I don't know

how possible it is I would look at doing it next year with the plan is to do with my a gay male friend of mine because I don't think

I'd like to do it on my own I think I would and I know a lot of women do and I know they're very happy with their decisions but I also know because I have friends who did it

how hard it is if you don't have someone else who loves the baby like you love the baby that would be my take on it and I know that you can have all sorts of step parents

who are all going to step in and grandparents and friends and I understand that but there is a lack of it's not the same community as it used to be raising kids you know you're very much on your own say it's a pretty lonely job at times yeah yeah Laura and like do you know what's funny I spoke to a woman a very she's very intelligent woman she's got six kids and I was saying to her I was having this conversation with her and I was like I don't

want to do it on my own and this woman's married and they're still together they live together and she looked me in the eye and said Joanne it doesn't matter if you're married or your husband or partner whatever she goes as a woman you're always on your own and I was like whoa wow I was like that was a heavy hit I look I mean yes I understand that that is how a hell of a lot of women feel and that is the experience of a lot of women but I think if you have a fucking good partner who really wants to be a dad and who shows up it doesn't have to be like that and I think it's something incredible to be said about the fact that you're choosing to go into this with parity with someone who wants to be a parent as much as you want to be a parent because

I'm not on my own I have three children and my husband does more than 50 percent uh he's incredible so like yeah he looks great yes and he's got a six-pack so it's lovely but you know he's he loves being a dad and so like the fact that you get to choose to do this with someone who is so voluntarily wanting to step up to the plate and parent and you can do that in a platonic way what a fucking amazing way to be able to step into motherhood no Laura do you know what you're absolutely dead right and it's it's not fair to paint all fathers and say they're all shit at their jobs some of them are though i retract i retract i retract but you we also have to accept i think you're you've married well do you know what i mean some good decisions were made and you

and you and you guys are very lucky to have met and all that there are a lot of women out there who do find themselves you know that their partners are pretty hands-off or just kind of don't see the stuff that needs to be done you know like i was talking to a friend of mine she's like he just doesn't see the stuff it's like he just doesn't get that there's the lunches and the packing of the pack in the bag for the going out for the day and he's just in the car waiting for stuff like that anyway I know that there's some amazing fathers out there but I don't think it's a bit late for me now to go and meet one of those I need to get cracking I need to get cracking now and Ross who he's dying to do as well and also it's more like a business it's like a we're making

a decision there's no romantic connection there we can't divorce we're not together so I think it's amazing I think it would actually be a really yeah I think it's a really good way to do it now I had friends who were saying I don't think you should do that because you know if you are on your own you get to make all the decisions yourself and you can but that's the thing I don't really want that I want to I want someone else involved do you want it involved have you guys talked about it to like what level are you going to lock in together and like live together or are you going to live your separate lives and then just do, like, a shared custody arrangement?

Like, there's so much. The thing is, I think it's brilliant, but there's so much logistically that you would absolutely need to make sure you guys had in place and, like, in a contract. It sounds crazy, but you'd almost need a contract form of, like. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Totally.

But do you notice, oh, we haven't gone that deep into it. We haven't, to be honest. But there's conversations being had. But there was a friend of mine, he donated sperm to a friend of his. who wanted to have a baby and it was supposed to be kind of very much you know just here's a jam jar of sperm this is your journey he's actually very involved now and he wasn't anticipating that at all so yeah I don't know it's you're right though there's there's more conversations to be had but that's where I stand on the baby thing I think it's amazing and I know that there's like

so much pressure when you're at a point in life and you think that maybe you want it but then your biological clock is like now is the time as much as I agree with you but like there is like such a logistical contract that needs to be kind of taken into account and like obviously you got to live near each other and then you split time and all these sorts of things but I think that there's so many versions of what makes up families now and like there is no one size fits all and I would rather be doing that version of it than be doing the version which is exactly what you described that so many other women are doing where they're in relationships and they actually just have another child in their partner yeah yeah I know yeah I know and you're right it comes in all

shapes sizes and forms you know I would also maybe like adopt I would think about that it's all to play for kind of like I've been in a coma for the last 10 years or I've just been very um focused on work and I could wake up I could be sitting here zooming with you guys in 10 years time setting another Australian tour and having done none of none of the things I I promised myself I do because it's easy to just work all the time you just say yeah you just keep going build build build so I need to kind of I'm taking stock that's what I'm doing at the moment there's stock taking happening do you think that this idea of stock taking has been something that you've been more conscious of now that you've turned 40 so like in your 40s was that a definitive time or is it just

something that's kind of I guess like arrived in the last couple years well a couple of things happened my 30s were a bit of a mess to be honest I changed I went into the stand-up I was in treatment for a need disorder I moved home to my mom's I'd no money I moved to London I'd no money I was gigging gigging gigging but then when I turned 40 things had started to come together for me I was making money my job was going well I was touring I built you know a following so when I turned 40 I was like this is the happiest I've ever been in my life so there was no it's not a negative stuff I'm not panicking it's not like oh my god fuck I'm 40 I need to do all these things it's just I can afford to sit back now and take a bit of stock I can afford to take a bit of time

off if I want you know like I have my mortgage covered that's all that's all fine so I'm like okay so what else what else are we doing Joanne because now is the time to do it so yeah I don't like the term midlife crisis it's more like a midlife what do we call it they call it a midlife crisis it's not a crisis because you're just at a stage in your life you're like oh shit I probably I'm nearly halfway through I heard someone recently describe it as a midlife audit and I love that because it's like you're not in crisis I'm just auditing where I'm at and am I happy with this am I not what do I want to change yeah it's like a it's like an assessment that is the perfect term that is the perfect term I mean I'd say mine's a crisis yeah mine's not an audit I'm

I would fucking love to be in an audit that is the cutest thing I've ever seen I'm not an audit I'm so deep in a crisis. Yeah, but Brittany, you make it so glam. You make it so glam. If that's what a crisis looks like, if that's what a crisis looks like, give me one now. Internally, I'm breaking down.

My wall-to-wall six-pack and my stunning husband and my Italian life. What a crisis. God love her. I hope she's okay. I know, we're all sending out well wishes. Everyone's written a get well soon card.

That's what I think when I see you on Instagram, I'm like a poor woman. God love her. Fuck you both. I might have a six pack right now, but my brain is crumbling. I am internally, I am dying on the inside. I'm only teasing. I know you've got your challenges.

No, it's been, even said that, that's laced in sarcasm. She's like, no, do you know what? I just resonated with what you just said because you were like, I don't necessarily want the kid now, but when I look at my future self, like I know I want it in the future and that's what eats you up and I want to preface this by saying yeah we had like and to be fair it's only been one listener but we had a listener writing the other day that was like shut up Brittany basically like we get it you don't know if you want a kid it made me really angry because I thought what I am going through right now I know

so many women go through the pendulum of fertility and children and whether you want them and can you have them and like but I was like who are you to say like you know because that thing's consuming me right I'm like I'm the person that gets to decide if I want to have a crisis about this and I do want to have a crisis about this but talking about family you are adopted and we spoke about that a lot to our listeners I'm not telling you you're adopted you know that Joanne it's not breaking news but to our listeners what oh my gosh I'm sorry to tell you tell me this at the start at the start of the podcast britney how am i going to process this remember has it that your biological dad is and your brothers your half-brothers and stuff are here in australia

they are indeed yeah mel they're melbonians how long have you known who your dad was and like how long have your dad and your half-brothers been in your life i mean in fairness if i mean oh so when did when did that all happen actually maybe around 2018 2019 maybe something like that It's not that long ago. All I had was his name and then I put it into Facebook and this man popped up. And the second I saw him, I was like, wow, there's me. You all look so alike. We're very similar. Yeah, we're very similar, which is very rewarding. Actually, it was really nice because that was something I've never had before. That was really cute.

And their sound. But you've actually, you spend time with them. Like you've been here just recently and you've and spending time with them what's that like for you do you catch up on like the period and the gap of like life and what that was like for you like what do you guys do together like why did you give me up no you see we don't like because like I've met them a couple of times now like we don't really we've kind of done the whole like emotion you know nitty-gritty combos now it's just very much you know how are you like what's going on in your life we've kind of done the emotional bit now it's just nice to see them and I'm also very very lucky because there's other people adopted

people who when they reach out the people who hand them up for adoption aren't interested in a relationship for whatever reason a multitude of reasons they've moved on their partner doesn't know they can't handle it you know emotionally like there's loads of reasons it's you know it can be very messy and I'm very very lucky that his him and his family are so open to me and so nice to me on top of catching up with them while you were here something else that you've recently had done is that you had a great big tattoo uh put on your leg where did this come from where did the inspiration behind this and it is oh please is it real here it is ladies it's real oh my god you did it it is like okay so if you're not quite sorry i should have

hang on you've had it shaded since i saw the first lot like i think it's just bled underneath the sticky yeah it's bleeding underneath the sticky so that it just looks cleaner britney's I'm a clean skin so like I don't know the rules around hats you know I love them I love them I love them I love them and this is all part of the my midlife audit because I'm like Joanne

you want a dog you've been talking about getting a dog for 10 years get a fucking dog Joanne stop just talking about it now in fairness I had to wait because I had no garden so I'm going to have to buy a house in London now with a garden so I'm adopting a dog I've got that lined up I'm doing the things that I oh my god am I having a midlife crisis? You are you're doing

what I'm doing oh my god and you're adopted sometimes when you say it out loud sometimes you realize in this moment you're adopted you're getting a dog you're buying a house you're in a crisis you're having a baby with your gay best friend bliss tattooed across my thigh that doesn't scream crisis i'm having an affair with my secretary and i've just bought a red Ferrari I'm having a midlife crisis no talk us through seriously though where the tattoo came from why bliss and I know you say you wanted to get tattoos you'd be talking about it but like why that specifically well bliss to me so Kylie my tour manager who I've worked with for several

times several years she has it right so basically I've just copied her because I have no imagination but we talk about this idea of bliss it's kind of like a state of mind so I would you believe get a little overwhelmed sometimes believe it would you believe yeah yeah and I'm not giving out I love my life I'm very happy and I you know I like being as busy as I am and stuff but it there are moments where I am overwhelmed and me and Kylie talk very much about this kind of idea of like bliss kind of shutting things out I mean it's basically like a live laugh love on my leg so and she has it and yeah it's been something that it's just I just love the term I love the word it makes me feel safe when I think about it and it kind of has meaning to me from it and has

done for the last couple of years there is a fuck up button I'm being pressed at the moment on a lot of stuff and that was one of them and then of course everyone's like oh yeah because obviously when you put stuff online you are opening yourself up to comments like that's why you're putting it up you know like I understand that but my god you'd swear I'd gotten a fascist slogan tattooed my neck is it it's disgusting some guy's like it's ai she's full of shit but this is the thing i don't understand like a tattoo is subjective and also like you're doing something to your body that is causing zero harm to anyone else i have a big tattoo on my side and do you yeah it's i fucking got it when i was 18 no 22 going through a bad breakup it's her tramp stamp you know how

everyone when we were like in our 20s thought that they were like literally eat pray love fucking spiritual symbols that is very culturally inappropriate and i probably shouldn't have done it yeah yeah i got like a like a hand a fucking hand do you see that yeah i think i can see it yeah it's a hand it's big it's but i remember after i got it done and then i went on the bachelor and then people realized i had this hand tattoo i was wearing a bikini and one of the and people it was like their opinions of me changed because i went from being what they thought it was to being like what why would she do that to herself and i was like fuck it doesn't hurt it doesn't hurt anyone and also like i don't look back on this i still don't regret it even though

i got it done when i was like you know 24 yeah i'd gone through a bad breakup i took a valium i drank half a bottle of wine and then i went and got a hamster hand and i was really in my eat pray love era and i look back on that now and i kind of feel like it was such a good memory of a weird time of life that i'm never gonna be in again exactly and you know what laura like maybe one day you'll be like I don't want it anymore whatever who cares like we're going to be dead in four minutes time and this is this is where I'm watching a lot of documentaries about dinosaurs at the moment that might be where this is coming from but like we're so that the time is so short and we're so insignificant and I am I know the breakdown is coming through again isn't it

it really is you're in your dinosaur era you're in your prehistoric era I'm reading the untethered cell I'm probably having a bit of a moment anyway I still don't regret the tattoo and it's only been 48 hours so we'll see talk to me in a week joanne what is joanne mcnally's dream job like what is the moment that you are like working towards right now it's a netflix special and then if and when that gets across the line or some sort of special like i think it's good to have girls i could be i could we all kind of can flake around so as much as i talk about this netflix special like it's just something to work it feels like a tangible thing to work towards if it doesn't happen it doesn't happen you know like I'm not gonna get my knickers in a twist too much about it but it

does feel like it's healthy to have something to work towards I feel like if I get that across the line then my book Femme Feral that needs to be written uh that'll be next year I want to get that across the line I really want to do that and see this is all work you see I need to remind myself that there's life outside of it and then I'd like to write a sitcom I just wrote one what Yeah I've got one in A production company Has picked it up And optioned it at the moment

Yeah Shut up Congratulations That's amazing Thank you It's taken me four years I will be in it I will be in it

Please I'm going to hold you to that But it's set in Australia So you're going to have to Come here again Oh no Oh no What a terrible

Terrible Terrible thing I When I say I say I love it over here Obviously I am in New Zealand At the moment Melbourne

Sydney I haven't been in Sydney in a while I can't remember I was walking around Melbourne and I was like this is a vibe it is a fucking vibe the food is insane

when I'm travelling around when the show finishes I'd love to be able to go for dinner after a show like to kind of just unwind a little bit with whoever's with me Geroge is with me

or Kylie's with me whoever there's nowhere to go most places I am there's nowhere to go Melbourne loads of lovely late night restaurants open

you can get food you can get drink like even when I was in New York they talk about New York city that never sleeps oh it sleeps oh it sleeps yeah

it sleeps good most of Australia does sleep to be fair but at least Melbourne stays up a bit later does it yeah I'm only sorry

that I don't have more time because I have to go back for a job in London so yeah like I have to fly home literally the day after the last Sydney show

which is such a shame but I mean I could I could spend a year out here not a bother I'd love it I'd love it Joanne before we do

let you go you have so much going on in your life with your solo jobs and your solo gigs but you also have a business that you run with Vogue and the two of you together are my therapist ghosted me how do you maintain with everything you have going on how do you maintain not just the business side but the friendship side of the relationship that you have with Vogue

you guys would know as well that so Vogue yes we have a podcast together she's like a sister kind of now if you get me like there's more it's like no matter what what's going on with either of us we're always brought back by the podcast so it's a kind of a deeper relationship than a regular friendship I would say and it also means when we have challenges which we do we don't always agree on everything we kind of have to we have to kind of fix it which I love because I don't know I just think it makes it like a deeper relationship we're exactly the same like we you know we have our moments where we have like there's no one that I have a relationship with on this planet that is like the one I have with Brit I think you've only choked me out once

and we came back stronger than ever we did pretty well I've only I've only stabbed Vogue twice so we're all doing really well I was sort of into it she drove over me once

we've recovered we're fine we're stronger than ever you describe it it's like a sister relationship but then also there's no other friendship that kind of compares to that

because you have to fix when there's problems because you have a business that it hinges on so you have a friendship but a business and the business is the friendship yeah it's so intertwined and also me and Vogue I don't have a lot of free time she's the same

she's a very busy person she's also like a mother to three kids what I'm trying to say is I get to hang out with her twice a week regardless it doesn't matter how busy who is twice a week I will be chatting to Vogue and Jo on the podcast and like often sometimes you'll go into the podcast and maybe you're not in the best mood you're tired you're a little like uninspired and the second you start chatting you're just kind of rejuvenated you know so yeah so it's a without sounding wanky it's special relationship like as in I really value it but it seems different to a regular friendship it feels like a deeper kind of relationship yeah 100% we're bad like we do sort it out but we sit on stuff for too long like we'll be like oh let's brush it to the sides it's

not a big deal but then all the little deals turn into a big deal then we have the conversation then we reset and we do and I have like a one I reckon once once a year we have a like a fight like a black not a fight fight but we have like a disagreement where like you would have a disagreement with a sibling and then we always leave that day being like I'm sorry no I'm sorry all right let's just be fucking communicate better and then we do the same thing a year later we'd be like fuck you like you did this and like give me my clothes back I know and but i think as well you have to learn how to argue so like say the first argument we in vogue had it was like we were both our reality was spiraling because we had never argued before we had no

kind of book of how to repair it like we you know i'm and i'm always slagging vogue she slags slags herself now as well as like her apology style is well i'm sorry that you feel blah blah knock that out of her it's like no no no no no no and i'm similar i will sit on stuff and say nothing where she's probably a bit more direct and then it all comes out of me in one go and she's like where's all you know so you're me and vogue is laura yes i don't say i'm sorry you feel like that i just say well buckle on in because there's a few things you've done too no no laura is the one that's like let's talk this through and i'm like i'm gonna disappear for three weeks and then i'll resurface i can't handle the confrontation we've learned how to like have

a voice with each other without it turning into anything you know major we've kind of learned how to yeah we've learned how to communicate we're better communicators now with each other than we were at the start it's such an incredible dance that you guys do and I think I love seeing it because I see so so many similarities in our relationship in that like I have three children you know it's just like my eggs have dried up there's a lot of similarities I mean there is a lot of similarities but it's navigating friendships at different stages of life as well not just navigating business like you know there's the whole trope of like it's really hard to maintain friendships when you have kids and someone else doesn't but like because of the business we always

have to come back to each other massively so and I also have one of my other best mates Nikki who I own a bag business with we set up a bag business together called anxious preoccupied plug plug um and like that I get such it's so nice it's brought me and Nikki much closer because she's got two kids i obviously travel around a lot and my friendships do suffer as a result of that because i'm not there if they do like they just do and i really i'm feeling that at the moment as well when i'm doing my midlife orders especially as a single person it's nice it's nice having people who are obligated to speak to you yeah i i feel that a lot of someone that lives i have to speak to me yeah you professionally have to speak to me twice a week so you know to be on a good

terms you're gonna like me you're gonna vibe me hey joanne pluggy plug what shows have you got available for people to attend because i know most of your stuff sold out they are it's such a shame and i did add i added some earlier shows like in the day when the shows the evening show sold out i would love to stay longer to be honest and put on more well okay so the website says almost gone for brisbane the 19th of april at 7 p.m so there obviously must be a couple of tickets there and then perth this is the one it's the 23rd of april 6 45 tickets available come on get behind it and also the earlier sydney show it's saying that there are tickets available for which you know what i will say somebody that has last time joanne came i i went to her show it was brilliant i love

i wet myself i met ben you met my husband do you remember i was just thinking about this you were saying before it made me chuckle to myself you were saying oh sometimes it gets wild out the back when people come backstage and like we're drinking and we're partying and i was thinking fuck when i went backstage i was doing my fertility injections and i had to do my ovulation injection i went back to joanne yeah we didn't party i had an ice brick and an ice pack and i had my i remember that i know i remember so sad but i was like you're so nice for coming because like you're obviously in the middle of you know something important you were the one of the funniest comedians i've ever seen i'm not just saying that like thanks britney i thoroughly

enjoyed it and so guys if you guys are thinking if you've ever been on the edge to go and see joanne mcnally i cannot recommend it enough so jump on the website yeah i love you girls you're the best we love you you're the fucking best thank you so much