Mad, Sad and Bad with Paloma Faith - Aisling Bea: I'm Not Passive Aggressive, I'm Irish

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

Aisling Bea is a comedian, actress, and the BATFA winning writer of This Way Up; she's witty, honest, and extremely talented, so of course, I was very excited to have her pop by for a chat...Aisling and I discuss identity post-motherhood, Catholic guilt and the wild politics of leaving a WhatsApp group. Aisling also shares the story of the unlikely friendship she struck up with a neighbour during the pandemic, and why she'll never forgive herself for not being there in his final days.We also talk about the impact Sinead O'Connor's death left on Aisling and the importance of standing up for what is right and having a community to support you.This conversation was everything I hoped it would be, deep, authentic, and absolutely hilarious!#AISLINGBEA #PALOMAFAITH #MADSADBAD—Find us on: Instagram / TikTok / YouTube—Credits:Producer: Jemima RathboneAssistant Producer: Magda CassidyEdit Producer: Pippa BrownEditor: Shane O'ByrneVideo: Jake Ji & Grisha NikolskyVideo Editor: Josh BennettOriginal music: BUTCH PIXYSocial Media: Laura CoughlanMarketing: Eleanore BamberExec Producer: Jemima RathboneExec Producers for Idle Industries: Dave Granger & Will MacdonaldSenior Exec Producer: Holly Newson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Paloma Faith and this is my show. Each week I welcome someone fantastic into my home to talk about what makes them mad, sad and bad. Roll recording. It's just a real... Hi, you're so shi-hock-hole. No, don't be silly, don't be ridiculous. Lovely to see you.

Oh, so nice to see you. Oh, so nice. Here, have a box. Oh, my God, thank you. Are you sure? Yes, you can go. No, absolutely come in. Paloma faith. She's just so generous with what she has.

She really has... Do you want me to take out the bins as well? Give a dust or a clean? Is there anything you need? Picking up, maybe or put together like an IKEA. An IKEA Billy Bookcase. She's a wildly successful comedian, actress and screenwriter. She's the Irish lady off the telly

who's razor sharp wit has Grace Dell screens on Taskmaster, QI and 8 out of 10 cats. She's a writer and actress winning a BAFTA for her series this way up. She starred in multiple films recently opposite Nick Frost in comedy horror film Getaway, and her most recent role is as a mother to a gorgeous baby daughter. But to me, she's the Powerhouse Melf, who I sat next to at quite a stiff event, two months after she'd given birth and made me feel a little bit more sane in the mad, superficial celebrity world I sometimes find myself in.

A far cry from shitty baby nappies and being told I look crap by my kids when I've already spent two hours getting ready just on the way out to an event. It's the magnificent Ashling V. It's me. Welcome. There's so many people here and I really thought I was going to get a round of applause.

Oh my God. No, come on, guys. That's too much. Imagine the shame of going, it's me, silence. And looking at everyone behind the cameras, I'm like, wow, not even a gentle, slow golf clap. That's harsh.

So even though you're a new mum and absolutely tired to death of talking about it. Tell me about you then. Oh, me. What's great about you? What's great about me? Is my star quality and humility. Have you still got an identity after becoming a mother?

Yeah, I'm not one of those people who's like, that's my identity. Yeah, I'm Irish. I'm 5'7. I like long walks on the beach. This is her dating profile. And doing things in the most complicated way possible. What else about me? I enjoy Brussels sprouts

but I know it's not popular to say that at Christmas but I do I've always liked vegetables Do you think that when your daughter's older you might just be like excuse me

it's all about me I think I don't I think I'm already like that I'm like really am I supposed to not be like that now about the child this is where it's at tell me something mad

something mad well my thing that makes me mad is in our time of WhatsApp first of all there should be a consent form to WhatsApp groups. I feel like it's created this social thing where our whole guilt and our whole perception of what we're allowed to is from WhatsApp. They have left the group is the most unfeminist thing you can do. Julie has left the group. She's walked away

from every single person in this group. She's turned her back. She has turned her back on the very ethos of Danielle's Hen Weekend 2001. And she's just walked away. And we don't want to be part of this group anymore. Just like, and don't, don't add me to something without asking me first. Or just like, you, I thought you'd love everyone. Everyone here would love each other. And you're like, don't do it. I also thought everyone would love your number. Yeah, everyone would love your number. And then, oh, oh, and it has pictures and everyone having everyone's number. Well, I don't have a picture of me, but it always says.

It always says, yeah. But if it's not you, it's like, it says, the WhatsApp also says, maybe it's pull over. Yes, exactly. And then people are like, definitely. And then they have your number. My other thing is don't ever say, how is everything to someone? How's everything? It takes ages. You want me to write on top of my normal job as a writer. You want me to write about how everything is, how the world is crumbling.

Do you mean what I had for dinner? Do you mean my relationship, my child, my job? You want to know everything. Whereas if they were like, hey, how did the gig last week go, then I replied to that specifically. But if you send a message saying, how is everything, I will never ever get back to you. I also hate, how are you? How am I? Oh my God, well, there's an even bigger one.

On a text. Yes. Do you mean this week, this month, this hour, this hormone cycle? But also, it's really awful when you've not heard from someone or vice versa for like three, four months. And then they're like, hey, how are you in a text? Yeah, in a text. Whereas if, for example, then you send a voice note, you're like, hello, just catching up. Here's a few things that have been happening to me. Reply whenever. Oh, delicious. I sit down and I open those voice notes like an old list. letter from the past. I'm like, dear John, the war has been difficult, but not as difficult as the weather here. You'd love it. You know, I listen to those voice notes. Like at a certain time.

You take your moment. I take my moment. I take my time. I reply to them in my own time. But so that's currently what's making me mad. But especially the idea of... How many WhatsApp groups are you in? Oh, I'd say I'm in 107. Without a doubt. What are they all for? Oh, christening's hens get together. Someone's birthday dinner from five years ago. birthday parties let's all get photographs of last night together easier to send them all here because everyone have it such as numbers

and these will be the names of the WhatsApp groups it's making me so stressed and then if you and everyone always says hey feel free to leave once you've got the information and what that actually means is why she left

yes exactly and you know if you leave you're going to be whispered about because it's a good joke when someone says like Danielle has just left and going whoa Danielle what pushed you away, you know, and so I know when I leave and it's going to say Ashling has left

that I would make a joke after that. So yeah. They're all going to like joke about it. Yeah. And then you're like, can I get back in? I got recently invited to a group chat, which was about somebody's birthday party. And then it said like, are you going to be able to come or not? And I thought, oh, this would be great because I'll say I can't make it. And then I won't be in it anymore. But now I'm still on the group. Why have you not left? I'm just scared for it to say He's scared, not to leave. It's like you can get married very easily, Paloma, but to get divorced is a very complicated system.

So you can be added to a WhatsApp group very easily, but to leave it is an emotional... I mean, you could write an album about Paloma. Got to unpick it all. Exactly. And then with a voice note, it's so bad for ADHD in that, like, if I get information over text, I will see it, I will understand it, I can use it, an address.

If I'm walking along, and someone's like, hey, how are you? Yeah, so the address is one second. It's too... You love to it. Oh, yeah, I'm on... Yeah, okay. Oh, one second. I think I'm actually outside your house.

Did you get this? Let me know. And that's just too much information all at once. But are you never, are you good at, are you not passive aggressive? No, I love. Just aggressive? Yeah, full on. No, no, I'm Irish, I suppose, which is the difference.

Direct. Yes, but I don't see it as direct. No. So either do I think, I think to middle and upper class English people, it's maybe blunt or direct, but to working class English people, I never have a problem. It's fine. Yeah, it's fine. It's just sort of like,

Oh, that's the quickest way to get the information. I like her. She cuts to the chase. Yes, exactly. Have you been called mad in your life? Yeah, I'd say. Have you had people go, you're mad. I remember growing up that it was like, ah, mad, like, meant different or odd or weird for sure. That was like probably someone with like an odder sense of humour or looking at the world differently.

And I think most people who work in comedy at some point, if they weren't like the popular class clown, at some point we're called mad because it's your brain. ideally has to look at the world and have a spin or a take on it that other people haven't seen. And so some people love that and other people are like, that's not the same as everyone else. So that must be mad. You know, if you're not able to do things in the exact same way. And do you think people struggle with funny women more than they struggle with funny men? No, not at all.

I think that's some old like thing that is just bandied around. It doesn't really exist. You've not felt that. No, it's like it's like it's just. Because I've, I have actually. found that. Yeah. I always feel like if I'm funny, I would be less likely to get a laugh and more likely to be called mad for saying the same thing as if a man's heading. You work in, you work in mostly in music. Yeah, maybe. That's where it's less expected. If I do like a panel show or something,

I might make a joke and they'd be like, she's just mad rather than being like, oh, that was quite funny. Yeah. That's, that's weird. I wonder is that less about gender and more about a perception of a musician and not expecting you to come with a personality as well. Yeah. God forbid. Yeah. Well, God forbid, exactly. Like maybe it's that that they don't expect.

Like it's like don't expect the dolly to say anything type of thing. You know what I mean? Like I think that's where it's my job, I suppose. Let's move on to sad. What makes you sad? I remember being so sad when Shnade O'Connor passed away. And I was just so, um, her as a musical artist. I don't think I'd ever really had the,

I met her once. We were doing a chat show together. And I don't think I'd ever really viscerally had that thing that other people so seemed to get when a celebrity or someone they respect or knew the work of died. I don't think I ever got the feeling of like, I would be sad for someone as a human's family and friends or whatever. But I never got the feeling of like loss. It always seemed to me like, but she didn't know them. You know? And when Sheney O'Connor passed away, I was like, and I think a lot of Irish women did as well. And I think it's because she was kind of put in this home for like unruly girls when she was growing up. And, you know, she talked so much about her own, you know, the abuse of the system on her and what it did to her.

She was one of the few Irish artists and so young who could transform the energy of an audience. There is like a real connection between like, you know, global injustices like apartheid and genocide. and war and discrimination that the Irish culturally have such an affinity with because of their own history. Yeah. That I always feel like it's quite, I mean, I just, I did a gig for Palestine. And it was a lot of Irish artists that got involved. And I feel like it's quite often that, you know,

that the Irish are almost left to speak. I'll say it. You know, like almost people are like, I mean, I think in our schooling system, we're always, we're taught about global history

always. And so part of our history is English history. It's understanding what happened here. You guys don't have that. There's no Northern Irish history taught in English schools. Well,

I don't know if it's now. And you're like, but guys, this is, you really need to know about this because this is part of your history. Yeah. Because we learn other people's history for sure.

And, but a lot of the people that are celebrated, especially after, I suppose, the 1940s when we came an independent state and then a republic is that our heroes are the people who fought for Irish freedom. So all of our heroes are freedom fighters. Those people probably in the English history books are not heroes, they were terrorists or whatever, but are the people we are told to celebrate are the loudest people who, or a massive thing in Ireland is, and my aunt would still say it was like, well, you know he died for Ireland. Like as in, like, I don't think that's a direct

cause though. I don't think that's like an illness you can have, but maybe we all have a bit of an illness of like they died for Ireland. And so the idea of dying for a huge cause is celebrated, just very gently, slowly, but surely throughout our education system. And so I do feel sorry for people culturally when they're told to like speak out on something and they haven't even been taught how that might feel or that there's a higher purpose or a higher good to doing that. You do quite a lot of things to help. Like you've done your feedback. bank thing, event and community things. And do you think that you haven't noticed or do you just choose not to notice how that affects you?

It's more, for me, I feel like I do the bare minimum. So I'm shocked when people do less than that. And that always like makes me a little bit sick. So I'm like, I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't do a certain amount during the year. And maybe that's my upbringing. I want to, you know. I'm going to bring my friend in. Oh, yeah.

A home of the community. Oh, my God. Helm of the community. She ran and going, I'm assuming that's me. Me, the helm. I think this is quite a good moment because Iya, this is my friend, Aya. Yeah, hey. She also does, like, so much for our community, so much so that pretty much, I was sort of surprised that you didn't know who she was.

Oh, wow. Because she does like. Way to drop me in a paloma. Wow. No, she does. She's like. Oh, I knew. I just wanted to pretend.

She's got the four kids. She's got an art career. She's got her fingers in lots of pies. She does like doolering for people. And I'm like, oh, how much do you make for being a doler? And she's like, I don't charge for being a doler. I just feel it's a privilege to be there at the birth of people's babies. Like, you know, she's like.

Oh, my God, I would love her. Also, she's Lebanese. So it comes with the fight. Yes. Plus married to an Irish guy. I know. Just find out where he's from. on the protests, this is like somebody who embodies what community is.

Yeah. Do you? I know. I'm very proud. I mean, but I suppose where do you, the drive, and that's an interesting question in terms of, like, I would ask you, like, it doesn't seem like it's that biggest threat. I'm not saying it's not a big undertaking, but it feels like, it feels like you're someone who, if you're doing all of that, you're like, oh, I don't know how not to do that. Like, if you're doing that much stuff, there's like a higher, there's a higher purpose. that you're driving towards or something like where do you?

I suppose I don't find, it's not a lot of people in my community, definitely the Irish community, are doing similar things all the time. So I almost get embarrassed when people are like, you do so many things. And I'm like, I do the bare minimum comparison to what other people do all the time. Like when you mention, it's like you even proved by going, you do a lot. But here's someone who does so much more. She delivers babies for free. No, I wasn't doing it.

No, but I was just like, it was interesting because we're speaking about in the context of Sheenade O'Connor, what she represented and why is it that we live in a culture where being a community-led person or being like someone who feels a bit of responsibility for everyone around us is such a rare thing. Like, why is that so... I know.

Why are we surprised by that? Because surely we should be taking responsibility for each other. I did have stand up for a while about how every Irish woman is brought up to be a hashtag NN, which is a natural nun or nurse. And it's kind of like maybe it comes from maybe a place where you're like, as a woman, maybe support, supposed to be the hub of the community. Or like you've got like, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't nearly kill myself every day doing something for other people.

Like where do you think it's... I don't know. I think for me, it definitely feeds me, it feeds myself, fills my cup. I think I would attribute it to being raised within like a real kind of matrilineal heritage where my mum and my grandma played such an important role in raising. me and I think women, naturally women, build and create communities and societies to nurture.

But going back to the point when I was listening to you guys talking about the importance of the fight of the Irish, one really important thing that I think is applies to the Irish but also, I can only speak for me as a Lebanese, but is being

part of a diaspora and how you have to recreate a world for yourself somewhere else and hold on to that heritage and that history. And so my husband's from Mayo and his half Mayo, half killed there. Wow. What a mix. I know, right? Go crazy.

Never taught the tween would mix. Well, I did. And actually the importance of the Irish heritage, having our kids understand the history, the fight, what colonialism is and still is, is really important on both sides. So when we go to the protests and we're speaking up for Palestine and Lebanon and against oppression and occupation, it's not just for the Middle East,

it's actually globally and it's so important. So do you think you grew up seeing it as, like it seems like a second nature to you and I suppose some of the things I don't think about it because I grew up seeing it. So my mother is also an amazing person who does things for the collective and the community. I think for me, definitely my mum is that influence.

But also my work, all my work is about storytelling. And so understanding communities and speaking and connecting is really, really important. understanding like what's really going on with you, what's your story, whoever you are, whether you've been displaced or whether you're just my neighbour. I think it's something that we've lost. We've lost in our society. People just kind of can go through a whole walk of life without even knowing who lives

next door to them or if anyone's okay. That's weird as well because when I move somewhere, I always go and knock on the neighbour's door and then I take something and I say, hi, I just wanted to say that my name's there. And this is, and sometimes when I move, somewhere in London. I'm not going to say which area, but I did. They were short.

Yes, I... And I found that so weird. Like, we all share the same square of land. Like, why would you not know? Like, for me... I was the same even when I moved here when I was like 22. Yeah.

And luckily I had like a pair of elderly Irish women who like live next door to me at the time. They were like, geez, come in. But it felt like it wasn't done or it was odd or weird. But I remember my aunt saying that the one thing Taturism did is that it taught people to look after their own garden and to not care about what was happening in other people's gardens,

which actually sounds like it's telling people not to be nosy, but it's more, my aunt always said, if your kid runs out onto the street, your neighbour is a person who will hopefully grab them, know they're your kid and pull them back in, not your mother or your father or another plate, it's your neighbour.

And your neighbours are the other, the outstretch of your house here. And I've gorgeous neighbours here at the moment, who I love. I wonder is that a class thing, in England, do you think? Yeah, I do. Quite often.

I think it is like, oh, I've got all this, so I'm not going to share it. Yeah. I suppose it must be hard if you have an acreage estate to take your horse and cart and go, must go three miles down the land, the bid I don't own, and see who lives there. Like, you're probably not going to do that, are you?

You might give, like, the local kids a ride on the horse. Oh, yes, or maybe a chicken bone or something. Like that. You could throw them a little. I'll shake him out. Master, over here, over here, it's me big. Yeah, no, I think, like, it is sad, like, you know, when you said the loss. And I think when you talk about Chenet dying, it's almost like a tragedy that she passed away

because of what she represented and the sort of fear that all of those, like, really moral and community-based, like, that symbolism was going with her or something. Like, oh, the first woman's standard. Or is that maybe she was a victim of it because she died too, young. So that maybe there's an element of people being like, God, did the, did the amount of shit just wear away that human eventually? Was it not worth it?

Yeah, as in it's that. It's more that she wasn't protected when she did all the stuff. I think people who are often lauded in either film or TV or the people with the big stories are often the ones who they have a devastating end to their life because people were afraid to actually look after them while they were speaking out. they become persona non-gratas and and you're like oh I don't want to be associated with that person even though I really respect what they're doing. I don't want to seem like I'm also. Yeah, I have to do all the time. And to ostracize and to ostracize people is a worst thing.

I have people all the time behind the camera going, I love what you do about. And they're like, I'm too scared to do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's also, I think to ostracize any human, even if it's at a party in a room is so against our biology of what humans need is to feel included. that it's a perfect way to stop people speaking out is to ostracize and ostracize and ostracize and ostracize. And so I think there was maybe a sense with someone like Chenade is that that amount of stuff, especially there was a beautiful documentary

that got made about her life. And when you saw the amount of stuff, even in America where she was booed on stage after she ripped up the picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live, and you look at her, like that's a story we would have all known from the news, but now you look at her kind of post Me Too and you're like, that girl was in her early 20s.

She was a young girl, like she was a kid and people were doing that to a young, small, tiny woman on stage. And like, wow, that's aggressive. It feels extra like... Threatening. Yeah, threatening. Yeah. Let's move on to bad.

So one time I felt bad was during the pandemic. So I'd been living in my old house in Islington for like, since I almost like moved to England, probably since for about 10, 12 years. and there was this elderly man who would get up and I'd say when I first started noticing he was in his late 80s and he would get up and he was very hunched over

and he wore all of his like British Army medals on his lapel the whole time and he kind of lived a few houses down for me and so I'd always see this man honestly for probably seven, eight years just going for a walk and it always stood on my head God I should ask him what his name is or I should go out and say hello

And so during the pandemic, we just struck up this unlikely friendship because you're not seeing that many people. So suddenly the awful part of the pandemic was the awful, awful part. He was one of the few lights of like that very dark time. And his name was Brian. And he would just go on his daily walk and he would shuffle so quietly and then kind of make his way back. And we just got into conversations. There was something about the way he treated life where he just stayed very young in his brain

and we slowly but surely became friends and then it became obvious to say what you do for a living? And I was like, oh, I'm an actress and then slowly whenever he would see me on anything, he'd write me a little letter and pop it through the door. And even if there was like a negative review

like in the Daily Mail or something, he'd still chop it out and put it through the door. So you mentioned to die, even though to be like, this fell flat. And you're like, oh, God. Yeah. But it was just for him, it was like, you've been mentioned, imagine. And so he would pop it through the door. And I was in, it was after lockdown.

He got really very sick. And I was away lots. And I'd just come back from L.A. And his neighbor, I'd left, he had my number and everything. And an old neighbor would come to visit him, realized he was very sick and got him into hospital. and she texted me to say he was in hospital and say if I got back on the Thursday

I just had such bad jet lag and I was like I'll come in tomorrow and she was like Brian would love that and just the day just got away from me you know it was one of those things where the day just got in the way and then he passed away on the Saturday and I didn't go in and see him

and I know that I was a really good neighbour for the end of his life but just at one moment I know he was excited for me to come in because we had become friends and she told him that I was coming in and it was just that day escaped me and I've always felt bad that I didn't

just get in to see Brian and I just would love to see him and I was so sad but he was such like if you just like him historically was the polar opposite to say politically my granddad and in terms of like he was in the British

army and had pictures of the queen outside and here we were and he was such a gorgeous man and was just like the best of all of that like he kept working he kept getting out he like made it easy for the government to cut elderly allowances because he just did the best with what he had and like people like that should be looked after so well and so nicely and especially when people are living on their own and when you talk about like that neighbor

neighborly quality there are so many people who live on their own and if you don't check in them like but he like I got more from that those interactions than he did because he was just someone who'd come along and he had so many great opinions there were. weren't like, he wasn't dated. His brain was more up to date than mine and he was across the news and all of the bad reviews from the Daily Mail of certain projects that I was in. Oh. Oh, that was the one moment I just, I'm like, oh God, I just, if I just pushed through that day and not been lost to my own shit, I would have never ever regretted going in. And I went to his funeral afterwards and there was like a few people from the community around and I met like

his niece and stuff like that. But, and I think they were kind of like, what the hell is your one from the most recent Doctor Who doing here, Brian's, you know. Do you think Catholic people feel more bad inherently? Like, do you think it's... Oh, yeah, that's like one of the rules of fight club, you know? Yeah, it strikes me as quite Catholic for you to feel bad about the ending more than good about what it did. I know what you mean. I think I do, it's not, I don't feel more bad about the ending.

It's something I feel bad that I wish I'd done because I know I would have gotten something out of it as well. And I think earlier on, when we were talking about the privilege of getting to be at someone's birth, it is, I've been around, I think, three people when they've died, and it is a privilege beyond birth to be around or allowed be in someone's space when they're on their way out. And yeah, I've been in that situation. Yeah, and it's, it's a gorgeous, it's actually a gorgeous thing that aren't many people get to be part of and that they're actually scared of. And I, it gives you such perspective, doesn't it? And I got, I got so. much out of those interactions. Do you think he knew that he was on the way or did he speak like

somebody who knew? It was his neighbour texting me at that stage. But like when you would visit him, would he speak like a person that's like, oh. He never, he was just never, he wouldn't even tell me how old he was. Like I was like, Brian, how older do you know, May 40, 55? And I'm like, as in you were born before the 40s and definitely before 55. Like, and he, I'd say, I wouldn't be surprised if he was in his 90s, but mentally there was never, there was no, there wasn't like a cognitive decline stuff. And he'd like, he'd done amazing things. He'd broken his back falling off scaffolding and there'd been no insurance to look after it. So that's why he was so hunched forward. I suppose he reminds me of my

mother in a way where there's just a consistently to keep living and moving forward. And I found that beautiful about him and that he was always moving forward and that there wasn't like, oh, now is when I stop or just stagnate or stay here. And my mother has that in spades as well. Just this, this moving forward and it's a beautiful quality for people to have. But what makes you glad? What makes me glad? I remember a therapist said to me before, you should have a list of 20 absolutely manageable things

that are totally manageable on tougher days. Not like going a holiday, achievable glad goals, I suppose, I could call them given the context. And I still have my really old list. And that was like in my 20s. And some of the things on this list have not changed to such a boring point of view. One of them is being in my dressing gown. And it's like removing any tight elastic off you.

So just getting into your dressing gown and just like squidging and wallowing in your own soup. And that feeling was on my list like in my 20s and is still on my list now. Like just going, okay, hair tied back, everything that's clawing at me, that's exterior, take off and just sit in my baggy old dressing gown. And that's still on my... What else is in that? And a shower cap. So I wear my shower cap all, most of the day.

Why? To keep my hair away and just to have the glorious feeling of being bald without being bald. What's the one with a scrunchy? Scrunchy doesn't stop little hairs coming down. It's just like, it's really out of the way

and it's all put somewhere. And also a scrunchy sometimes pulls on your hair. And I think I read an article probably when I was like 28 going, if you pull your hair back into a ponytail for everything. You'll get a receding hair. Yeah, you'll get a receding hair. And I was like, no shit, I will always be panicked about that now. On top of everything else I'm panicked about. My sister also said, Ashley, you don't want to be careful with all those heavy earrings because your lobes might get a bit long.

And I'm like, great, we'll add that to the list. Long lobes. My mum's got long lobes for that reason. Oh, God. I've got these long dangly lobes. Sorry, ma'am. I hope I get a circle of shame on something going. Long lobes, Ashling B, with our long silly lobes. but a really nice cup of tea is on my list. Again, achievable goals. So when I came in here, I was immediately offered a tea. It was out milk, sorry. Is this oat milk? Yeah. I'm not joking. I love oat milk. So loads of things on that list are really simple. Watching some form of reality

TV, normally it's who I call my friends. These are all things that I feel wind down my nervous system and my friends are the ladies of Beverly Hills, the ladies of New York, the ladies of Atlanta and the ladies of Potomac. And they're all the real housewives. And the crew on board the manny vessels on below deck, below deck Mediterranean, below deck, just a general below deck. And they're all different vessels.

I mean, you know, I know this by now. I could, you know, I genuinely, I don't know how to drive a car, but I think if there was a panic and I had to jump on a boat, I'd be like, listen, release the fenders either side so we don't back out of the neighbouring. Tell me when I'm 10 knots away from the nearest ship behind. me, I'll reverse this fly out. Do I have a boson? Where's my boson gone?

And to me that means nothing. Nothing because I've not seen it. You're not a seaman like me. I'm a full seaman. So they're my friends. So I generally put them on. So I'm happy with your list? Yes.

Or competitive cookery shows if I'm cooking. I like to put on people competing up against a clock to make a dish. Isn't that the point of reality TV though? It's to give us some respite. Yeah. Yeah. It's not required. too much of mine, married at first sight.

I feel like that was great at nine episodes and then they stretched them into 18 episodes. 47. 47 episodes of the same, like... One season. Yeah, one season. And I feel like by the end, they're just leaving in like, hey, hey, hey, how did you know to be here?

Well, they gave me the address. All right, what's the address? Here's the address. Okay, I'm going to walk over to the door now. Okay, I'm by the door. Like, you have to really pad out to get to 47 episodes. It's not just the core juice. But thank you.

Thanks for coming on because you're... I just... God, is that you wrapping up? No, I'm not. Well, fans. Facts are coming on. School pickup. Is that what makes you glad?

I agree with that list. No, bye. It's school pick up. It's school pick up. I'm a single parent. I know you are. Sure, I'll come and pick us up. We'll walk and talk.

Let's go get them. Thank you. We started with a round of applause because I know you'll feel awful if you don't have one at the end. I had to ask for one in the end. We need a requested round of. applause for the ending.

No, no, I couldn't. I couldn't. Come, mommy, soak it up, soak it up. I'm just a normal girl. I'm just a normal girl. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you so much. I mean, I feel a bit kicked out.

Honestly, it's been amazing having you. Bye. Bye, below my God. It's because I left my... Well, wasn't that great? All of the links of everything we mentioned in the show can be found in the episode description oh and while you're there why not subscribe and follow the show too see you all next time

later's potatoes you're you're you know you're you know you know you know you know you