BOLD with Joe McGucken

EPISODE 19: Corinthians Boxing Club

This week on BOLD, I head to Corinthians Boxing Club, an institution of the Inner City. I chat with head trainer Kevin Corcoran about the club’s 100-year history, my connection with it as a young person, and how a place charging €2 a session produced Olympic champions like Kellie Harrington.
We also talk about why the HSE is failing families with autistic kids, and how a boxing clubs like this can become a lifeline for families in the inner city. And of course, my upcoming white collar fight on July 4th to raise funds to bring the young boxers in Corinthians to compete abroad. Light a candle for me.
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EPISODE 18: A Date With Richard Satchwell

I'm Joe, this is BOLD. This week I planned a romantic birthday for Máire. Not a spa day or a European day-trip. Instead, she drags me to the Dublin Criminal Courts of Justice to spectate the high profile Richard Satchwell murder trial. It wasa terrible experience: frazzled barristers, no transcripts, and the judge baffled with the prosecution. I’m paranoid the jury’ll recognize me and I'll cause a mistrial.
Then, we slog through dull tours at Collins Barracks and Kilmainham Jail acting the tourist again. Dinner at FX Buckley’s is an expensive dissapointment. Overdone steak, prawns with the head on, And Oysters that tasted like... Oysters. I spar with the waiter, skip the tip. But we salvage the night at the Stag’s Head with Guinness and a ukulele jam... until the Americans showed up. Also, I’m training for a boxing match I might dodge. Rate us on Spotify. I’m back next week with a guest.

EPISODE 17: Who Killed The Pope?

The Pope is dead. Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, the Jesuit reformer, the guy who blessed gay couples and pissed off conservatives, dropped dead on Easter Monday.
So what happens now? This episode digs into the aftermath: the secretive conclave to elect his successor (where the frontrunner is an Italian bureaucrat named Pietro Parolin with tasty betting odds), the Vatican’s long history of financial scandals (ever heard of "God’s Banker" hanging under a bridge with rocks in his pockets?)
Also, I’m back from Washington DC, where I finished my play, nearly got Ollie arrested for vomiting in the White House, and learned that Capitol security considers sunscreen a threat to their national security.

EPISODE 16: You Big April Fool

This week I got you good. You thought I was getting deported. Well imagine how I felt when Maire got me with that same April Fools prank. She had me packing my bags convinced ICE were after me. This episode’s a rollercoaster: from fake embassy emails to me packing my bags for El Salvador, to why Washington DC might be the most joyless city.
I have an interesting conspiracy theory about cherry blossom trees, the existential dread of performing Beckett to miserable crowds, and why “Industry Night” sounds like hell. I also return to Crank Corner to top up my phone, only to find out the shop has turned the Corner Crankier.

EPISODE 15: The Not Very Secret Service

On this week's episode of the BOLD podcast I'm still stuck in Trumpland. The city of Hash shops on every corner. But you can't find a shop for a bottle of water! I was parched wandering around this swamp looking for something to drink.I’m halfway through my run of Waiting for Godot here, which is going... Betterish. considering half the audience doesn’t realize they’re allowed to laugh.
Between shows, I’ve been gallivanting around, getting shouted at by Secret Service, chatting with 75 year old pornstar bartenders, ex-CIA killers, and trying not to pay $20 for orange juice. America’s a weird place, lads.
No big interviews this week. Just me rambling about the things I’ve seen, the people I’ve met, and why I feel the need to run for President of Ireland when I get home. 

EPISODE 14: Garron's Gone & Trump Protests

On this episode of the BOLD podcast we touch on the disappearance of Garron Noone after a controversial video about immigration in Ireland landed him in some hot water after Conor Mcgregor's visit to the White House.Also I go down to a protest outside the Department of Education that Donald Trump is dismantling to speak to one of the organizers of the protest.

EPISODE 13: Keeping up with the Burkes

In this BOLD episode, I’m recording from a strangely deserted apartment building in Washington DC, where I’m rehearsing for a production of Waiting for Godot that’s been… an experience. Cast members are dropping like flies, the production team are falling sick, and I’m starting to wonder if I should’ve stayed in Ireland. 
I’ll also take you on a tour around the gentrified streets of DC, pubs that smell like Dervish and Philly cheesesteaks that aren't that impressive. Somebody send me over a Spicebag.
Let’s not forget the Enoch Burke saga. His family caused a scene at a fancy gala dinner in DC. I’m half-tempted to track them down for an interview.
And then I have a little update on the dinosaur in my garden back home.

EPISODE 12: The One Arm Ping Pong Champion - Colin Judge

On this weeks BOLD podcast I'll give you a little update on my journey to America for a show I'm performing in. I've been rehearsing for just a couple of weeks back in Ireland, and after one of the rehearsals I went to a pub for a pint. In that pub I met a very interesting character. Colin Judge. He's an Irish Ping Pong Paralympian. He has a rare condition which led him to be born with no legs and only one arm. After sparking up a conversation with him at the pub I took his number and arranged to meet him for a chat on the podcast to talk about his journey. This is that conversation.

EPISODE 11: Going To America

On this week's episode of the BOLD podcast I'm flying solo. It's been an eventful week. I was presented with an opportunity to play the Co-Lead in Samuel Beckett's play Waiting For Godot. The only issue is that It's a 5 week run in the Land Of Opportunity - USA.I'm making my way over to the Crime Capital, Washington DC on a week were Zelensky was roasted in the White House for not wearing a suit. Exciting times to say the least. It wasn't an easy decision to make. But after careful considertion and a bus with a Captain America poster I came to the conclusion that I would take the opportunity. Despite having 2 weeks to learn the entire script. I'm also a fan of Abraham Lincoln's assassination story, so I want to go and check out the Ford Theatre where he was shot.I talk about all of this and more in this weeks episode. 

EPISODE 10: Ireland's Biggest Pornstar

In this week's episode of the BOLD podcast, I went to a hotel bedroom to meet Ireland's most successful pornstar, Andy Lee.He talks about his time growing up in Dublin's inner city, getting evicted from his home by the drug marches as a child, Losing his ma, and struggling to settle. Eventually he ended up in London where he would start his porn empire.He talks about it all in this episode and his book Smelly Kid.