This week I took my Zoom ( I need sponsorship!) recorder to the Vodafone Dublin Comedy Festival in The Iveagh Gardens. I performed with The Dublin Comedy Improv on Friday and The Comedy Improv Allstars and Phil Jupitus on Saturday.

There's a clip here of the DCI live and interviews with Andy Smart, Stephen Frost and Phil Jupitus of the CIA. The atmosphere in the Iveagh Gardens was relaxed and induced yet another great comedy happening in Ireland this year along with BARE In The Woods and Body and Soul festivals among others.

I chatted with up and coming acts Lolly Adefope, Alison Spittle and Marcus O'Laoire and well established acts Tommy Tiernan and Nick Kroll.

Enjoy!

I was put in contact with Shanne Bradley by some friends of mine in London who told me of her relationship with Shane MacGowan and the songs he had written for her and the fact that she was the founding member of The Nipple Erectors which included Shane on vocals.

I met her on a sunny afternoon in London and at her suggestion we visited Highgate Cemetry where Malcolm McLaren is buried.

She told me of her first encounter with McLaren and the Sex Pistols at St Albans School of Art and how she was unaware that she was witnessing the very birth of punk rock. For anyone interested in early punk bands like The Pistols, The Damned, The Clash or The Jam.

I think you'll find this quite a revealing listen.

Follow Joe on Twitter @joerooney1 and @castawaymedia

I’ve met Katherine Lynch over the years here and there around Dublin before and after her success on RTE. She has always been down to earth and friendly.

Katherine has come through a different route to most Irish comedians. She developed her own characters and show without setting foot once in any stand up comedy venues or appearing at any of the regular comedy festivals. She came to a live sketch show I did with Patrick McDonald years ago and she told me about the live work she was doing. Stupidly I never made down to her show.

Since then she has gone onto great things with her TV shows, Working Girls, Single Girls and An Audience with Katherine Lynch.

She has also released an album called “Settling Dust” with a track “Twilight Romance” which was inspired by the death of her father

Finbar Furey is without doubt a legend of traditional folk music. I met Finbar on the set of a film we were both acting in a few weeks ago.

He was constantly telling stories about his travels and experiences over a long and varied life recording and playing live traditional music around the world. He was incredibly approachable and friendly with everyone from the crew to the extras.

I finally plucked up the courage to ask him to do the podcast and he gave me his home number and we arranged it from there. On the day of the interview we met at Bruxelles Pub and had a good chat before heading up to the studio and to be honest by the end of the interview I felt very close to the man and we said we would meet up for a pint some time soon.

I'm looking forward to it!

I met John Connors first when we were "celebrity" judges in a Strictly Ballroom night in Santry.

I hadn't seen the 5th season of Love/Hate then so wasn't aware of his sudden rise to fame. Since then bizarrely we have ended up acting on two very different and equally strange film projects together.

He is a good man to hang out with and obviously an incredibly talented actor. There's no bullshit from him. When I did see him in Love/Hate I was blown away by his presence on screen and the honesty he puts into his acting; it's not in him to fake it.

I'm sure he is going to go on to do great things in film and TV.