Second Helpings - Aisling Bea

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1:05Hello and welcome to Second Helpings with me, Jessie Ware. I'm Lenny. Yeah, I'm here. You're here. We've just rounded off our biggest season, Table Manners, but we thought we wouldn't stay away for too long, so we thought we'd remind you of some of the fantastic guests we've had over the years. So, first up, we have the phenomenal Aisling B, who makes me laugh like no one else. Her and Alan Carr. Jessie, I remember that episode. I think you were unwell. I had COVID. Do you think? Yeah. It was January 2020. Yeah. And you had to drag, I'd been in bed for three days and you dragged me downstairs to do the recording.

1:44Oh God, an awful human being. Yeah. So yeah, it was series nine with Aisling, who's actor, comedian and writer. I was living with you, mum, because I was having a renovation done on the house. Little did we know that we'd be locked down for two years after that. Aisling is a pescatarian. So I made salmon fillets with panko breadcrumbs and chilli and ginger and spring onions, which I think was a recipe that producer Alice had given me. No, it's mine. It's in your cookbook. It's in our cookbook. Oh, it's in our cookbook. And I tasted it at someone's house and then made it up. And then we served it with mashed sweet potato with ginger and orange zest and pak choy.

2:21God, we should do that one again. That sounds delicious. And we knew that she wasn't a pudding person. So we had a cheese board instead. Did we? Yeah, I don't remember any of you. You were ill. I was terribly ill, I think. I thought she was all right after. I had just had a facial. I just had microneedling. So my face was bright red, but this was before we did visuals. So thank God. Aisling came over to talk about lots of things, but, you know, I was such a fan of This Way Up. But she'd just been in a Netflix series with the gorgeous Paul Rudd, who I would love to have on. I loved him. It was called Living With Yourself.

2:55So here it is, Aisling B on Second Health Ends.

3:06Aisling Bea, you've arrived on a Thursday night. Classic me. You've asked for a hoodie to be a bit more comfy. I just needed to chill out. You're drinking it. Yeah, I'll get your PJs on too. Almost would. I can run you a bath. Oh, can we do it from the bath? Imagine you guys serving me salmon in the bath. Salmon in the bath. Salmon in the bath. It would be very like... circle of life wouldn't it you're like there you go little salmon back to where you began but yeah you're drinking a green tea it's january and we're all trying to be good to ourselves yeah so when i was texting you now i've got your number through this love island whatsapp for a second i thought you meant you were like i've got your number mate i know what you're up to and i was like all right jesse a bit of an aggressive oh but no you literally you do i actually do have your number what is it then go on tell everybody but i am i i um kind of did the thing of like can't hate to meet you because i actually feel like you're the nearest i've got to a tinder date because i know what you mean because we've never met each other but i feel like i know you so well yeah i've seen your humor i've heard your voice on voice notes i've danced uh and wiggled my arse many times to your voice oh thank you so like we have and then we met each other on our love island WhatsApp group.

4:20I know. And we're both active on it. And I think neither you nor I, correct me if I'm wrong, ever realised how many people are actually on the Love Island WhatsApp group. Yeah, it's quite a lot, isn't it? I thought there were about 12 people on it. Probably 70. Oh, like it's now up to 92. And there are a lot of people who are watching quietly on our Love Island group. And I didn't know. I think maybe change a group. Oh, it's very... Oh, it's too late now. I bet there is an exclusive group that I'm not in. Jessie, ask. No, you can't be like, hey, guys, can we sack this one off? It's like love, asking to be respected or told that you're cool.

4:56Once you have to ask for it, you're sort of not cool anymore. Don't I have never brought you up to not be in the exclusive group? Mum, oh my God, I feel like it's pretty exclusive. Ashley, but he's a bit... Catherine, Ryan, Jordan and Roche. Roche, Roche. He's so sweet, his daughter. What if there's another offspring when we're not in? Oh, no. I wonder. but no I feel I thank every moment that I'm still allowed to be in it Isn't it funny that like with this job of ours and we work in the business we call show that no matter what you do there's always some other room you think there might be no matter what level you get to you always think oh is there another room that I'm not allowed in you're chasing some kind of like being accepted and only this year am I finally like ah grant I'll stick with hanging around with like good crack people in my body.

5:45When you say, I'll stick with what, Sharon Hook, like you're doing all right. Everyone always, I had an interview. Paul Rudd, I've always loved him. Yeah, everyone loves him. From Clueless. And because he's not on any form of social media, once it kind of came out that I was doing Living With Yourself, the show I was in with him, I became like, Netflix series that's up for, it was up for Golden Globe for actor Paul didn't get it unfortunately. Still was up for it. Yeah, was still up for it. Hey, that's another thing. I remember once I was nominated for a comedy award and the whole week everyone's like congratulations and then as soon as you lose it people are like oh I'm so sorry so it takes away the thing that was a congratulations but suddenly you don't lose and it's always a chase in another you're like but I still got nominated it was still the thing and that's what I mean about constantly you have to at some point go ach maybe I won't bother looking for that carrot on the stick anymore but I get all of Paul's like hey is there any way Paul could just try on my t-shirt or is there any way Paul wants some free biscuits or could you tell Paul Rudd that he's on the list of like people I'd allow my wife to have an affair with like I have to pass on all these messages do you pass them on yeah yeah mainly yeah can you ask Paul Rudd to be on a table man's podcast yeah yeah exactly it happens with Paul, Phoebe and Sharon Horton he's kept surprisingly gorgeous yeah so he lives in a little fridge and they refrigerate and then they take him out for kind of meetings and stuff like that he's very well preserved the problem is acting with him is a very cold experience because to touch his face has that sort of waxy pallor.

7:19I love this is her on dry January. Do you know what I mean? Like, I just wonder. Or like dry with January, ladies, am I right? No, dry January, it's been more of a damp January. Like every five days, I reward myself for doing so well by getting absolutely twazzled. Were you twazzled last night? I didn't get twazzled. I think I was more, there was free cocktails at this. Where were you? I was at an event, like a Vanity Fair party before the BAFTAs. Oh, darling. rising stars darling um uh night who were you wearing who was I wearing every boy's eyes in the whole venue Ben what a confident woman um I was there with loads of friends though so it was actually great crack and that's where I'm not someone who got to let go yeah I'm not someone who drinks when I feel insecure I'm actually like I get carried away by fun I hate being left out of a potential anecdote I tend to stay three hours longer than one show you know there's that thing of like leave when the party's going well I leave like at the end when someone's like sorry we just have homes to go to you know that there's it's over it's over there's not nothing's going to happen I'm like but what if what if in the last regs of the night there's a potential laugh and I could get involved in the anecdote of it so that's when my so there were a lot of friends there and I found it very hard to leave and there was so much sugar in the free cocktails oh god do you feel like shit Which is your favourite cocktail?

8:44I love an Eastern Standard or a Gimlet with a vodka. So like things that are like elderflowery, minty, cucumber. I've got a little elderflower that you could put in that if you want. It's fizzy water. I didn't even ask if you like fizzy water. Do you know what? I'm so humble. I don't like fizzy water or champagne. That's how humble I am. Don't you? I'm real salt of the earth type of person. I like still water. But you have good water in Ireland. We do actually. in some places. Well, though there is a lot of controversy about water pipes at the moment and people being chapsed for water. Do you actually want still water?

9:19Could I have still water? Of course, would you like a little bit of a elder power? Yeah, why don't we stick it in there for the laugh? Which bit of Ireland do you come from? So I am from Kildare. Kildare is like sort of Berkshire to London in terms of distance. And it's a very horsey part of the country. So it's where the Curragh race course is and a lot of horse racing. Sorry, my daughter's being a cat. Hello, little cat. Oh my God, you train your child to bring things in in its mouth. Jessica. What's this? Can I have that? Oh, you're a doggie. Oh, you're a doggie. It's obvious. It was a very rude.

9:54I will say you're going to have to work harder on your dog material. I'm not going to patronise her by saying that was a great performance of a dog because I read it as a cat. It wasn't great. It would be very unique if she decided to stay like that. If she identifies as a dog when she gets older. Yeah. What would that be called? Well, there is... Have you ever seen this? Canine something like that. Canine or eight? I don't know. Anyway. There is a channel for a documentary called The Secret Life of Human Pups. And it's very fascinating. Are they the children that were brought up by wolves or dogs?

10:27No, no. But that's also a great one. This one is about a group of people around the world who like to live their lives as pups. And they identify as puppies. and they dress up in quite sort of sexy, leathery clothes. Oh, it's like a sex thing. Well, that's the question which sort of hangs over us for the whole documentary, really. I felt really sorry for, like, they go to the International Best Human Dog Convention and there's this one guy who's representing Britain and he's dressed up as a dog and he's his owner and there's a little bit of sexual tension between the owner and him and we kind of do wonder what goes on.

11:07do dogging and things? Well, we don't know. Oh my God. It's just a little bit of the unanswered question. Why is dogging called dogging actually? Because of the way dogs do it. Oh, okay, fine. I don't think that's it. Is that not? I think it's, so here's my thoughts. We're definitely going to get emails in to us three poor ladies sitting around going, but what, it's dogging. Let's blue sky think it. I think dogging might be called dogging because maybe a lot of people pretend to go out to walk their dance. Oh, that's it, yeah. But actually go and watch people in cars having sex. And the people in the cars know people are watching them, so we're doing it for a performant of reasons.

11:47You're kidding me. Yes. And as a performer, may I take my hat off to any side-specific theatre? But then I also wonder, is it that you're sitting there watching almost like a dog? I wonder, is that an element? That you're there kind of looking like... Now, what did you think, Mum? Do dogs might watch you? But you know the way a dog would sit and watch you at the table eating, and you just sort of like tongue out, like watching. I thought it was surmounting them from behind. Oh, wow. No, that's doggy style. That is doing it doggy style. And that is something I would definitely say I know about.

12:18And the other one, I will say I'm not so sure about the etymology of dogging. Dear readers, please feel free to phone in. Please don't. I'm so glad that my daughter walking in as a dog has turned into Doggy Stall and Dog Egg and Hapsody. But in this documentary, God love them, the guy representing Britain as a puppy goes to Germany to do the International Puppy Convention and they all have to have a talent. Of course it was in Germany. But it's in Germany and he goes... They're a little freaky deaky over there. They like... Well, this is the thing. So he goes dressed up in his really cute playtex rubbery oh, oh, oh, I'm just a little puppy outfit and for his talent he grabs a crayon in his mouth and draws something on a page and it's like look the pup drew and then for all of the other ones they are in proper sort of like gimp outfits really sexy some of them have like their lads their balls hanging out and for their talents they do like an absolute striptease and the poor little British puppy is like watching being like oh I think I got the brief slightly wrong it's like almost like turning up to an orgy with a cheese board being like hi guys oh you've already started I thought we might do snacks first but okay this is a lot more do they do that in love island too do they do this was this love island seems like a day out at the convent in comparison it's not giving me an international human puppy convention in germany let's just quickly talk about love island because both you and i i haven't watched last night's actually me neither fine little treat it's quite it's a little bit quiet on the earth dry this year so my friend said yesterday that he thought yes the reason it wasn't going very well is because we're not in summer we don't you know when they go to click to buy the outfit that Blar's wearing people are in you know in hoodies and woolies and they don't feel I like staying in and watching it for me me too what I've decided to let go of is Annie like when people go oh it's a guilty pleasure it's cheap watching I don't mind that people have soap operas or like sport is just kicking a ball up and down you know not plot wise not a lot happens in a football game you know there's no real drama except for someone falls over pretending every now and again but with this I feel the same thing I love the simplicity of it it's like a sort of humble dish of like just potatoes and cheese you know it's just like I like you yeah what I like as well is that they don't really tend to have chats they tend to do just constant analysis it's like it would be like if if football games were only two minutes of football and then the pundit speaking for like an hour and the editing is on point like Shanice's little face that's now become an international meme yeah when the girl comes in that no anyway I mean actually almost again like what we were talking about earlier on about like always thinking there's another room where someone else belongs like you take these people all of whom are gorgeous and might be the most beautiful people in their town and then they keep on sending just when you think there couldn't be more beautiful people someone who's even more beautiful Zena the warrior goddess came in yeah Zena the warrior and suddenly they're the people who are like I'm fit I'm lovely this is how I look but aren't they all pumped up mouths not everyone no in fact the real the real threats are the people who come in and they've had nothing done in their natural beauties and then they go in the morning and they don't put me makeup on and they're making the eggs and I think that she's one to watch isn't she the newbie there's a girl who's coming in and she really doesn't need any makeup she's stunning that is when you see someone I did a film this summer with Frida Pinto and Frida Pinto is oh she's beautiful the most it's almost like when they put makeup on Frida it makes her look like spoils her she still looks she's I could eat my dinner off her face and she's so such a good woman as well she is someone who like does so much work with like charities and um and works really like she's been in the hollywood business since she was like quite young and she just like say one year she went out and took all with a van of her own accord and took like all of the excess food from a load of award ceremonies during this sort of ceremonies in hollywood and gave it to a load of homeless shelters and charities and she did that all off her own back food waste is my um biggest hatred of course everyone's going to be vegetarian now aren't they well there's nothing wrong with that it's all plant-based darling yeah mum's got a bit of a i think no i have not i have not i subscribe to it darling but i think that you should give people a choice no yeah it's for me it's all everything i do it's we can't live like this anymore we are dieting like kings and thought that we could all live like that forever but what we've done is we've taken too much out of not just the resources on this planet to fulfill what we thought would be an endless stream of food and money and clothes and items.

17:23And what we were really doing was we were agreeing to take away from people who are far less fortunate than us. So to afford our avocados, we've let people in South America fall into gang warfare over avocados to have our beef. There is so much land in developing countries where there are poor people has had to be um soya plants and forests knocked down for soya plants to feed cows so it's not like it's you shouldn't eat an animal for me it's like it's very much the 10 percent has been feeding on the riches of other people's lives why you've become a pescatarian yeah generally and even that's problematic generally i mean there's we're all going to have to change because the world is running out of space and it's almost like we've been like catch me if you can leonardo dicaprio style running away with a credit card and there's been no money in our bank account and now all of the bills are coming in and we can't ignore them and that's what it feels like environmentally and it's we're we're getting to the point ecologically where we might even not be able to get out of it i'm just going to put the food on because i know you're hungry we're all yeah we've got to but it's it's gone a little bit beyond that we've got to do more than pull back We've got to give up stuff.

18:38It's a huge effort. Governments really need to help us out. We can, people are like, what help is it of me bringing a plastic bottle everywhere or a reusable bottle? The point of anything is that nothing's going to, no one thing's going to fix it. Veganism is not going to fix the environment. Vegetarianism isn't. Just banking with a different bank isn't. Petitioning isn't. But all of it together, the idea that a community, like a warlike spirit because this will be the next big issue for your kids who is coming in as a dog they're not going to care about brexit or what wars are going on this will be there will be climate refugees um for for her age group these are the issues that are going to be facing her when she's doing podcasts at our age and so it's a multi-pronged approach in terms of who do we bank with who do we get our money with starting to do things that are a bit difficult and not nice but also a general community spirit.

19:36So yes, the one tiny thing you're doing might not help, but the idea that we're not all collectively giving up is very important, and that we're all in some way giving up something and actively doing something creates a spirit that maybe together we could do it. But one small group screaming and another small group going, oh, bloody hell, feck it, is not, we all have to do something.

20:05You came from a family of how many? Three in total. Three. So my mother, my sister and myself. Right. And did your mum cook? So Mammy, because she was bringing us up on her own, has a sort of interesting culinary tale in that she was a working mother on her own. So all of our, like, today I'm not feeling very well. And I had meetings in the morning and then an audition in the afternoon. And when I went home, I had four slices of white toast and spaghetti hoops on toast. The best. with loads of butter and I was like oh this is my happy place this I'm like this so like tins freezer toaster microwave those are still the things that are like my my home cooked feelings um but mommy also when she got married was a jockey so she was an athlete and she couldn't boil an egg so they but they sent her off to uh like not Ballymaloo not Ballymaloo that wasn't around there Ballymaloo but not too far off what's the name for like French cooking like Cordon Bleu like Cordon so they sent her off to a Cordon Bleu course like I think maybe my nana gave her a voucher when she got married like here in a sort of 1980s you'll have to learn to keep your husband away but so mammy can just about boil an egg and put things in the freezer and she'll kill me now she hears this but also can do about seven dishes of Cordon Bleu cooking like gratin dauphine was really beautifully so there's a chasm in the in-between bit but there's so a lot of like packets and stuff like that but on the other hand she does like chicken a la creme and gratin dauphine was and salmon on croute and can do these things but yeah i remember when we were growing up she decided to try baking once and she made these scones and myself and my sister Sinead our best game was um who can throw the scone against the wall hard enough to break it and neither of us won.

22:03I think the biggest loser was the wall in the end. But yeah, we wouldn't come from a baking family. Okay, I'm just going to put it out there. Yes, oh, this all looks lovely. Oh my God, have you made accidentally like the Irish flag with the dinner? It's like green, white and orange. Yes, baby. Look, this is an accident, but like, no, look, you said you wanted really healthy. So I've gone, I'm not indulged, babe. This looks so lovely. It's kind of, it's very, very healthy. and a bit come down with me now that I'm looking at it but fuck it oh my god I when I graduated from drama school I didn't have an agent I just assumed I'd come out and immediately go to Hollywood and I watched back to back non-stop come down with me and I'd say there isn't an episode for the first like five years of come down with me that I haven't seen I loved it so much like I got yeah I got really upset do you like cooking programs?

22:57I love so I haven't seen that much comedy I don't enjoy watching comedy or it feels like work a lot of the time like I watch it and have a lot of most of my friends are comedians but I love watching cookery shows especially if there's a competitive element Me too MasterChef MasterChef Great British Menu Bake Off Love Great British Menu You need to take the lid off

23:26It's delicious Jessie Oh you're sweet I won't have you speak ill of this dinner. It's real nice. Because we were going really light. Because, you know, we're both trying to be good to ourselves. I've got music video. We're just kind of trying to be good. I did carrot and swede. That's what it is. It's so lovely. Carrot and swede with sweet taste. And then I added a little bit of ginger in it. And some orange zest. By swede, do you mean turnip? Is a swede a turnip? No, I think they're different. The bigger one. So is a swede different to a turnip? I don't know. Oh, it is? Interesting. A turnip's a little white one and a swede is orange inside.

24:03Oh my God, I've been calling Swedes turnip all my life. People do. Do they taste the same? Oh, no. So turnips are the taste of my childhood. It's the one thing my mummy and my granny would cook loads of bacon, cabbage, potatoes and turnips. And eating this makes me feel really happy.

24:20Have I asked you what is your go-to dish that you will offer up? Are you a hostess? I love. one of my favourite things in the world and this is what I miss travelling for work the most is just having people around my house and having big old dinners I normally invite three people but accidentally end up inviting twelve everyone has to sit around with food in their laps I love having people around I normally do lots of bits I do like my mother taught me a gratin dauphinoise cheesy potatoes lads who are you going to call? Everyone loves it Everyone loves it I don't necessarily have a go to thing I'll do lots of salads.

24:58I do do lots of big brunches. So for Pride every year, I have a kind of LGBTQ plus breakfast morning before the people go out in March and go to the parade. And that's one of my favourite things. There's a picture I quite like of this year. I spent loads of effort on the breakfast. And then finally I sat down, you know, in that kind of way, the host sits down at the end. It goes, now I'm going to eat my dinner. And I went to tell an anecdote and I flipped my plate onto the cement in my garden. and it's just a really sad but really funny picture that my friend, my best friend Brona, took at an opportune time where I've just got a really sad face and a giant pink come out to support LGBTQ plus t-shirt with this plate of eggs upside down on the floor.

25:41I want to know about stand-up because it just seems like the most petrifying thing to me. I'm not a comedian, so that's probably why, but like the idea of just presenting yourself to, maybe I'm thinking of it in the wrong way but like a sceptical crowd or maybe they're quite up for it if they're going to see comedy. Do you not feel like they're sitting there being like come on then, make me laugh. No, generally people want to have a good time. They'll always be that idiot. I think that's the fear mentality that people who hate public speaking have. So apparently Jerry Seinfeld has a bit about how people's number one fear is public speaking and people's number two fear is dying.

26:22so which means that people would rather be dead at a funeral than have to speak at one and like that's and that's Jerry Seinfeld's bit not mine but it's funny when something isn't scary to you like I have never done sport I cannot imagine what it would be like to go out on grass and have to like put your foot against a ball with the knowledge it's going to get into a net with loads of people watching you that to me would be like oh something would go surely no way what but for me I've always spoken like I mean it's not exactly like you're like oh Aisling you're stuck for chat at the moment like it's it's not the biggest transference of what's already there when did you start stand up was it because you were acting because I mean I'm not going to lie I kind of forgot that you were in The Fool we didn't know as the nurse nurse Keira but you fancied him didn't you as in my character yes no we had I think that's what people wanted to say you were too nice you were too nice My character was more obsessive in a religious way.

27:23I think there was like a religious obsessive thing that he'd come back and the idea that you could save somebody, that you could be reformed and that sort of religious element to someone that's like, oh, you could be, what if you've done something so awful, but the near-death experience has changed you? Could you be reformed at that sort of interest? So that was a sort of like odd vibe to the old nurse. But people really got into that character. And it's funny because... You are going to have some cheese on you. Yes, please. Cheese. You don't have to. I definitely will. That was like aggressively put, Mother.

27:53I just love cheese. I am always intrigued by the fact that fruit and cheese work so well together. Yeah, it's great, isn't it? I can cut you an apple up if you want. Do you know what? I would love an apple and cheese. You would. One of my favourite things my aunt ever cooked was, you know toasties, cheese toastie makers? She makes, so she puts butter on the outside of both sides of the bread, obviously, then inside butter as well. and then inside she puts cheese, which will melt, but also apples. So she puts apples into the toasty. So when you cushion inside, you've got hot apple, which is like a chutney, essentially, and cheese.

28:30Yeah, yeah, yeah. What a savoury one. You spend your time between New York, LA, London. You're an international gal. Some of your favourite restaurants in those places? Oh, in London, it's a place called Perilla, and I actually found a place it's great in Stoke Newington and I found it because your man the I'm pretty sure he's called Ben was on Great British Menu and I liked the stuff he was making and I was like oh my god it's near my house because that's not far from where I live and so I went up and they always give me bread and butter now when I go and it's like fresh seaweed sourdough and the butter is whipped so it's almost like it's caramelised and whipped but it's almost like it's sugary it's so good New York, LA I didn't eat some.

29:15Oh, New York. I mean, New York, just everywhere is great to eat. The thing I miss, so when I was doing Living With Yourself, which is a Paul Rudd show, I was living in New York and the one thing I miss is home cooking because everyone pays such high rents. Even the richest people don't have really big houses. So the wealthy, famous celebs still have relatively humble houses comparative to London or LA or anything like that. And so no one, there isn't a culture of going around to people's houses for roasts or taking your shoes off and just eating with people and I really missed doing that and living that um so but the plus side is everyone eats out all the time and the restaurants and takeaways are amazing um I did go there's this bar I really liked in the West Village called the Hudson Hound which my friends run and that like had proper like Irish food which I really missed.

30:07But also, where did we go? Oh, I feel like just everywhere was great, so it's hard to sort of pin down one place. But it was the cooking element I did miss in New York. LA? LA, there's a Spanish or Mexican restaurant called Gracias Madre, which is a vegan veggie place that you would actually like. And you'd be like, did I not have meat? Really? Have you had it when we were at Benny's? No. the coconut bacon yeah all of this stuff and i love that but yeah generally mexican food in la is so tasty because there's such a large mexican community there don't you think epois is the most delicious cheese is that what i'm eating yeah i can't stop it's really good it's my new favorite cheese really good what is it it's terrible name epois no it isn't darling Is that the brand?

30:59No, it's poisse. All right, well, we're saying it terribly. P-O-I-S-S-E. Get email. What's it mean? Is that the brand or is that the type of cheese? The type of cheese. Oh, like a brie. It's in a poisse. In a poisse. It's so delicious. Oh, man, I can't. I know. It's just the best cheese. Guilty pleasure food. I think we know. Spaghetti hoops, maybe. That's not guilty enough. But I don't, you know, I don't really. White bread is. I don't like, I believe in health and nourishing yourself, but I don't feel like attaching guilt to food and stuff like that because I'm like, oh, let's, you know, what do you eat that you're just like, what do I eat that is not good for me?

31:39It's probably drink. It's probably alcohol. What do you drink? I love all drinks except for champagne or cava. That makes me get really sick. You don't like fizzy stuff. Don't like fizzy stuff because I've got a naturally bubbly personality, you see. So it just overcompensates. It tips me over the edge. so white or red wine both white wine does make me bed like do you know what I have a secret about and I'm not allowed to tell anyone so I try to avoid white wine red wine I really like I love whiskey all sorts Irish whiskey Irish whiskey I love Jameson's oh my god the nicest whiskey is Dingle whiskey I love Dingle oh Dingle's so nice Dingle's the best place in the world do you like Dingle the area so my dad was from Dingle and I got I got a hamper sent to me with some dingle vodka in it.

32:27I was like, what? Dingle vodka? Vodka made in Ireland? Come on, lads. And their gin has been recently voted like the best in Europe. But they sent over my sister for the bar, because it's from where my dad is from, for the bar for her wedding. My sister had, so she's Irish and her husband is British Indian. So they had like an Irish-British-Indian wedding, all sustainable. So they had like veggie curries and banana leaves and all this kind of stuff. Oh, amazing. Amazing. But the food was Indian. And so delicious. And then the bar was Irish. So it was like stocked out with Dingle, gin and vodka.

33:01But their whiskey, they sent over one like 15 year number. Or it was like drinking a hot chocolate. It was just a little delicious. I can still taste it now because I just had some in my little cup. I know what you're doing. Speaking about your sister, your sister was involved in Little Women. Yes, she is the assistant costume designer. Did she do costumes? Did you have costumes in This Way Up? She's a designer. of costumes yeah so she went from so Sinead was in Boston doing Little Women while I was in New York doing Living With Yourself which was really special that she was there that's amazing and then we both came back to film my show and she designed my show so a lot of the colours and aesthetic to it are all down to Sinead but yeah my little sister is absolutely brilliant and actually Indian food's become a big part of our life now because of Mads's my brother-in-law's mother is an amazing cook and so his aunt um she lives in India but his aunt is also an amazing cook and we go down to her a lot um in a place and are they veggie mads's mom is and sinéad mostly is as well almost like me so they would lean that way so mads grew up with a lot of um indian food that was veggie so it's very easy for him to sort of live like sinéad's but every now and again he'd have like a big smokehouse steak and stuff like that was um your sister sharon in this way up kind of relationship and his family based around it wasn't nothing is it's a fictional show yeah so it's not based on my life but then there are elements that I'm inspired by and I'm like oh wow yeah why wouldn't the family be Indian and also it's a family I don't get to see a lot on TV so I don't get to see my brother-in-law's family on TV and by his family I don't mean his literal family no um Indian family British Indian families of which there are many gorgeous families and I I like the idea of like the Irish Indian connection and us all getting to know each other's cultures.

34:51And so stuff like that becomes a thing. But then you start making other characters and other people and different things. And, you know, I mean, the one thing that's definitely in it is that like Madhav does make his own sourdough. So in episode one, there's a bit where Vish is making sourdough and that's absolutely Madhav. But yeah, so that's become a lot more part of what we eat and love. and my mum just went out to India this year over Christmas for the first time and you know we were all like Irish people are not good with spice like I remember one time my mother going Jesus that soup's very spicy what's in that and it was a tomato and basil soup and the spice was pepper and she was like oh hold on I need a bit of yoghurt now or something so we were all a bit nervous mummy going to India and she just fell in love with it she just felt so healthy she just such a glow about her and it is I love the idea of everyone just integrating with each other's cultures and there's bits for us all to take.

35:48And at the bottom of it all is people having a laugh and coming together around a table just like this. And food is a gorgeous way to connect people. And at Sinead's wedding, for example, they had some bamboo cutlery, but mostly it was like eating with your hands, traditional Indian style eating with your hands. And, you know, we were like, oh, a lot of the Irish aunties and uncles are coming. And if you are not nervous, people are grand. And no one's ever like too old to be like, I couldn't manage that or that's not what I'm used to. It's great crack to try something new. And everyone just got involved because it was a different type of wedding and it was unique to Madame and Sinead.

36:24And it was just a gorgeous day where you'd all of these like Irish aunties and uncles who would have been meat and two potatoes and maybe a bit of vegetables. But one of the vegetables was probably also potatoes and just eating on a banana leaf with their hands. And it's just like, yeah, of course. It's just like, get involved. So that was a gorgeous food day in my life.

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37:56Do you eat the plane food? As in food on the plane? Oh, sorry. I thought it was quite like the plane food, like the brand, the waffles. I love plane food. As in aeroplane food. Yeah, Oh, it's so exciting. So I guess I still get a thing about hotels and aeroplane food where there's still an element of excitement, childhood excitement. And even though if you were to take aeroplane food out of an aeroplane, you'd be like, what is this bullshit? Where am I, prison? When you're actually on an aeroplane, the little things, I really still enjoy that. A little pot here, a little pot there. I'm in there, there's a video.

38:36Yeah, I still get, I always eat everything. and what's your room service um choice because you know you said that you've been living in hotels like yeah that's the one thing i got really so i was doing a movie which is when i was doing a frida pinto in italy and i was like oh my god you were living in rome for six weeks oh my god but i was living in rome in a hotel um for six weeks in like the oxford circus of rome or like the times square of new york and there's only so many evenings you can watch or eat from the room service menu and it's all pasta that that's where remember when I said to you when you text I was like I can't really do any more pasta and there is such amazing Italian food but I think for me pasta always reminds me of university and non-stop eating pasta and pesto and tomatoes and that's the only thing we would eat and so for me that much pasta and again being in Rome where they're like hi I'm trying not to eat that much dairy or wheat at the moment they're like what else is there they were just like having none of it and so my favourite place in Rome was a sushi restaurant right beside the hotel I know the two of you you've changed babe I loved it so much and we had myself and Eleanor Tomlinson who's a flame haired beauty in Poldark she's in the movie as well and we would go to this sushi restaurant almost every night because there was one sushi roll that had little bits of chips on top of it and I was like oh my god it's sushi but with chips what could be better and we made the same joke every night we'd open the door and be like who went in Rome and went into our sushi restaurant.

40:13What would be your last supper? You start a main pud and drink of choice. So, is it desert? So I have two questions for you, please, before I answer. Is it desert island or is it like I'm about to die tomorrow? It's like whatever you would prefer. Well, it's whatever you prefer. Whatever's going to make a better gag. interesting a better gag oh well no those of my death will make me gag i am think it'll be some sort of potato without a doubt that's the starter starter will be some kind of like uh i think maybe like chopped up tuna or like um like a taco like a fish taco i love a good fish taco or like um not sashimi what's the other thing you know that um poke uh is it poke no there's poke but then there's also ceviche no there's the other one that you love tuna tartare tuna tartare yeah tuna tartare but i think you can get a ceviche or poke yeah i like things dressed in a bit of a dressing that's my like a little bit of a bonjour citrus okay um then for mains even though i don't eat meat if it's my gonna die meal yeah it will be my granny's bacon cabbage potatoes and turnip oh lovely um and that would be the way my granny did it i presume the overarching flavor is salt it threw out everything if you're looking for like what are the notes left on your palate that is salt and she used to like cook the cabbage afterwards in the bacon water so you get like the kind of salt in the cabbage mash with a shed load of butter you don't fry the bacon you cook it in water yeah boiled bacon oh yeah boiled bacon yeah kind of like But they cook it bacon.

41:59Almost like more like a Christmas ham. Okay. So they would boil it and then put it in the oven and then get the crispy thing on the top. So I would probably, if it's my last day on earth, have my granny's bacon, cabbage, potato and turnip, mash turnip. Condiment? Do you need it? Mustard? Would you never? No, it's just, you don't do that. It's salt. That's the thing. You just mash. It's a sort of condiment. I suppose the mashiness of the butter is a condiment. And what would be your drink? What would be my drink? Would be maybe an espresso martinis so I can wait up to see the apocalypse. so I'll definitely not fall asleep put dessert would be a really rich chocolate mousse with a raspberry coulis or else maybe a pecan slice oh yes and you know what I realised recently and I was really delighted with myself like when you discover that you genuinely like celery you're like oh god this is great not many people genuinely like it and here I am eating it I realised my favourite bit of the pecan slices is roast pecans and the other day I got a load of pecans fire them into the oven and now they're just my little nibble around the house pecans unroasted are not that nice but put them in the oven tasty tasty it brings out the sort of like yeah I get that quantity of them also spending time like I talk about this a lot but I'm obsessed with Gilmore Girls mmm and I'm imagining like your time in Boston and New York and you're having a pecan pie a little slice maybe hanging out in Connecticut I really used to love the Gilmore Girls growing up because again it was a family that didn't look like any other family and I loved the idea that it was a mother and a girl and that sort of almost sister almost like we're all learning this at the same time family structure was just a real relief to see and myself mammy and Sinead would watch that together that was the thing we watched together and it was like watching oh imagine a family of just women where it's almost like there are no roles we're just the three of us trying to work out what the world is together because we also lived out in the countryside so it's not like there was like and we have a huge extended family mommy's got loads of sisters and stuff like that and I have another two aunts on my dad's side as well who were a bit of like the village raising you but they weren't living right beside us or anything and the idea was like the same with Little Women the movie like the fact that Sinead was working on it was so emotional for us because that was another thing that felt like us like it was just a mother and daughters and sisters and And that's kind of when you talk about what part of my show is fiction or not.

44:27For me, it's just the essence of sisters and family and siblings together and a different type of family structure and the language between them. And that that for me is where I love writing and finding with people. But Little Women as well, Little Women and the Gilmore Girls, they were our, oh, that looks a bit like us. That's our world, you know, and there's no dad walking and going, honey, I'm home or, oh, dad, you're so funny or any of that, which was just a foreign concept to us so that I always loved what are you writing at the moment are you always writing yeah I'm always writing uh with the hope of a series two and then also a film I'm writing at the moment um I find writing is my hardest loneliest job and I don't necessarily love it um I hate being on my own quite a lot and even though like Sharon's an amazing producer and like everyone who gives notes are great they're all over email predominantly and i find that really lonely rather than i'm much better when i have someone in a room because there's just a humans aren't supposed to be on our own hermits it doesn't do our mental health any good it doesn't to look at people in the eye when you're talking or get feedback is everything i can't stand oh yeah i don't mind my own company living wise and even in relationships being independent working on my own without someone to throw something it's so and I think with um writing when I if I write on my own for stand-up that evening I'll be able to give it to someone or show it to someone with writing like I wrote my show like a year and a half ago and you only got to see it like a couple of months ago like you it takes ages before anyone gets to see or enjoy your work and I don't write it for myself you write it for other people to watch and that's the very lonely bit.

46:13I found that incredibly lonely writing the show. So a bit of me is like, oh no do I go back into that now? You get a little bit nervous. Yeah, right. I mean, well I'm sure there will be a second and the film? Film is an idea I've had for ages kind of. I'm working on that with a production company at the moment but that's something I want to write. It's been an idea swilling around for ages. You're busy but that's how you like it. I do. I have a circusy sort of lifestyle. Thanks for sitting us in. Oh, God, I've really managed to make it like, guys, I've just swung in. No, no, no, no. You had just come from an audition, by the way, and you'd come and like...

46:49But this is a joy. Also, to be cooked for is such a special thing by a little mummy and daughter welcoming into your home. I did nothing today. You really embarrassed yourself. You didn't answer me at the door. You came downstairs three minutes late after I was here. I'd already had my wee and taken my jacket off, hung my shoes and socks. You didn't even kiss me. I let myself down. You really did. But you did put lipium. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I put lipium. You did. Lastly, your karaoke song, please, Ashley. Oh, my karaoke song. Now, here's a little bit of my problem with karaoke. I believe that we get to perform for a living and we are so lucky to get to do it.

47:25And I believe that karaoke should be kept for people who don't get to perform for a living. I completely agree. And sometimes when I go to karaoke with other actors and singers, it's just like, oh my God, I'm so embarrassed. Bring me a higher love And you're like, all right, mate, we've all been to school You know, it's just a bit I totally agree For out of tune people who are like Oh, I'm loving angels instead And I'm like, yes, today is your five minutes Own it I agree I mean, I do like Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus I think because I'm Irish I like to do the like, you know, Sinead O 'Connor's line Like We've all need, no need, no need Who did that really well in This Way Up with the Cranberries.

48:08Oh yeah. Zombie. That was incredible. That was very joyous for myself and Sharon to sing. And people keep on tagging us doing that at karaoke now and adding us in. And there's like, we really, like we cracked each other up doing that so much because we really wanted to come across as great singers. And a bit of us were like, oh, people will find us funny, but they also might ask us to be professional singers after it. Like, because we were so arrogant. It was really good. It was really, really good. But that, anything where there's a bit of, I like singing you know Wrecking Ball or Diana Vickers Diana Vickers used to give a bit of house like that sort of stuff Ashley you've been fabulous everything you guys are what a joy I'd love you to just come back every time you need a home cooked meal to be honest yeah oh my god and thanks so much and I can't wait for this way up to come back because it needs to because it was such an important piece of work so thank you I might have a little cry

49:16She is really one of the most funny people I think ever She's very funny Everything has like She lands every sentence with It's timing isn't it Oh she's so good Aisling has just announced a UK tour Older Than Jesus and she's also had a baby in the last year and so congratulations. And I will be going to see her show. I think she's playing in London and Walthamstow but there's loads of tour dates. But I will be going, I think it's in February in 2026. So go and get some tickets. Thank you for listening and we'll serve you another Helping Up next week.

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